Friday, October 16, 2015

Ezekiel 25:15

Thus says the Lord God:  "Because the Philistines dealt vengefully and took vengeance with the spiteful heart, to destroy because of the old hatred,"...

The Philistines and other were at enmity with Israel for generations.  Why?  It seems to me that bitterness can grow into a hatred that no longer needs a reason to hate, and can perhaps be spread to the next generation who learns to hate without ever knowing what caused the hatred in the first place, or even knowing that they should know this.  One of the dangers of bitterness is that it can grow beyond the boundaries of our lives and can take on a life of its own.  It eventually no longer needs to reason to exist; it just does.  I find this especially sobering considering that the worst cases of bitterness are found in people who have good reason to be bitter-a man whose sister is murdered by her abusive husband, who is released from the bar of justice because of a legal technicality.  I know it sounds a little melodramatic but things like that do happen.  People commit great crimes and are not always brought to justice.  

Albert Speer was Chief Architect and Minister of Armaments for Germany during World War 2.  After the war, he convinced the justices at Nuremburg that he was, if not innocent, at least not as guilty as the other leaders of the Nazi Party and was spared the death sentence.  He spent years in prison, but afterward lived an affluent life for years before his death in 1981.  I watched a History Channel program that included a section on him.  Apparently, evidence has been discovered that revealed that Speer was not nearly as innocent as he led many people to believe.  If true, then he participated in some of the most monstrous crimes in modern history and fared fairly well because of it.  I could see where his victims could become bitter over this.  

Though this is an unpopular topic, I think the remedy from such a malaise as bitterness, especially in troubling cases, is the judgment and wrath of God.  If God is a God of wrath and justice as well as a God of love and peace then there is no getting away from injustice, even if someone escapes justice in this life.  Paul wrote in Romans 12:19-21  "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written,'Vengeance is Mine, Il will repay,' says the Lord."

How would I react if tempted to become so bitter that the bitterness took on a life of its own?  What would I say if I craved justice and it was denied me?  What do I say to those in different parts of the world who are denied justice most cruelly every day?  This verse gives me a lot of food for thought.