I Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
Imagine being in prison thousands and thousands of miles from home in Russia for a crime you did not commit or even for a crime you did commit. Suppose you are accused of espionage. Can you imagine anything more isolating or frightening than being imprisoned in Russia far from home where the justice system is dubious at best? What if you were imprisoned in your own home? Would you feel better then?
First Peter is written to people who are strangers, people not domestic or from around here. They are sojourners, pilgrims on a journey, and they are dearly beloved. You see, this world is not our home. We are just passing through. So, all that I Peter has to say is written to believers who are living in a hostile world, realizing that this world is not their home.
The truth is, you won’t know how to live righteously until you know who has the right to judge. There are three things in response to this righteous Judge that we can take to heart. First, there is commitment. In I Peter 2:23 the Bible gives us the example of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself “who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.” He committed Himself. Commitment is a surrender to God. So, when I respond to the righteous Judge in the midst of a wicked world, I need to realize the importance of commitment, giving my wellbeing to Him that judges righteously.
Second, there is comfort. I can respond to the righteous Judge in the midst of an unrighteous world with comfort. I Peter 3:12 says, “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” This almost sounds proverbial, like a verse you might have pulled from Proverbs. On the one hand, the face of the Lord, His eyes and ears, are against them that do evil, and the first part of the verse says, “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers.”
Suppose you are in a prison miles and miles from home. Suppose there are unrighteous people who are standing in judgment of you. The question is, “Do you know the righteous Judge?” Maybe in this country you are being judged, not legally, but by friends, neighbors, or people online. You can take comfort in the fact that the righteous Judge judges righteously those who live in righteousness. We can be comforted that He hears, see, and knows. We are not abandoned or left on our own. I can commit my life to Him. I can take comfort in the fact that He hears and that He sees.
Then, we have the thought of conscience. Verse 16 says, “Having a good conscience.” We are to reverence the Lord God in our hearts and “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: having a good conscience.” A conscience means moral perception. You are not blind; you can distinguish right from wrong. The English word bears that out, “with science,” or “with knowledge.” It is not just a feeling. It is a knowledge of what is right and wrong because there is a judge who surpasses the government, society, or any other institution. There is a God Who is judge before whom we will all stand. That helps me to know how to behave towards government. I am not to be a rebel. For my brothers and sisters, I am to have compassion, to be pitiful and courteous. To society, the Bible says it is better to suffer for doing right than to suffer for doing wrong. If I suffer for doing wrong, then I am not being persecuted as a believer, I am being judged because I have done something that is wrong.
A year ago, I got pulled over in Wyoming. I think it was a speed trap, but I’m sure I was speeding. When the officer pulled me over, it would not have been right for me to say, “Hey, how dare you persecute me as a Christian.” I’m a Christian, but I wasn’t being persecuted for being a Christian. I was being pulled over because I broke the law. I was speeding. So, conscience is being able to distinguish right from wrong, being able to say, “This is right based on the standard of a holy God.” That helps me know how to deal with government, my brothers and sisters, and society. It is better to suffer for doing right, then to suffer for doing wrong. “That with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.”
Our lives today are not to be in rebellion, nor are they to be pushovers. Our lives are to be a testimony to a living Christ, because the one that judges righteously is open to the prayer of the righteous. You will not know how to live righteously until you know who has the right to judge, and that would be the Lord God.