“‘Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,’” says the LORD Almighty. ‘Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things,’ says the LORD Almighty.” (Malachi 4:3, NKJV)
The day is coming when God’s people will rejoice in His judgment against those who do evil. They will leap like a calf released from confinement, not only free from oppression and persecution but allowed to put the boot to those who harmed them.
Right now, it is not like that. In fact, it has taken God a few years to make me even want to “love your enemies” and “do good to those who hate you.” I still complain about those who do evil, denounce their deeds, pray that they repent or ask God to use what they are doing somehow for good, but even so, I’m not comfortable with the idea of trampling them under my feet. That seems so anti-Christian.
However, from Bible prophecies I can see that a time is coming when those who oppose God will severely persecute His people. Persecution happens now, but we in North America experience very little. Social norms and civil laws keep our “enemies” from much more than verbal insults, ignoring and ridiculing Christian ideas and principles, and making fun of our beliefs. Very few die for our faith. Not so in other parts of the world.
If I’m alive when things go downhill all over the world, I wonder how will I handle persecution? Will I stand firm in my faith? Or think God has abandoned me? Will I turn to promises like this one? Or will I run in terror looking for a place to hide?
As a child Corrie Ten Boom, a woman put in a Nazi concentration camp for her faith, asked her father a similar question. Would she have what it takes to stand for Jesus if put to such a test? Her father reminded her about their train travel and asked her when she received her ticket. She said, “Right before I need it.” The older man said that was what God’s grace is like, that He gives it to us, not ahead of time, but when we need it.
Living by faith is about believing that God is sufficient for whatever happens—when it happens. It is trusting Him for everything, all the time, but mostly knowing that He will supply all that I need, that He is here for me, not only for the future, but right now—this very minute. And this very minute He still asks me to pray for those who oppose me, and do good to any who might persecute me. The trampling part will be later, I hope much later!
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