Immovable
This season of my life has been spent staring into the eye of adversarial forces waiting to see who will blink first. Opposition and conflict have lined up for dispute seemingly every time I’m about to meet that goal, overcome the impossible, or about to win a victory.
Adversity is a worthy opponent. When exhaustion from endless fighting kicks in, the fear ramps up to another level, and we can feel like our only option is to tap out. Done. I can’t win. I will not make it if I keep going.
There are times when the unjust must be removed. But there are also times when we must learn to demand justice from the unjust. It’s a bold move that requires lion like faith and unwavering resolve.
There is a widow in the Bible who is one of the few who knew how not to faint when it was hard.
“There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city: and she came to him , saying, “Get justice for me from my adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterwards said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me” (Luke 18:1-5 NKJV).
Vindicate me. Protect me. Defend me. It’s a demand for action from someone whom actually seems a ridiculous person to ask. This is not only a man who appears hard nosed and lacks compassion, but this is a woman without a husband in ancient Israel. She would have been in a constant battle to survive, fighting to keep from being taken advantage of.
Why is someone so vulnerable pressing for vengeance from a judge who by his very title and job description is supposed to be just but instead cares nothing for God or for men?
I believe it is because she had unshakable confidence in what she knew belonged to her. She needed to be avenged and an apathetic person in authority would not stop her. When he would not dispense what she wanted of him for a time, she did not melt into a pool of despair. She stood. The judge saw it, and it annoyed him to no end because he finally had to resign himself to the realization that she would not go away. And though he cared not about justice and definitely not about her, she won against her adversary because it did not matter if the judge was just. It mattered that she knew what was just.
We have to hold on to what we know is true or we will lose the momentum of necessary change. This is the type of faith that Jesus requires of us if we are to overcome the monsters in life. If you know what has been promised to you, stepping into belief and choosing to not back down when your circumstance does not agree with what you know God has given is the ultimate faith.
Jesus goes on to say:
“And shall God not avenge His own who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth?” (7-8).
You may have cried out for all of the frustration and hurt to end for a long time. It may seem like God is slow and that He is ignoring you. The beauty in spite of the pain is this: He is not deaf. Unlike what the widow had to face, God cares beyond what we with our human comprehension can grasp. Will he find you with the conviction that He is one on whom you can rely? Are you steadfast, unrelenting, and full of confidence? Famous classic author Louisa May Alcott said, “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” There is an opportunity to navigate the waves and wind. The storm is not an indicator of lost victory. The victory is on the other side of the storm.
In my faith, in my pursuit of righteousness, in what I know is right and what belongs to me, I not let my will, my fear, my judgement, or my lack of faith toss me overboard. I will abide in the truth, steadfastly holding on to what God has promised to me, and “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:23-24), unwavering and in conviction to agree with truth, immovable.