I hate injustice–especially when the injustice is against me! It’s not often that I’m unjustly treated, but when I am, the offenses usually come in rather large and memorable packages. One instance that I clearly remember occurred when my family was young. I was attending seminary full time and trying to make ends meet as a caretaker for a very wealthy family. While raising sheep and horses and maintaining all the equipment, barns, houses, water treatment, and several hundred acres of hayfields, I made a whopping $88 per week! To be fair to this wealthy family, they did provide free housing and utilities, and, as a bonus, any extra hay could be sold to supplement my income. That is, until one summer we had a bumper crop of hay! It was then decided by the heiress that I must give her 50% of the hay income, and I refused! I refused because of our verbal contract–one’s word is one’s bond! Life quickly became miserable. There were extra duties. I had to pay to fix any equipment that broke even though the equipment was antiquated. I became defensive and one time angrily snapped back when threatened. I wasn’t going to back down, because I was right! After all, our family was just barely surviving. And when money is an object of contention, you often see one’s true character surface. As I look back, I realize that I missed the banquet! You see, God prepares for us a banquet table in the presence of our enemies. Isn’t that what Psalm 23 teaches? If we would yield to the will of God, peaceably waiting for His hand to work, we would see God deliver us right in the midst of our enemies. We would eat at the banquet table in the midst of the hardship, false accusation, and humiliation. Vengeance and deliverance are God’s responsibility. Submission and a yielded spirit are ours.
