Lord, You are the Just One and are holy and true. You are also omniscient and omnipresent. The sins against your children do not go unnoticed and are judged.
I have never been the victim of not being paid for the work I have done for Christians or non-Christians. I know that when this was written Your children were disbursed throughout the Roman Empire and were being persecuted. They did not have the right to sue their employer for non-payment as we might do today. There were no bankruptcy courts, welfare, unemployment insurance, food stamps or Medicaid. So if an employer did not pay the workman, he would have to sell himself or his whole family into slavery to pay his bills. If he still could not pay, he was put in prison and would most likely die a slow agonizing death of starvation. The workmen were not the guilty ones
What an encouragement it must have been to those believers that their cried had reached Your ears, Almighty God. The rich oppressors who were living it up would not get off “Scott Free”. You are the perfect judge. This brings to mind the verse that says how terrifying it is to fall into the hands of an angry God. The innocent might die in prison, but would go to be with You for eternity. The guilty would pay dearly for their sins forever in Hell. But You are not willing that any (not even the rich oppressors) should perish, but all should come to repentance, so You had James write this warning to them to give them a chance to repent.
How it must grieve You when Your children are oppressed and mistreated. How it must grieve You also that those unsaved that you also loved enough to die for, reject Your love for the pleasures and treasures of this world and end up in hell for eternity.
No comments:
Post a Comment