When the World Condemns Your Faithful Service

Does the world condemn you for your zeal in God's service? Does it scorn you for maintaining good works? Does it traduce you with accusations of preciseness, conceited singularity, and pharisaical hypocrisy? Yet if your conscience does not condemn you—if it is rectified by the sacred Word of God, if you aim at His glory in pursuing your own salvation, and do not side with the disturbers of the church—then go on, good Christian, in the practice of piety. Do not discourage yourself in your laudable endeavors. Recount with comfort that Yahweh alone is your judge. As Paul wrote, "I know whom I have believed" (2 Timothy 1:12).

Are you wrongfully adjudged in the erroneous courts of men? Has truth and righteousness abandoned their proper places? Is equity neglected and poverty overlaid? Take heart. There is a God who beholds the innocency of your cause, to whom you have liberty to make your final appeal: "Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me; fight against them that fight against me."

Are you injured by malicious men, yet too poor to seek amends? Does a covetous oppressor grind you down? Do not take the matter into your own hands through unlawful courses. Remember what the apostle taught: "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you" (2 Thessalonians 1:6). Adonai shall litigate dīn [contend] against your adversaries.