Vindicated : John Kim
Psalm 17:1-3 (ESV)
1 Hear me, LORD, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer— it does not rise from deceitful lips. 2 Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right. 3 Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed.
It’s not uncommon for us to feel like we have been mistreated or wronged. When I had received the calling to serve God, I had many close friends and family members who tried to convince me otherwise because they thought they were looking out for my best interest.
While I did not take offence to those who gave me genuine advices with concerns, there were those who condemned me and accused me of being stubborn, which was really disheartening. I do admit that I may have come off as stubborn because I was firm in my commitment to God but to be condemned for desiring to serve God was really painful. I wanted to defend myself and reason with them but God placed in my heart the passage from Psalm 17.
He reminded me through the words of David that what matters in the end is not what people said about me but how God saw me. That my vindication will come from God. After all, who knew the hearts of man better than God? Instead of raising my voices to defend myself, God led me to silence and prayer. As I knelt before the altar all night praying in tears, God gave me peace and reassured me that He knew my heart.
The Psalm ends with these words, “As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.” God reminded me that my joy is not in anyone else but in God. That even if I was wronged, I would be okay because God was with me. He turned my tears of sorrow at night to joy of being in His presence every morning.
As I conclude, I must say that my vindication came from God but not in the way I had wanted, which was to prove to the people that I was not wrong. Instead, God has vindicated me by showing the love of God to those who wronged me through forgiveness and unity in God.