Quick to Judge

I suffer if I defend myself, and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak.—Job 16:6 NLT

Ever been in this place? Condemned if you do, and condemned if you don’t? Jesus found himself in this place the night before His death. Sometimes, there is nothing you can say to defend yourself that will alter the outcome. But then, if you don’t speak, you are held in contempt and thought guilty, because you didn’t defend yourself.

Job found himself in this place. There was nothing he had done to bring despair and ruin, but his friends were quick to advise him that was the case. “But if it were me,” Job informed them, “I would encourage you. I would try to take away your grief” (Job 16:5, NLT). I wouldn’t be part of your grief, Job declared! I would be part of your healing.

Perhaps you, just as Job, have found yourself in such a place—where judgment instead of grace has been extended to you. And, perhaps you also, just as one of Job’s friends, have been quick to judge another person in another trial.

Lord, why didn’t the time I was accused stop me from becoming an accuser? You would have thought I would have understood—that my heart would have understood the death found in judgment. Lord, I have craved life from those who have judged me. Why did I do to someone else what has done to me? Forgive me for destroying the heart of your child struggling in this life. You have been my defender. You have been my advocate. Can I not offer the same?  Help me to walk in your grace that died for me. Help me to realize the times that I am quick to judge, and bring me to your throne of forgiveness again and again. I want to live your grace. I want your love flowing through me until I understand why your heart didn’t insist on its own way. Then, when I am judged, I shall be able to walk in your freedom.

© 2017 Lynn Lacher