ACCUSED, ABUSED, BUT NOT HELD GUILTY

Suffering is part of life. As I learned to say from my kids, “It is what it is.” It is reality in this fallen world. I have suffered, and you have, too. While our suffering may not look the same, the one who ordains our suffering for our good and His glory is the same yesterday, today, and forever. One of my passions in this life is that women would learn theology so that they might know Him so intimately that they would not be shaken in times of trial and testing. This steadfast faith glorifies God. Each woman’s theology must become her own. As we wrestle through our beliefs—not only what we believe, but why we believe it—bringing them up against the plumb line of Scripture, we will gain a priceless treasure that will be used for our greatest good and His greatest glory.

Our flesh often balks at suffering and trials that come into our lives. Why? Ultimately, we do not believe we deserve pain, trouble, suffering, or heartache. That is our flesh speaking, but we must learn to bring truth to bear on those instincts crucifying fleshly thoughts before they can take root in our hearts leading to greater sin. What is the truth? Trials are for our good. Therefore, James can say, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” I was speaking with a friend this morning. We agreed that we do not pray, “Lord, please send trials my way.” We do not need to pray that prayer because trials are inevitable. We can consider it all joy when we encounter them because of what we know about them. In trials our faith is tested. This is a good thing. Faith being tested is the only thing that really leads to growth in our walk. The faith that is tested in trials can lead to endurance. Endurance means a patient steadfast waiting for, constancy, and perseverance. In the New Testament endurance is the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings. Every true believer wants to be found faithful. We want to hear our Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Trials sanctify us—or continue to make us more like Christ. The perfect result of endurance will ultimately one day be our glorification.

Trials cause us to keep our gaze fixed on the eternal and not hold on too tightly to the temporal. As we continue to look at Psalm 34 today, we will see truths that can ground us in trials of injustice. These are trials we experience in which we see the wicked who appear to be prospering in their proud rebellion while I am being broken and humbled. This is a test of our faith to turn our gaze to the eternal. In this type of trial, we must keep our focus on God’s ultimate dealing with both the godly and the wicked.

As we look at Psalm 34, I want to relate this wrestling with our theology in a test of faith to my own struggles in my prison trial, just as an example of what I’m talking about. For years before I went to prison, I was reading these types of psalms. Convinced the Lord was going to deliver me from ever having to do time in prison, I praised Him for these promises as I looked to Him alone for my hope. Fast forward to our jury trial where I’m sitting there praying these psalms throughout that month-long ordeal. Still convinced that the Lord would vindicate us and deliver us, my hope was fixed on Him. Later, as I was standing in the courtroom watching my son be sentenced, handcuffed, and carted off to jail, my faith began to waiver. When I was taken to County Jail and left in a holding cell for most of the day, I began to question everything I believed. How was I so wrong? Had I wrongly interpreted all His promises? This began an intimate wrestling match with the Lord; it was a fight for faith and a fight to know Him better. The psalms of lament, Job, and Lamentations, especially, reveal this same experience in the lives of godly men who are known for their faith in the Hall of Faith of Hebrews 11.

In Psalm 34, we see this word deliver in several places: verse 4 – the Lord delivered the psalmist from all his fears, 17 – the Lord delivers the righteous out of all his troubles, 19 – the Lord delivers the righteous out of all his afflictions. We also see that the Lord saved the poor man out of all his troubles, He saves those who are crushed in spirit, He rescues those who fear Him, and the Lord redeems the soul of His servants. As I began to work my way through my own belief system in prison, I put the present trial up against the trial of my daughter’s death. I knew that, for instance, that I could not apply the same principles to a loved one’s death. How would the Lord deliver me from that trouble? How did God deliver His own Son from the cross? I began to question whether I had read something into these promises that was not true, and I wanted the truth, whether it meant I couldn’t stand on these promises as I had interpreted them or not. I heard girls around me standing on the promises inappropriately, and I could easily see that as the case. But what about me? That is when the Lord turned my focus to the eternal. I did not have answers to all the why questions; I gained something far more precious. I came to know Him better.

What we’ve seen so far in Psalm 34 is that while we won’t be delivered from all trouble on earth immediately…as we expect it should happen…as we believe God should want it to happen…we can know that God is able to rescue us from trouble here. Often, in answer to prayer, He does just that. What God promises in the case of every righteous person is that there is a sure and complete deliverance from all trouble in eternity. I am not sure I was ready to hear that at the beginning of my prison trial. Maybe it would have made me focus more on the whole dreadful experience of prison and my fears, but He led me slowly to the place where an eternal perspective was my greatest prize in the whole trial.

The godly will have many troubles in this life, but not in eternity. While the wicked appear to be getting away with their sin here, evil shall slay them. They also have troubles in this life and will continue to have even greater trouble for all eternity. The Lord comforts the godly in trouble in this life. The wicked may gain some false comfort here, but they will not be comforted for all eternity. The godly experience many afflictions only in this life, the wicked have afflictions in this life and for all eternity. Deliverance for the godly is sure, even if it is after death. There will be no deliverance for the ungodly.

Psalm 34:21-22— Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned. These last two verses are why I loved to read Psalm 34 with Psalm 35. These two verses brought all my feelings into proper balance. I knew what it was to be condemned. This word condemned means to be held guilty. While I knew that prison had a purpose and was necessary, I did not wish it upon even my enemies. For the believer who has been spared judgment for all eternity in hell, that believer should long for that same grace and mercy to be shown even to his or her enemies. I will admit that the struggle was real not to want to see these last two verses as a sweet revenge. While I was being held guilty for crimes I did not commit in this life, I knew that would never be the case in eternity. Rather, I would know complete deliverance and vindication.

In this life the godly may be falsely accused or betrayed by the ungodly. The guilty may appear to get away with their sin and seemingly elude punishment. Psalm 10 says when they sin against others they say to themselves: “God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it.” But judgment is coming for the ungodly as surely as is the complete deliverance for the godly. With no fear of God, they mock and taunt the believer in impious defiance or presumptuous scorn as if God does not exist. He that does so is a fool. For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:30-31) They shall be condemned or held guilty with an eternal life sentence. Romans 8:1 tells us that the righteous already stand before the Lord without condemnation.  

The ungodly persecutes the godly. This should not take us by surprise. 2 Timothy 3:12 says: Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. What we can know in those times of persecution is that God sees, God hears, God preserves, and God delivers. And He will hold our persecutors guilty. The world may hold us and regard us as guilty, but a true ruling will be handed down by the Judge over all the earth.

It is important to know how to respond when others sin against us. Keeping in mind that we were once enemies of God, we must take refuge in Him and pray for those who wrong us. Our trials can make us bitter—turning inward as we focus on ourselves and what we have lost— or they can make us better when we focus on God and His purposes. We need to allow our trials to drive us to the end of ourselves so that we may seek the Lord’s salvation, fear Him, and learn to walk as obedient children. The Lord is attracted to the brokenhearted who are crushed in spirit. Why? Because only those who are brokenhearted and crushed in spirit give an accurate reflection of God’s great glory and holiness. Brokenhearted and crushed in spirit means we are penitent, grieved, and sorrowful for our own sin committed against holy God.

The application for us is this: In this world friends may desert us, and enemies may abuse us. We can know that many are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord is the deliverer. He will cast down, but He will also raise up. We can expect trouble, but along with that trouble is blessings of grace. The Lord prunes the branches in order that they may bring forth much fruit. In the trial, focus on the Lord’s purposes not the purpose of your enemies. The focus of God is eternal. The focus of the enemy is the fleeting moments of the temporal.

Evil shall slay the wicked. Crime and punishment go together, right? Just the same, sin and hell go together. The righteous are not held guilty; for those whom God justifies, He will also glorify. To be condemned or held guilty is to be devastated and destroyed. Within the definition of this word is the idea of loneliness. Condemned or held guilty paints a great picture of the prison experience. The wicked will go through the valley of the shadow of eternal death alone. The same face who was against them in life will administer their just judgment for all eternity.

Fear the Lord. Trust the Lord because He is watching and listening to our cries. Give your enemies to the Lord. Let Him be their Judge. You prayer for your enemies because God is able to deliver, and He may even make your enemy your brother one day.