Praise the LORD. Praise the name of the LORD; praise him, you servants of the LORD, you who minister in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God. Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant. For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own, Israel to be his treasured possession.
I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods. The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, the firstborn of men and animals. He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants. He struck down many nations and killed mighty kings- Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan and all the kings of Canaan- and he gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to his people Israel.
Your name, O LORD, endures forever, your renown, O LORD, through all generations. For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants. The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.
O house of Israel, praise the LORD; O house of Aaron, praise the LORD; O house of Levi, praise the LORD; you who fear him, praise the LORD. Praise be to the LORD from Zion, to him who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the LORD.
The most comforting promise the Lord has made to us is that He’ll vindicate us. According to the dictionary, vindicate means “to clear, as from an accusation, imputation, suspicion, or the like.” We’ve been accused from all sides. In the spiritual realm we’re steadily accused by Satan (Rev. 12:10).
And it’s no different in the physical realm. Non-believers accuse of us of being mindless followers of a religion at odds with reality. Their notion that “anything that seems too good to be true probably is” causes some to gleefully anticipate our devastation upon discovering that we’ve been duped. In the secular media, we’re often portrayed unfairly, even unkindly, because of our beliefs.
In the Church, believers who interpret parts of the Bible differently than we do accuse us of misunderstanding or misapplying Scripture. And if the Lord chooses to grant us an extraordinary blessing, some in our midst may have trouble hiding their suspicion that we’ve benefited from some kind of foul play, or at least taken unfair advantage. Whether saved or not, suspicion is an automatic reaction for many.
But the Lord promises not only to vindicate us, but to take vengeance on our behalf as well. Beyond the obvious vindication of being welcomed into His Kingdom and then elevated to its highest echelon, (Ephes. 2:6-7) He has promised to repay in kind those who’ve been less than considerate toward us.
It’s been this way right from the beginning. In Genesis 4:15 the Lord promised to take vengeance on any one who harmed Cain. Even though Cain had just murdered his brother and was being disciplined for it, he was still under God’s protection, a member of His family. In Genesis 12:3 He promised to curse anyone who cursed Abraham. In Deut. 32:35 He said, “It is mine to avenge, I will repay,” and repeated the promise in Romans 12:19 and Hebrews 10:30. In Isaiah 47:6 he explained His judgment of Babylon after giving His people into their hands for punishment (Jere. 21:8-10) by pointing out that they’d been excessive in their oppression of the Jews. The Babylonians should have remembered that the Jews were still God’s people and treated them with care out of respect for Him. And in Rev. 3:9 He promised the Church that He would make unbelievers bow down at our feet and acknowledge that He has loved us.
This is why He can call our anger upon being accused or ridiculed a sin, and admonish us to get rid of it. (Ephes. 4:31) We’re supposed to understand that each and every offense against us is documented and will be repaid in kind. Rather than having to “stuff” our feelings in such instances in an effort to show that we’re “good Christians”, we’ve been freed from their destructive effect altogether. Knowing that the Lord will make everything right at the proper time releases us from our petty resentments and diffuses our anger. It brings us the peace that surpasses human understanding and restores our joy. For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.