"When you lament, you're bringing your issue to God and saying, 'God, this is wrong, do something about it.' It's a constructive approach, unlike complaining, which adds no value to the discussion." [09:35] (Download | Download cropped video)

"Seeking the truth in God's community leads to a perspective shift. Asaph sought answers in the sanctuary of God, among His people, where we strengthen and counsel each other." [14:31] (Download | Download cropped video)

"When I wake up with my bag of problems, I lay them at the feet of Jesus and leave them there. Trusting that His justice will prevail, even if I may not see it in this lifetime." [31:38] (Download | Crop for social media)

"Jesus can be found in this unjust world. He has not left us; He is with us every step of the way, and in His presence, we find everything we need." [33:40] (Download | Crop for social media)

"I trust that God's ultimate justice will prevail. This trust allows me to see Jesus even in the injustices of the world, differentiating us from those without hope." [21:46] (Download | Crop for social media)

"The true life is serving God, recognizing that there is more to life than just our temporal existence. Asaph realized that our ultimate desire should be for God alone." [18:46] (Download | Crop for social media)

"Even when we see injustice around the world, we can trust in God's sovereignty, knowing that He is in control and that His justice will one day be fully revealed." [21:02] (Download | Crop for social media)

"Our ultimate goal will always be worshiping Christ. When we keep this in mind, we can witness injustices and still say, 'There will come an end to that.'" [22:23] (Download | Crop for social media)

"Faith is what moves God and pleases Him. When Christ returns, He will be looking for our faith, not just our sense of justice." [25:11] (Download | Crop for social media)

"We can choose to complain about injustices or focus on Christ, bringing our laments to Him and trusting in His sovereign plan." [28:46] (Download | Crop for social media)

We are going through a series called "Finding Jesus." Last Sunday, it was about finding Jesus in the wilderness, and today is about finding Jesus in an unjust world.

Show of hands: who likes justice? Almost all of us. Who likes injustice? Okay, you guys are paying attention. Nobody likes injustice; we all like justice.

When we know what justice is, we know that it’s basically what is right. There are three types of injustice around us. First of all, it’s personal. When somebody does something to you that is wrong, that’s unjust. When somebody does something to those around you—a loved one, a parent, a spouse, a child, a grandchild—that’s also unjust. You feel it.

Then there’s a third level of injustice, and that is what we see in the world today. Right in the Middle East, there’s a conflict. There are two sides, both of them claiming to be unjustly targeted. So we have these levels of injustice around us, and all of us have this deep-down desire to say, “You know what? If I was ruling the world, things would be better.” I believe I am a just person. Don’t we all think that? Up to a point, we are.

None of us are planning on leaving this church today and robbing a bank before we go home. None of us are planning to beat up our neighbor once we get home. None of us are thinking about doing all these things, right? We think that we are pretty good and decent and moral people.

However, all of us get affected one way or another by injustice. The question, as believers, always is: Where is God in all of this? Where is Jesus? I’m His child; He loves me, I love Him, I serve Him. How come this is happening to me?

We must know that many times this could be a different approach or a different way of seeing it. What may seem just to you may seem unjust to another person, and vice versa.

Two pictures that I find interesting are of these two women who are exactly the same height. It doesn’t look like it, does it? But because the room is designed in such a way, one looks much taller than the other. That’s because one is standing much closer than the other, but because the room is warped, we see it distorted.

This is probably one of the first optical illusions. What do you see? This was done, I believe, in the 17 or 1800s. If you see a rabbit, you’re right. If you see a duck, you’re right too. If you don’t see either one, you should go and see an optometrist.

What I just see is something up there, so do check your eyes regularly by all means. But it’s interesting because depending on the situation, you will see it one way, whereas someone else can see it completely different.

Now, when we talk about injustice, what I do like about the Bible is that people before us have had the same complaints that you and I have: “Where are you, God? Where are you in this particular situation?”

We’re going to be looking today at Psalm 73. We know that most of the Psalms were written by David, but this Psalm was written by Asaph, who was a worship leader. Most of the Psalms were written by David, but other authors wrote Psalms as well, and Asaph was one of the second guys who wrote most of the Psalms.

This Psalm is a Psalm of lament. Actually, if you look at the book of Psalms, one-third of it is lament. I know many times people say, “I’m going to read Psalms all year long.” Right? “I’m going to read the book of Psalms because they’re so beautiful.” Some parts are, but some are just lament.

We will look specifically today at one Psalm written by Asaph, Psalm 73. I’m going to read it in the Message translation. It’s not a translation that we commonly use, but when we read this in the Message translation, we will see that Asaph is talking like many times many of us talk to God.

So he begins Psalm 73, verses 1-4:

“No doubt about it: God is good—good to good people, good to the good-hearted. But I nearly missed it. I missed seeing his goodness. I was looking the other way, looking up to the people at the top, envying the wicked who have it made, who have nothing to worry about, not a care in the whole wide world. Pretentious with arrogance, they wear their latest fashion in violence, pampered and overfed, decked out in silk. Bowls of silliness, they’re using words to kill. They bully their way with words; they’re full of hot air. I’ve used that expression a time or two. Loud mouths disturbing the peace. People actually listen to them. Can you believe it? Like thirsty puppies, they lap up their words. What’s going on here? Is God out to lunch? Nobody’s tending the store. The wicked get by with everything; they’ve got it made, piling up riches. I’ve been stupid to play by the rules. What has it gotten me? A long run of bad luck—that’s what. A slap in the face every time I walk out the door.”

Has anyone ever said that? Am I the only one?

Okay, in today’s world, you look at people, and what do you see? When I was preparing this message, I was adamant about not mentioning names, but if you open up social media, if you open up whatever news, you will see these rich people who contribute nothing to society, and all of a sudden they have all these words to say. They are either actors or musicians or just social media influencers, and they bring nothing to the table, yet they have huge amounts of following—millions and millions of people follow them.

And here you are, preaching the gospel. Here you are, talking about Jesus. Here you are, witnessing about God, and you have 10 followers. Right? Here you are, speaking truth; you don’t talk nonsense. And these people who are brought up on this huge platform, all they say is garbage, and millions and millions of people gobble it up.

Then you see people that are wealthy, and you think, “Well, I play by the book. I play by the rules. I do everything right, and look at me.” Don’t you complain? Don’t you say, “You know what? Maybe God is not in charge. Maybe God is out to lunch. Maybe there’s nobody attending the store; like it’s empty.”

In these moments, you think, “Where is God?”

The first point here is that when we see this, we ought to lament honestly the injustices of life. That is to recognize the problem. We live in a broken world; that means there are problems, and we ought to lament every time we see this happening.

Now, there’s a big difference between lamenting and complaining. When you complain, you’re not bringing any value to the discussion. Right? You complain about this politician, this party, this guy, this government, this, this, this, and the solution is, “I don’t know; I’m just complaining.”

But when you lament, you’re bringing you to God, and you’re saying, “God, this is wrong. Do something about it.”

We all know people that have been wronged in life. Perhaps you have been wronged in life. How do you counsel a person like that? How do you walk beside them when they say, “You know what? I served God faithfully all these years. I gave, I volunteered, I did all of this, and then my marriage broke. Then my loved one fell ill. Then my loved one died. Then my kids walked away, and they started doing drugs. Then my grandkids did this and this and this and this, and I’ve been faithful all my life. God, where are you?”

And then you look at the rich person who does not know God, who does not care about God, and they got a promotion. They got a brand new yacht. They are moving to a better neighborhood, and they’re going, “Really?”

It’s okay to lament—not because things are not going our way, but to say, “God, there are injustices happening in the world today.”

I don’t want to be here just sitting and complaining about it, talking to everybody that I meet. Trust me, as a pastor, I meet tons of people, and it’s funny because so many of them complain, complain, complain. What’s the solution? “I don’t know, but I like complaining.”

Especially, which we will not do here today, but especially when you fall into the conversation of politics. My goodness, everybody has an opinion, and their opinion is the only valid one. Everything else is wrong.

But complaining will not do any good. So Asaph here says he recognizes the problem. He says, “There is injustice, and you know what? I want to bring this to you, God, so that is there’s something wrong. I need help. How do I get out of this situation?”

Which will lead us to the second point, and that is found in Psalm 73:15-20. He continues to talk. Now he shifts. What he said up until now was kind of his internal voice. Do you have that? A couple of us do. You know as well as I do that if your internal voice comes out, there are going to be problems. Right? There are going to be fights; you’re going to be kicked out of work; you’re going to be suspended if that internal voice comes out. If you say everything that you think, oh my goodness, this is Asaph’s internal voice. He’s complaining, and he’s putting it out there to the world, saying, “God, where are you?”

But now he shifts, and he goes, “Okay, we recognize a problem.”

Verse 15: “If I had given in and talked like this”—well, he just did, but internal voice—“I would have betrayed your dear children. Still, when I tried to figure it out, all I got was a splitting headache until I entered into the sanctuary of God. Then I saw the whole picture: the slippery road you’ve put them on, with a final crash in a ditch of delusion. In a blink of an eye, disaster—a blind curve in the dark and nightmare. We wake up, rub our eyes, and there’s nothing to them, and there never was.”

The second point is that Asaph is seeking the truth in God’s community. He has a perspective shift. He sees all of this, but then he says, “You know what? I want to find answers.” Where does he go? To the sanctuary of God.

Today, when you want answers, where do you go? To Google? TikTok? Instagram? YouTube? And boy, do people have opinions, don’t they? “You should not do this. You should not drink that. You should not eat this.” And they go on and on and on, and people love it and listen to it.

Here, Asaph is saying, “You know what? I want to get a different perspective, and I want to find counsel where? In the sanctuary, within God’s people.”

Why is church important? We have different ideas, different opinions, but when we come together, we strengthen one another. Many times, we can counsel one another; we can speak life into one another, and we can say, “Listen, I would not do that if I were you.”

So Asaph shifts his perspective from looking at what’s wrong, and he’s complaining with his inside voice that turns out to be an outside voice. But then he says, “You know what? I got to shift my perspective.”

How many times have you done that in the middle of a discussion? How many times have you done that when you know that there was no solution, and you said, “You know what? I got to take a step back”?

You shift your focus. You’re not avoiding the problem; you’re not not dealing with it. You’re just saying, “You know what? I need a perspective. I need a different perspective. I need a different set of eyes.”

Asaph does this, and when he does that, he sees now that there’s something more going on. Rich people are getting richer, but then he says, “You know what? It’s like a curve in the middle of the dark, in the middle of the night. It’s a car crash waiting to happen. They may have all of this, but I know the end.”

He continues now to the third point, and this is from verses 21 to 24. Now he has changed his perspective, and now he’s going to start applying a solution. This is what he says:

“When I was beleaguered and bitter, totally consumed by envy, I was totally ignorant—a dumb ox in your presence. I’m still in your presence, but you’ve taken my hand, you wisely and tenderly led me, and then you blessed me.”

He starts looking at weighing his choices. He can see temporal versus eternal.

Now, this is something that all of us are dealing with on a regular basis. We all have neighbors, colleagues, friends, family members that—I've seen this all the time—say, “I’m an atheist. I die; there’s nothing to it.” Have you met people like that? I’m sure you have.

Growing up on the mission field, even the people that were not Christians knew there was something out there. Right? They knew there was a God, Heaven, hell, demons, devils; they knew. But now you come here, and you talk to Christ, and they’re like, “Why? I will die, and that will be the end of my existence.”

The Bible instructs us otherwise and says, “You know what? There’s way more to life than these 60, 70, 80 years that we live here.”

So Asaph now takes this into consideration and says, “You know what? There is temporal, and there is eternal. What weighs more?”

All of us who are believers will say, “You know what? We know eternity. We know it’s long. We know it’s heaven. We know it’s with God. We know all these things because the Bible tells us so.”

But if you don’t have that perspective, and this life is all you get, why not betray others? Why not step on others? Why not live a life of debauchery and lust and money and greed? Why not? Because if this is all there is, sadly, many people do that.

And that is why they don’t want to shift their focus, because they’re quite comfortable there. What’s also sad is that many times we, as believers, think that that is the good thing. Right? A good life is a good house, a brand new car, an awesome job, vacationing in all these exotic places. Oh, that’s the life!

Asaph is saying, “You know what? The true life is serving God. The true life is, you know what? There is more to it, and God is in control.”

So he comes to the realization that there is temporal, there is eternal, and that God is in control. But he doesn’t leave it out there; he brings it closer to him. Continuing on in verses 25-28:

“So now he shifts again. He knows temporal; he knows eternal. And this is what he says: ‘You’re all I want in heaven; you’re all I want on earth. When my skin and my bones get brittle, God is rock, firm and faithful. Look, those who left you are falling apart; deserters—they’ll never be heard from again. But I’m in the very presence of God. Oh, how refreshing it is! I’ve made the Lord God my home. God, I’m telling the world what you do.’”

So he concludes knowing that everything I want or everything I need is found in God and that I can ultimately trust God’s justice.

Remember what I said at the beginning: there is personal injustice, there’s injustice done to those around us, loved ones, and then there is injustice in the world.

I don’t know about you, but many times you feel helpless. Right? When it’s for you, you can defend yourself. When it’s your loved ones, you can defend them. But when you see injustice going around the world—racism, discrimination, ageism—when you see religions fighting, there’s nothing you can do.

But what you can do is you can say, “You know what? I trust in God, and I trust that God’s ultimate justice will prevail.”

When I know that, and when I live by that, according to that, I will know that I can see God, Jesus, even in the injustices of the world. That’s what makes us different from the world. The world has no hope; they have nothing to fall back on.

We say, “You know what? We know a God who is in control of absolutely everything, and He’s allowing this to happen, and He’s allowing this to happen for a reason.”

All we must do is know that He’s in control, and we ought to trust Him. We ought to say, “All I want in Heaven and Earth is found in you.” That’s it.

All I want—yes, it’s good to have a nice home; yes, it’s good to have a reliable car; yes, it’s good to have a job; yes, it’s good to have a family. But these are not the ultimate goals. Our ultimate goal will always be worshiping Christ.

Always. And when we have that in mind, we will see these injustices happening around us, and we will say, “You know what? There will come an end to that. We know that Christ will return, and He will make it right. We know that every knee will bow to Him. We know all these things because it’s written in His word.”

So then you say, “Well, I don’t think I see it now.” Israel, when they were taken captive to Babylon, they were in exile for many, many, many years. Don’t you think they were questioning God? “Where are you again? Like, where are your chosen people? Look at these heathens; why do they have all this food, these gods, and whatnot? And we’re captive.”

Read the story of Daniel. Beautiful story—well, beautiful because of what Daniel did and what God did through him. But the people were suffering. They were plucked from their land, plucked from their homes, taken into slavery, and it didn’t last the weekend; it lasted their lifetime.

“Where is God?” God was with them all along.

So we see this injustice; we see this. This is what’s happening, and many times we feel helpless.

To conclude, I like the parable that Jesus mentions in Luke 18:1-8, and this is from the NIV version. He tells a story about this unjust judge. You’ve probably heard it before.

This is how it goes: “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said, ‘In a certain town, there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, “Grant me justice against my adversary.” For some time, he refused. But finally, he said to himself, “Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice so that she won’t eventually come and attack me.”’

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

Kind of a weird way to end a parable, isn’t it? He’s talking about a judge, an unjust judge, and a widow who keeps bugging him, and then at the end, it’s like, “When the Son of Man comes back, will He find faith?”

Wait a minute! I thought we were talking about justice here. Many times, people say, “Well, you can’t compare God to an unjust judge.” That’s not the point.

The point here Jesus is making is that even in the down, the low parts of life, the unjust parts, Jesus hears your plea. Even though things may not look good, there will come a time when Christ will return.

And when He returns, will He find faith—not justice? Because, like I mentioned at the beginning, right? Each one of us has a different sense of justice.

If both of us are sharing a meal, there are three steaks—Mary, you, and I are sharing a meal. There are three steaks. I’m bigger than you, so I get two, and you get one. That’s justice, right? I’m glad she agrees with me, so we’re going for lunch afterwards.

No, right? Her sense of justice is like, “No, I want two steaks! I’m really hungry; I haven’t eaten in a couple of days.” Our sense of justice shifts according to our needs and our wants.

But Christ is saying, “When I come back, it’s going to be more than just personal human justice. There’s going to be faith in Him, because faith is what moves God, and faith is what pleases God.”

So we see all this going on, and we know that our eyes are fixed on Jesus, and we say, “You know what? No matter what happens here, I want to keep serving Christ. I want to keep serving the Lord, because things will not go my way. Things will not happen the way I want, how I wish, how I so desire. But I know that whatever happens, He is in control, and my faith is placed on Him—not on the judicial system, not on a political party, not on a person, but on the living person of Christ Jesus.”

So the personal application is to examine your own response to injustice. I encourage you to follow the psalmist’s example of seeking God’s perspective, trusting in His justice, and finding contentment in His presence.

Doing this can inspire a deeper commitment to righteousness and a greater reliance on God in the face of injustice. This is something that you and I can choose to do the moment we step out of this door.

You can leave complaining about this person, that person, this pastor, that pastor, this politician, this neighbor, this spouse, this child. You can leave here complaining about everything and everyone, or you can say, “You know what? There is a lot of injustice going on around me— injustice done to myself, injustice done to my loved ones.”

Whether it’s a business deal that went bad, whether it’s a personal attack, whether it’s people lying or gossiping about you, you can say, “I’m going to focus on Christ. All I can do is bring my lament to Christ and say, ‘You know what, God? Deal with it.’”

All of us have an expiry date here on Earth, don’t we? All of us have limits. Perhaps many of you are dealing with this: “I’ve been dealing with this situation for years and years and years, and there does not seem to be an answer.”

Lay it at God’s feet and say, “God, you deal with that. You deal with this. It’s an unjust situation; you deal with this.”

And I’m going to place it at your feet, and I’m not going to take it back. Right? Because I don’t know about you, but I have this problem: “God, here are my problems.” Before I leave the church, “Oh, wait a minute! I got to pick them up. I got to take them home with me.”

Monday morning, I wake up; I got my bag of problems with me wherever I go. Lay them at the feet of Jesus and leave them there.

Whenever you get attacked, whenever people gossip about you, talk bad about you, you say, “You know what? That’s a go at the feet of God. I’ve dealt with that. I can’t change it; I don’t want to change them. I place that at God’s feet.”

Perhaps the people that are badmouthing you, gossiping about you, cheating you on your business, and you hear through somebody else that they’re prospering, and that little anger flares up. But it’s like, “Oh God, it’s at your feet. I lay them there.”

And I know that your justice will prevail. You may not see it in this lifetime, but you will see it because He will make everything right.

Sadly, we many times want to see this in about five minutes. “God, chop chop! I’m on a schedule here.” Have you ever treated God like that?

We don’t treat each other like that; we don’t treat our friends like that. But many times, we treat God like that. “God, come on! Do something!”

You don’t talk like that to your loved one. Well, you’d get a smack in the face. But we treat God like that. We want it done; we want it right now.

And God says, “You know what? I got this in my own time. I got this.” Just like we read in Asaph’s Psalm 73: the wicked, they seem to prosper; this seems to go very well.

But we know the end—kind of like watching a movie when you already know the end of it, right? Kind of boring because you already know what’s going to happen.

But our life shouldn’t be boring because we know what’s going to happen at the end, and that should bring us great joy to say, “You know what? I can’t wait for the end.”

If this is your desire, and if you’re dealing with someone, now is a good time to lay it at the feet of Jesus.

Jesus, we can find Jesus in this unjust world. He has not left us; He has not abandoned us, nor has He forsaken us. He is with us every step of the way.

Sometimes there’s a lesson to learn; sometimes there’s something that you’ve done wrong. But He will never, ever, ever abandon you.

And when you know that, you can walk through the valleys, you can walk through the wilderness, you can walk through tough times, rough times. He will always be with you.