It is never ever comfortable to be judged by someone or feel judged by them! Does anyone feel me….?
I can honestly say I have been wrestling with God on this issue. First, feeling judged…and then me judging others. It is a “double-edged sword.” It is. And at 54, God has specifically allowed me to be in a place over the last couple of years of feeling the “intense judgement of others” and also convicting me of the same sin.
To say that I am “beat up” is an understatement. Maybe a better word is “spiritually sore” which is a great place to be…because I know that I know that my “spiritual muscles” are getting stronger. My faith is growing and I am learning from the greatest teacher of all…Jesus, who loves me unconditionally. The same Jesus who told the woman at the well, “Go and sin no more” after she had been judged by man! (see John 8).
As I have been wrestling with this double-edged sword for a while now, I can honestly say I am not a prostitute but have felt like one when “judging others!” God has taken me to a place of conviction and repentance and continually turning. I have also been in a place of “forgiving others” of their judgement of me.
When scripture tells us to “get the plank out of our own eye” before seeking to help someone else remove theirs, let me just say, I could build a really large house with the stacks of planks pulled from my own eyes. Yep, I have had a handful of stones I have wanted to “Hurl” at people” lately. But I am so thankful that I so recognize the “Shepherd’s voice” when He says, “Put the stone down.”
I have “grasped” the stone more tightly at times. I eventually am putting them down. I am learning if I just continually look in the mirror and allow God to do a “new thing in me,” I can totally trust God with those who are misjudging me!
It really is true. God’s sovereignty and HIS WILL prevails. God hates darkness and In HIS PERFECT time…not ours…HE will bring everything to light! The light may be on the day He returns to judge which may not be in our lifetime. We are not God. True surrender means “dropping my/your hands before a Holy God” and allowing Him to “work all things for good according to HIS plan…which is His will His way,” not ours. That requires from me a ton of NOT leaning on My own understanding.
I encourage you with this…YOU are only responsible for YOU.
On the day the Lord returns no one will stand with you and be judged with you. It will be you and God. With that being said, God is the only one who judges justly and extends grace. Man cannot see the heart nor does man know God’s sovereign plan. Our holiness and our choices are going to be JUDGED by God and He is the only one WHO SEES all, KNOWS ALL and sees MOTIVES.
So today I want to further encourage you with this…seek to be intimate with your Creator and just JUDGE. The only One who has the power to open the gates of heaven or the gates of hell. Thankfully God’s judgement will be based on all the facts, not man!
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God,” (Micah 6:8).