An Explanation Please
Micah 6:3
"O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me."
When you read the verse above, you can see that God simply wanted an explanation from His people for why they left Him for other gods. In fact, when you read the previous verse you will see that God had a controversy with the people. The word "controversy" means a debate or dispute over something that happened. In other words, God asked the people to give Him a chance to explain His position. It is apparent that God could not figure out why the people were upset with Him. The people should have given God the dignity He deserved by giving Him an opportunity to explain His side of the story.
It is sad that many times God is never given a chance to explain His position to us. Too often people get angry at God over something that someone else has done. Just because a preacher has done something to you does not mean that God had any part of it. Just because a fellow Christian has hurt you does not mean that you should hold it against God. Christian, if you are not careful, you will hold something against God for which He had no part. You should always give God the benefit of the doubt and allow Him to explain Himself. You may wonder how does God explain Himself? God explains Himself through time. Like a preacher once told me, "Time always tells." If you will be patient with God, you will see that God will explain Himself by how He deals with your situation.
I remember years ago a preacher who had deeply wronged me. This man made it his agenda to try and destroy my ministry. At first I did not understand what God was doing. Because it was early on in my evangelistic ministry, it would have been easy to quit evangelism and move on to something where I could make better money. Yet, because that preacher told me that time always tells, I waited on God and He explained Himself to me by revealing to everyone the faults of the offending preacher. In time, God vindicated Himself to me by blessing my ministry through that situation. If I would not have given God the chance to explain Himself, I could have easily stayed bitter towards God for many years to come.
Let me take this thought one other direction. When you feel someone has wronged you, you should be sure to give them a chance to explain themselves. Many friendships are destroyed because one person held something against a friend that they never did. If they had given that person a chance to explain themselves, that friendship could have been salvaged. Yet, because the one who was hurt never gave them a chance to explain themselves, they allowed false information to cause them to hurt, hinder and destroy a good friendship.
Be careful that you always give people an opportunity to explain themselves. Matthew 18:15 commands, "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." Always remember that when you don't give your brother a chance to explain himself, then you are not only opening yourself up to bitterness, but you are also disobeying God. Be a good Christian and learn to always give others a chance to explain themselves.