Yep, the scary, stormy ocean image is totally intentional. I don’t mean to fear-monger, I mean to warn lovingly.
Make no mistake: God hates oppression of all kinds. Contemporary Christians vary widely in the sins they especially vilify. As I so often say, God’s perfectly Holy standard presents an insurmountable gap that only The Cross can bridge. Even so, there is plenty of precedent for certain sins really bugging God A LOT.
The Bible says it so much better than I can, so I’ve offered a limited list of relevant verses below. If this is a topic you care about, Google it for many more.
While it’s true that ever-popular sexual immorality features prominently, oppression is the WAY more common and consistent issue that invited God’s righteous wrath from the very beginning. Such sins as abuses of power, exploitation, neglect of the poor and vulnerable, greed, injustice, etc. invited an a**-whooping of the most terrifying kind.
I don’t know what that looks like and I don’t want to. I have sampled God’s loving discipline and I know that’s excruciating.
Idolatry—which is basically worshipping anything above God—is also a biggy.
Take note: In the New Testament, Jesus was also deeply bothered by brazen oppression but was most vocally bothered by not serving the needy, spiritual pride, hypocrisy, and its variant, lying.
It’s sobering to realize that oppression is not limited to global dictators or slave traders. Nor does it need to involve physical violence. Humans can knowingly abuse their power in church, a committee, a relationship, public service, a family system, at the office, in sports…anywhere!
Thus, those who combine oppression and hypocrisy--a common blend these days--should be especially concerned about their standing with God. RED ALERT: Narcissists of every variety. In a very real sense, these people have made themselves god. Not good at all.
To them, Jesus said:
Matthew 23:33...
“Snakes! Cold-blooded sneaks! Do you think you can worm your way out of this? Never have to pay the piper?” (The Message)
“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” (NIV)
If this describes you, please STOP now and do whatever your God-given conscience dictates to make amends. God will help you if you turn to Him. Otherwise, He will do it for you.
Thankfully, there is still extremely GOOD NEWS:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (NIV)
I invite you to reach out to me privately with questions or prayer. ❤️
PRAYER: Lord, please forgive us for the ways in which we’ve abused our power and influence to advance our interests and injure the defenseless and disadvantaged. Thank You for offering us Your Son as the perfect atoning sacrifice for sins of every variety. Please reveal and soften our hearts for the genuine repentance You require, transforming us, and help us repair the damage we’ve wrought. Have mercy, Father, according to Your great love for us. I ask all things in the precious name of Jesus, Amen. 💖
BIBLE VERSES ABOUT OPPRESSION
(ESV)
Proverbs 14:31
Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.
Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.
Psalm 72:4
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!
Zechariah 7:10
Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”
Luke 4:18-19 (Jesus)
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
Psalm 146:7
Who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;
Proverbs 22:16
Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.
Malachi 3:5
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
Psalm 103:6
The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
Romans 12:19
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
James 2:6
But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?
Psalm 12:5
“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
Jeremiah 22:13
“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages,
Isaiah 10:1-3
Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?
Amos 4:1
“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’
Psalm 82:3
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Matthew 25:41-46 (Jesus)
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ...
Jeremiah 22:17
But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.”
Ezekiel 22:29
The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice.
Jeremiah 22:3
Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
Proverbs 22:22-23
Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate, for the Lord will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them.
James 5:4
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
Isaiah 10:1
Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression…
Psalm 10:17-18
O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
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