Embracing Divine Judgment Through Repentance

In the swirling chaos of our modern world, where nations clash, leaders rise and fall, and societal norms shift like sand, it’s easy to fall into the trap of resistance. We see invasions, corrupt rulers, and unexpected shifts in leadership, and our instinct is to fight back, to rally armies, vote in opposition, or demand a return to “traditional” order. But what if these very trials are not random misfortunes but deliberate acts of divine judgment? What if our efforts to repel them are not heroic stands but futile rebellions against the will of God Himself? As I’ve watched the world around us grow increasingly troubled, I’ve found myself focused on a single, sobering question: What does God want us to see in all of this? What is He saying to us through the trials of our time?

I write this not to discourage or condemn, but because I long for us to experience the mercy, healing, and restoration that God so freely offers. His heart is always toward redemption, even in the midst of judgment. And yet, as I’ve searched the Scriptures, one principle has weighed heavily on my heart and mind: we cannot turn aside the judgment of God by resisting the very instruments He uses to bring it. True deliverance comes not through fighting the symptoms, but through humble repentance and returning to Him. This truth crystallized for me a few days ago when I was reflecting on the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty, a book my daughter often asks me to read to her. In the classic story, twelve good fairies bless the newborn princess with gifts, but the thirteenth (uninvited) pronounces a curse: on her fifteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on a spindle and die. One of the remaining fairies softens the curse to a hundred-year sleep instead. The king, in desperation, orders every spindle in the kingdom to be burned. For fifteen years, the princess lives in safety.

The punishment is not ultimately about the invader, the wicked ruler, or the inverted order, it is about the sin that provoked it.

Yet on the very day she turns fifteen, she finds an old woman spinning on a spindle, pricks her finger, and falls into the prophesied sleep. The king tried to avert the judgment by destroying every possible instrument of it. But the curse came true anyway. That moment struck me to the core as I read it, it mirrors a spiritual principle I see throughout Scripture and in our own world today: God’s judgments cannot be stopped by eliminating the means He chooses to use. The punishment is not ultimately about the invader, the wicked ruler, or the inverted order, it is about the sin that provoked it. Removing the “spindle” changes nothing if the heart remains unrepentant.

God’s Judgment Is Fatherly Discipline

The Bible teaches us that God is not a harsh tyrant, but a loving Father who disciplines His children for their good (Hebrews 12:5–11). His judgments are not random or cruel; they are meant to show us our sin, humble us, and bring us back to Himself. Look at what Isaiah said to Judah: “Children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths” (Isaiah 3:12). This was not just a complaint about society. It was a sign of God’s judgment. Because of idolatry, injustice, and rebellion against His law, God allowed the natural order to be turned upside down.

If the men of Judah had tried to “take back” leadership by forcing women and children into their “proper place,” they would have missed the point completely. The problem was not the women or children; it was the nation’s sin. Resisting the judgment without repenting only hardens the heart and invites more discipline.
This same truth runs through the whole Old Testament. God raised up Nebuchadnezzar to judge Judah’s unfaithfulness (Jeremiah 25:9). The prophets told the people not to fight, but to repent and submit. Those who resisted met destruction; those who humbled themselves found hope.

God Sends Invaders

When God brings foreign nations against His people as judgment, fighting them does not stop the judgment—it only makes things worse. The Assyrians came against Israel because of their idolatry and injustice (2 Kings 17). God Himself sent them. Trying to fight them off would have been like fighting against God’s own hand. We see this again in the curses of Deuteronomy 28, where God warns that disobedience will bring invaders: “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you… He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him” (Deuteronomy 28:43-44). This was fulfilled time and again, such as when the Philistines oppressed Israel during the time of the judges because “the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (Judges 13:1). God delivered them into the Philistines’ hands for forty years as discipline for their sin.

Even the locust invasion in Joel was a form of divine judgment, symbolizing an army sent by God: “What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten” (Joel 1:4), calling the people to repent before a greater day of the Lord (Joel 2:1-11). In each case, military resistance or alliances failed; only repentance brought relief.

We see the same thing in our day. If a nation faces invasion, immigration pressures, or other threats, and those things come as judgment for sins like greed, pride, or moral decay, then building walls or raising armies will not ultimately stop them. The real answer is national repentance, turning from sin, seeking justice, and humbling ourselves before God. As God promised in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

God Raises Wicked Rulers

The same is true when God allows wicked or evil men to rule. Scripture shows that God sometimes uses even sinful rulers for His purposes: Pharaoh (Exodus 9:16), Saul (1 Samuel 18–31), Herod (Matthew 2). Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.” God raised up Nebuchadnezzar not just as an invader but as a wicked ruler to punish Judah: “I will bring them against this land… for seventy years” (Jeremiah 25:9-12; see also 2 Kings 20:17-18). Even though Nebuchadnezzar was proud and cruel, God called him “my servant” to execute judgment on idolatry. We see this with King Ahab of Israel, whose wickedness—promoting Baal worship and injustice—led the nation deeper into sin, bringing drought and defeat as judgment (1 Kings 16:30-33; 17:1). Or consider Manasseh of Judah, who “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,” building altars to false gods and shedding innocent blood, which sealed the nation’s doom despite later reforms (2 Kings 21:1-16). Hosea 13:11 captures this: “I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath,” showing kings themselves can be instruments of judgment for a rebellious people.

If such rulers are a sign of a nation’s rejection of God’s ways, then simply voting them out or campaigning against them will not end the lesson God intends. The true answer is repentance, turning to God ourselves and calling others to do the same.

God Allows Women and Children to Lead

Isaiah 3:12 is perhaps the hardest example: God sometimes allows children to oppress and women to rule as a sign of judgment. In Israel, where men were expected to lead, this reversal showed that the nation had fallen into deep sin. The problem was not the women or children; it was the men’s failure to lead in righteousness. Deborah’s leadership in Judges 4-5, while honorable, came because men like Barak were hesitant: “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go” (Judges 4:8). This highlighted Israel’s spiritual weakness after cycles of sin and oppression. Similarly, Queen Athaliah’s usurpation in 2 Kings 11—seizing the throne and killing royal heirs—was part of the chaos following wicked kings, reflecting God’s judgment on Judah’s idolatry. Even child kings like Joash, who ascended at age seven under priestly guidance (2 Kings 11-12), show a nation so unstable that mature leadership was absent, stemming from prior sins. In these cases, the reversal of roles was a symptom of deeper rebellion against God.

“Yes, But We Have to Do Both”

You will hear, “Yes, we should repent, but we also have to fight the invaders, oppose the wicked rulers, and push back against the cultural disorder. Surely we can do both.” But Scripture does not give us that option when these things are instruments of God’s judgment. When God sent the Assyrians, He did not tell Israel to repent and build alliances to fight them. He said, “I will remove them out of my sight” (2 Kings 17:18). When God raised up Nebuchadnezzar, the prophets did not call for armed resistance alongside repentance; they called for submission and repentance alone (Jeremiah 27:17). When the people of Judah resisted, they were destroyed.

The pattern is clear: God is the one who raises up and removes these instruments of judgment. Our job is not to remove the “spindle” ourselves, it is to repent. When the heart turns back to God, He will remove the rod of discipline in His time and His way. Trying to do both, fighting the judgment while repenting, only shows that we still trust in our own strength more than in God’s sovereignty. Repentance means laying down our own efforts and trusting the Lord to act. It may look like doing both when it happens, but the goal is not to repudiate the punishment, but embrace the sovereignty and justice of God in His timing.

Repentance Is the Only Way Forward

I share this because I care deeply for your souls and for the future of the church and our nation. God’s judgments cannot be stopped by resisting the judgment itself. The only way to turn away wrath is to repent. The prophets kept saying, “Return to me, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you” (Zechariah 1:3). When Jonah preached to Nineveh, the whole city repented, and God spared them (Jonah 3). This truth reaches its highest point in Jesus Christ. The greatest judgment we deserved, death for our sin, was taken by Jesus on the cross. If we resist Him by clinging to our own righteousness, we remain under judgment. But if we repent and trust in Him, we receive forgiveness and new life (Acts 3:19).

So where does this leave us? In a world full of trouble, let us not spend our energy fighting the instruments of God’s judgment. Let us instead look to our own hearts, confess our sins, and seek the Lord. As we repent, He promises to restore: “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten” (Joel 2:25). Our hope is not in resistance, but in returning to the God who judges righteously and redeems with abundant grace.

And just as in the fairy tale, when the judgment was fulfilled and the kingdom lay still in a silence like death, it was the one who fulfilled the prophecy, the true Prince, who awakened the daughter with a kiss, and the whole kingdom burst into life and rejoicing once more. So too, when we repent, the Lord Himself will awaken us, remove the curse of judgment, and restore the kingdom to life and joy in His presence.

May the Lord open our eyes to see His hand, soften our hearts to repent, and pour out His mercy on us.

In Him,

Brandon Charbonneau