Read Ecclesiastes 3:16-17; Genesis 50:20; Psalm 23:4; Psalm 119:71; Ecclesiastes 3:11; Romans 8:28; 1 Corinthians 1:3-7
And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
I thought in my heart,
"God will bring to judgment both the righteous
and the wicked;
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time for every deed." (Ecclesiastes 3:16-17 NIV)
It's not often, Father, that we make such a statement, but today we thank You for the injustices in life that have crippled us and broken us and crushed us. Unfair circumstances have bruised us deeply and beaten us into submission to You. Inequities have brought us to such a dead end that we can't see the way back out. The only direction we can look is up. We often think that our unjust circumstance is what has ruined our lives…when instead, it could be the means You have ordained to give us life. Father, if those people we know who have trudged through the valley of the shadow of death were not alive today, walking with You and telling us to keep going, where would we be? How much we need their examples and encouragement! Thank You for each one.
In light of Your sovereign grace, we thank You for blindness, for paralysis, for loss, for death, for broken dreams, for dissolved partnerships, and for disillusionment. In faith, we praise You for times of insecurity, failure, divorce, and even those when others have treated us unjustly. We see the storm, but You enable us to also see beyond the storm, so we trust You to make all things just in Your time. We believe that You sovereignly intend for good what others intentionally mean for evil.
We pray for those facing the frustration of injustice in these and dozens of other categories. We ask that they may be able to find in Jesus Christ the strength to go on…especially those who have almost decided to give up. We pray that they will offer everything to You in full surrender. Everything.
In the name of Jesus Christ, the Conqueror. Amen.
Excerpted from The Prayers of Charles R. Swindoll, Volume 1, Copyright 2010 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.
