Shared Victories

What is your typical response when your good works are rewarded with evil consequences? Sometimes it seems when that happened to individuals whose lives are recorded in the Book, that the justice they received was not an immediate vindication.

In the lives of Joseph and of the 3 friends of Daniel: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (who are sometimes better known by the demon-related names given to them by the Babylonians: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego), for examples. These guys could not find justice in the laws of the lands in which they lived. They had no rights.

Their responses were simply to stand as men who had no greater allegiance than their submission to Yahweh. After their baptisms of prison and fire, they became leaders of their persecutors. Our responses to persecution, false accusation, insults or attacks can have the same power. When we respond to attacks with the power of the cross, eventually our God wins and divides the spoils of His victory with us.