Daily Affirmations - Day 5 - Questions and Answers - You May Have Peace
- Alisa B.
- Oct 1
- 2 min read
Day 5: You may have peace
You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before You. Yet I would speak with You about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? (Jeremiah 12:1).
Our Father, in Your great mercy You have sent Your word to bring encouragement and hope in every age from the experiences, challenges, and questions of others who have tried to make sense of a world that is often lopsided and unbalanced. You show us that from time immemorial, many— even those who serve You faithfully— have struggled to understand Your justice in a word full of evil.
Job, David, Asaph and other psalmists, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk were among those who "voiced their complaints" about the thriving and flourishing of the wicked even as others— and even the very land— are decimated in their path of destruction. Jeremiah set out the arguments in his "case" against the wicked:
You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts... How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, “He will not see what happens to us” (Jeremiah 12:2, 4).
But despite our limited vision and our incomplete perspective, Your ways are just and true (Revelation 15:3); and Your answer always points us to Your sovereignty, Your power, Your majesty, Your wisdom, and Your timing (Job 38-42, Psalm 73:17-20, Habakkuk 2:2-20). And You point us to our need for trust, for patience and for perseverance.
You never shield us from the truth about the painful realities of this world. For Jeremiah, You used a proverb of the day to show that even more difficult times could come:
“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?” (Jeremiah 12:5).
For us, too, You have laid out the realities of a painful, sinful world. But You have shown us how it all started, and how it will end; and You have made a way for us to choose the end that brings hope, healing, and restoration through the Messiah Son You gave us.
Your revelation, Lord, awaits an appointed time, as You told Habakkuk (Habakkuk 2:3); Your justice will prevail, as You told Jeremiah (Jeremiah 12:7-17). And as we wait for it, help us to be confident, as Jeremiah was, that You are always righteous (Jeremiah 12:1)— even as we struggle with our questions about the evil, the injustice and the abuse in the world around us. Help us to remember the reassuring words of our Lord:
"I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
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