Those of you who watched the Super Bowl in early February might have also watched the half-time show featuring Kendrick Lamar. Mr. Lamar has received over 80 major music awards and even won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2018.
As I sat and watched, I was amazed at all the choreography, but I was also amazed at how little I understood of the lyrics sung, and some of the themes did seem to suggest to me that I might be responsible for some of his apparent unhappiness.
I did a little research, and it appears to me Lamar has something to complain about, and justified or not in his complaint, it appears that it made him, maybe frustrated, maybe confused, maybe angry?
I’d like to ask you, “When was the last time you were hurt?” You might be able to identify some point in your life where you felt victimized over a period of time, and my purpose today is to ask what was and is your response to that circumstance?
How Should I Respond to Situations that Hurt Me?
How much effort should I put forward in, say, demanding justice or reparations? Should I rag on without end those who have hurt me? Should I remain tenderized, carrying a chip on my shoulder just daring somebody to knock it off?
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
Sparknotes
Edmond Dantès takes justice into his own hands because he is dismayed by the limitations of society’s criminal justice system. Societal justice has allowed his enemies to slip through the cracks, going unpunished for the heinous crimes they have committed against him. Moreover, even if his enemies’ crimes were uncovered, Dantès does not believe that their punishment would be true justice. Though his enemies have caused him years of emotional anguish, the most that they themselves would be forced to suffer would be a few seconds of pain, followed by death.
Considering himself an agent of Providence, Dantès aims to carry out divine justice where he feels human justice has failed. He sets out to punish his enemies as he believes they should be punished: by destroying all that is dear to them, just as they have done to him. Yet what Dantès ultimately learns, as he sometimes wreaks havoc in the lives of the innocent as well as the guilty, is that justice carried out by human beings is inherently limited. The limits of such justice lie in the limits of human beings themselves. Lacking God’s omniscience and omnipotence, human beings are simply not capable of—or justified in—carrying out the work of Providence. Dumas’s final message in this epic work of crime and punishment is that human beings must simply resign themselves to allowing God to reward and punish—when and how God sees fit.
We do have a biblical example to guide us concerning victimization and justice?
Gen 45:5 But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.
Gen 50:19 Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
Gen 50:20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
Gen 50:21 Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Let’s look at a scenario that is extreme…
1Pe 2:18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.
1Pe 2:19 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.
1Pe 2:20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.
1Pe 2:21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
1Pe 2:22 "WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH";
You and I have an advantage over the Count of Monte Cristo, the same advantage Joseph had. Our conclusion should not be to resign ourselves to letting God do justice in His time. Our conclusion should be to hope that God grant them what He has already granted us.
1Jn 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
1Jn 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
1Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
You and I have sinned and fall short. It doesn’t matter whether we were a consistent troublemaker in someone else’s life or we sinned only against God. God has made us aware of His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus’ blood. Let us throw out the anger and hurt. God grant us the ability to reject the need for justice and rely on God to grant repentance to all mankind in His own time.
