I wonder if you feel right now as if a great weight of wrong has been heaped upon you, and every breath you draw is heavy with the injustice of it. The hurt is real. It is not a trifle, and the Lord who sees all things has not turned His eye from it. When we cry for Him to make things right, we are crying in a language He himself has taught us, for He has promised that He will repay. That is not a wrong prayer to pray, if prayed into the bosom of the Judge of all the earth who does right.
Yet let me steady your hand a moment, and take you to another place. I picture a man on the deck of a foundering ship, crying with all his might for help. He cries once, and the wind seems to swallow it. He cries again, and again, and again, and his very desperation becomes the means of his deliverance, because the rescue crew would never have heard a single shout, but the repeated cry brought them to the spot. Our adversary loves to wear out the saints with a single blast of trouble, so that we cry out once and then sink into silence. But the Spirit teaches the heart to cry on and on, until the cry itself becomes a sort of music that enters the ear of the Lord God of Sabaoth.
Now think of the one who has done you this harm. You want him brought low, and I grant you that the hard hammer of affliction is often the only tool that can break a stony heart. But the Lord’s goal, when He loves a soul, is always the soft river of repentance, not the cold stone of mere punishment. I remember how Peter sat by the fire and denied his Master, and how the cock crowed, and how the Lord turned and looked upon him. When Peter thought upon what he had done, he heaped it all up, the boasting, the sleeping in the garden, the oath, the denial, and then he went out and wept bitterly. That look from Christ broke him, but it did not destroy him. It brought him to his knees in a way that a legion of angels with drawn swords could not have done. So when you cry, “Bring him to his knees,” make it your settled prayer that it may be a holy breaking, a Peter-weeping, not a Judas-despair.
You are not asked to pretend the wound is not there. Our blessed Lord, when He was reviled, reviled not again, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. That is the path for you. The throne of grace is open to you this very hour, and the High Priest who sits upon it knows what it is to be betrayed, mocked, and bruised. He will not think you unspiritual because your heart is pounding with pain. But He will draw you into a better place, where you begin to see the one who hurt you as a soul for whom Christ died, and you begin to plead, not for his undoing, but for his undoing from the grip of the evil one.
Do you think that is too high a thing? Then I will tell you a secret. The greatest power in the world is not the power to curse, but the power to bless. And that power is given to those who sit long at the nail-pierced feet and learn what the love of God has done for them. When you were far off, you were not brought home by a storm of wrath, but by the sweet compulsion of a bleeding Substitute. He waited for you. He loved you out of the pit. He can do it again for another.
In the meantime, let not your soul be swallowed up in the trouble. The shipwrecked man who stares only into the dark waters will soon lose heart; but if he can catch a glimpse even of a star, he will hold on. Your star is fixed in the heavens: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. He has not forgotten you. He has not written your name in the sand, but in the palms of His hands. And He is making His appeal for you in that court where no suit is ever lost.
I would have you pray, and pray again. Do not let your prayer be a single arrow shot into the sky and then forgotten; let it be a continual climbing incense, morning by morning and evening by evening, until you have the petition that is according to His will. And His will is always better than our first hot wishes. You ask for something now, but He may give you something later, and it will be a jewel where you thought you had asked for a pebble.
Let us go together now and speak with Him about it all.
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Lord Jesus, there is a great ache in this dear heart, and You see it. You know the wrong that has been done, and You know the many others who have been hurt. We cannot untangle all this, but we bring it to You, the righteous Judge. We pray, O God, do what is needful to break the power of sin in this one who has caused such sorrow. Grant, we beseech You, not a bare punishment that leaves the heart harder, but a true, deep, sincere repentance that melts and renews. And for this Your wounded child, we ask the peace that passes understanding, the healing of the memories, and the soft light of Your countenance. You who did bear our griefs and carry our sorrows, come now and carry this heavy load. In Your strong name, Jesus, we ask it. Amen.