Trust God When Others Have Sinned Against You

While the details of our stories are different, what is the same for all of us is that we have been and will be sinned against (and that we have sinned and will sin against others). Also the same for all of us is the fact that God is still intimately involved in our stories and can be trusted to order our lives.

So what does it mean to trust God to write your story when others have sinned against you—perhaps grievously, perhaps with no evidence of remorse or repentance?

It means

• trusting that He has purposes for you—as well as for others who are part of your story—and that those purposes will be fulfilled in spite of (or perhaps even through) the wrongdoing you have endured;
• trusting Him to protect and provide for you, though others have failed to do so;
• trusting that in His way and time, He will deal with your offenders;
• trusting Him to protect your heart from becoming bitter or holding hostage those who have sinned against you;
• trusting Him for grace to forgive what seems unforgivable;
• trusting Him—in His way and time—to redeem and overrule the losses caused by those who have sinned against you;
• trusting that the Holy Spirit can turn the heart of your offender and bring him or her to repentance and to a right relationship with God.

All of these responses might understandably seem unattainable and perhaps even ludicrous if it weren’t for the fact that we have a Savior who knows what it is to be sinned against through no fault of His own.

First Peter tells us that “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” 1 Peter 3:18Close1 Peter 3:18 Christ suffered* for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.* OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) (ESV). Though He was the object of unimaginable abuse, “he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” 1 Peter 2:23Close1 Peter 2:23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) (ESV).

Do you see that? Even as He was being sinned against in the most outrageous ways possible— unjustly accused, beaten, and put to death—Jesus kept trusting God to write His story.

And what was the outcome?

“By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” 1 Peter 2:24-25Close1 Peter 2:24-25 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) (ESV).

Our faithful, loving God has the power to redeem the unredeemable and to turn ashes to beauty, not just in spite of the injuries we have suffered, but actually through those very wounds.

Through Him, we have been healed of the wounds inflicted on us by our own personal sin and by the sin of a fallen world, which pits one person against another. Through His trust in the Father, our hearts have been brought back to the Father. How amazing is that!

Even so, as we entrust ourselves to God in those circumstances where we have been sinned against, He may not only bring us healing, but may also use us to be instruments of healing and repentance to our offenders. Regardless of whether we ever live to see that fruit in this life, we know that the One who judges justly will one day right every wrong.

Taken from You Can Trust God to Write Your Story: Embracing the Mysteries of Providence by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth & Robert Wolgemuth (©2019). Published by Moody Publishers. Used by permission.