Wounds can be painful and hurtful. And yet, in spite of being wounded—the Lord calls us to walk in forgiveness and love. We have the place to be angry—but we don’t have the right to sin in it. I had the place to be angry for the wounds I suffered. But, I didn’t have the right to publicly curse and shame my offender.

As we forgive and love—at the surface, it can appear that the wounds suffered are completely ignored. This couldn’t be any further from the truth. As forgiveness flows: as love flows: justice—will follow.

Trust the Lord.

Violations are an injustice and they demand the justice of God. Justice—is not personal spite. Justice—is not personal revenge. Justice—is seeing wrongs made right. Justice—is righteous. Forgiveness and love aren’t blind to justice—but—they look to the Lord for it.

The Lord has a righteous anger to sin and He doesn’t ignore it. Ever. The Lord is justice and ignoring violations—would be a violation of His character. Injustice—requires His response. The Lord cares deeply for the wounds and injuries caused by injustice. When the Lord administers justice—it’s His heart beating with compassion for the wounded and the injured. This is His holy, righteous character.

A most welcome relief.

We don’t have to avenge ourselves.

When we trust in the Lord for justice, we’re able to rest and experience the Lord’s compassion. As we forgive: as we love: we can trust the Lord to make right the things that have pained us. The Lord will settle it: He is faithful—He is pure. When we trust Him for this settling—we are settled. Our hearts are kept tender. We have lightness of mind. We have lightness of spirit. We’re free to carry on—not a slave to the evils that strove against us.

We trust Him and we grow: and He will bring justice in His perfect time.

Trusting the Lord—His faithfulness became my place of rest.

I learned: justice isn’t instant because the Lord is long-suffering. This is the Lord’s love in action. In His long-suffering character—His love creates a space of time for us to get better. In this space of time: His goodness and His kindness—flow forth to melt us: to touch us: to reach us. We must seize the time. We can receive His love or reject His love: we can treasure His love or abuse His love. We can grow better or we can grow worse: we can grow purely or we can grow impurely. We can return to the Lord–pure in heart or grow to the point of no return–a hardened heart. Our growth doesn’t erase justice—but, it brings the measure of the Lord’s dealing with us—in His justice. Either way, we grow one way or another. And either way, the Lord’s justice, comes one way or another. Justice is weighed: and in the Lord’s hand—it’s weighed, perfectly. Love is His goodness: justice is His goodness.

The Lord is looking for repentance. The Lord does not give us grace to abound in sin. The Lord gives us grace to turn away from it. While we don't hold onto offenses–we are responsible to look out for the fruit of repentance. We are to produce the fruit of repentance and look out for the fruit of repentance for who we've prayed for. This is the operation of a pure heart. 

Having a pure heart, we are loyal to the Lord God before anyone else. In loyalty to Him–He does not want us to tolerate sin. Tolerating sin is having a dual heart. The Lord wants our whole heart. He doesn't tolerate it nor does He want us to tolerate it. We are to forgive sin and we are also to sin no more. Sin is not to be our habit. 

As we grow in the Lord—pure in heart—the Lord will act justly. And those who have grown away from the Lord—hardened hearts that have consistently rejected the Lord God, growing in wickedness, reaching the point of no return—fall into the hand of the Lord’s judgement. There is a reward for the righteous and there is a reward for the wicked. “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him” (Isa. 3:10, 11).

Pure in heart–we see the manifestation of justice.