How Long, O Lord?

I have a Whisperer at Bible Club.

She sidles up to me, cupped hands around her mouth, ready to whisper shocking details about any of the other little kids sitting nearby.

This week, it was, “Sarah, did you know that [so and so] said he was going to steal [so and so’s] bike?!”

“We won’t gossip about it though,” I tell her, winking. She shrugs dismissively. She was hoping I would be scandalized by the sinfulness of her neighbor. 

In one way, sin is always a scandal. Whether it’s whispering about your neighbor or murdering him, Self wanting its own way draws attention. “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death,” just as the Book of James tells us. The news reels confirm that we always think it is scandalous.

A friend was arrested this week for morally reprehensible behavior. It was difficult to process the news and even harder to see him standing before the Judge in an orange jumpsuit. The victim of the crime was a child. 

When I prayed about it, I felt like the little Whisperer at Bible Club. 

Behind my hand, I said to God, “Lord, did you see what he did? It’s so awful!”

The Lord sees. Sin is always more terrible to Him than it is to me because He is holy, perfect, and pure. The offenses are against Him. However, He isn’t scandalized because He will perfectly judge all things and bring judgment for every speck of wickedness.

When His people abandoned His covenant in the Old Testament, He sent them into exile. It was harsh. God’s judgment was more than they could bear, almost wiping them out completely.

The Prophet Zechariah records that even the angels asked, “O Lord of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on [your people]?”

God’s judgment is right, true, and awful all at the same time. Perhaps we have the tendency to whisper behind our hands about the sins of others because we would like to avoid being the subject of God’s judgment ourselves.

This is what motivates my little Whisperer. She steals things, rides her bike into people, and feeds their food to the neighborhood dogs. However, she’d much rather I focused my consternation and judgment on someone else. 

Even when we do look with brutal honesty at our own offenses against God, we cringe against His coming judgment. We still whimper our comparisons. “How long, O Lord?” we might be tempted to whine.

But, just as He told the angel in the Book of Zechariah, so He speaks to us: “The Lord answered gracious and comforting words… He said, ‘I have returned with mercy.’”

Through Jesus, God shows perfect justice and perfect mercy. The wrath and judgment our sins deserved rained down on Jesus as He was crucified, but the mercy of the Father left it all in the grave when Jesus was raised. 

Now, instead of whispering about my friend in the orange jumpsuit, I can shout the Good News: Jesus will forgive! Simply turn to Him!

How do I know? He’s done it for me.