God Has My Back

January 16

Genesis 31

Psalm 10:1-11

Proverbs 2:16-19

Matthew 11:1-19

God Has My Back

“For twenty years I have worked in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times! If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work, and He issued His verdict last night.” Genesis 31:41-42 HCSB

We live in a world where we have a right to justice and to be treated fairly. Our legal system, while not perfect, is designed to provide an environment where everyone is treated the same. Whether we are rich or poor, young or old, no matter what our race, religion, or sex, we are supposed to have the same rights, protections, and responsibilities under the law. We have come to expect this. Please don’t get me wrong, I feel very blessed to have been born in a country where I am afforded this protection under the law. However, we are not always treated fairly. Just like Jacob in the passage above, sometimes we are promised one thing and receive another. Bad things sometimes happen to us through no fault of our own. We will, at some time in our lives, be cheated, lied to, and mistreated. Jesus himself tells us in John 16:33 that in this world we will have trouble. How we react to it is of utmost importance.

My husband is an attorney and spends much of his time helping his clients receive what they are entitled to receive. There is nothing wrong with that. We have an entire system of justice set up for that purpose. The problem comes when we react in ways that are inappropriate and ungodly. Our natural instinct when we have been mistreated is to get angry and demand our rights. We often say and do things in our anger that we later regret. Demanding our way rarely gets the desired result. Our first reaction should be to take our case to God. Our worldly system is not perfect, but His system always gets the right result. It may not be exactly the result we want all the time, but we can be confident that God will bring about justice in one way or another. We need to take our concerns to God and then let Him guide our actions. After we have done what He has led us to do, then we have to leave it in His hands. Exodus 14:14 tells us, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (NIV) In Isaiah 41:13 we are assured, “I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you.” (NIV)