THE LAW OF COMPENSATION
For those of you who think the bad guys are winning,
Who think justice has left the world,
Who think the rich and powerful have it easy,
Who think arrogant politicians are not paying for their lust for power,
I was there with you until…
I found comfort in nature’s law of compensation.
Let me explain…
You see, God has written into nature a duality in everything.
Light and dark,
Heat and cold,
Ebb and flow of waves,
Man and woman.
If we empty here, we fill there,
If we miss here, we gain there.
It is comforting to me because every person no matter what their status, high or low, rich or poor, powerful or weak, is bound by this law of compensation, and cannot alter or avoid it. There is always a leveling of experience that puts down the overbearing, the oppressor, the abuser, the strong, the rich, the famous, the fortunate, and puts us all on the same ground.
Every advantage has a tax. (Viewing a documentary on the Rockefellers, I was struck by the heavy burden of great wealth.)
Every sin carries its own punishment in the now, even though justice may be delayed.
The swindler swindles himself.
The greedy steals from himself.
The tyrant oppresses himself.
Emerson wrote over a century ago: “The farmer imagines power and place are fine things. But the President has paid dear for his White House. It has commonly cost him all his peace, and the best of his manly attributes. To preserve for a short time so conspicuous an appearance before the world, he is content to eat dust before the real masters who stand erect behind the throne.”
Hannah expressed the law of compensation. “The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry hunger no more… The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.” (1 Sam 2:4-8 NIV)
Emerson again, “This law writes the laws of cities and nations. It is in vain to build or plot or combine against it. Things refuse to be mismanaged long. Though no checks to a new evil appear, the checks exist, and will appear. If the government is cruel, the governor’s life is not safe. If you tax too high, the revenue will yield nothing. If you make the criminal code sanguinary (eager to shed blood), juries will not convict. If the law is too mild, private vengeance comes in.”
So for us frustrated that we cannot set things right, we can take comfort that God’s law of compensation is at work right now in everything and every person in the world. Compensation is not delayed. It is working now. So relax and know God is taking care of leveling the playing field.
By Jim May