God is Just

“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” Deuteronomy 32:4

What is Justice, Really?

Justice according to our American dictionaries is morally right and fair behavior or treatment. It is the quality of being fair and reasonable. A Justice is the admin of law or authority in maintaining this. In Hebrew, the word for justice is mishpat. It means to treat people equitably according to Tim Keller.

It is this innate sense of what’s right and wrong that we all have, it comes from God in us. We all crave justice. That’s why you hear children constantly whining about things being unfair. They want justice, they want what they feel is right and fair to their big innate longings.

As adults it is, hopefully, better managed than whining when we feel wronged, but we experience the same emotions, knowing full well that not everything is fair in this world. It’s one of the hard lessons we have to learn growing up. “Life isn’t fair.”

Do you cringe like I do when hearing it?

The good news is that while life isn’t fair and just due to sin and sinful people in this world, God is just and he desires His justice to be done in this world.

That’s why he appointed people like Deborah, Samson, and eleven named others to carry out his justice in the Old Testament times. You can read all about it in the book of Judges. Although, be forewarned, it can get a bit gruesome.

Is God’s Justice Too Tough?

Now, the elephant in the room when you talk about God’s justice is the exact gruesome nature of how things went down in the Old Testament. It all feels a bit too harsh. God certainly seemed to be strict on the Israelite's and all who stood in their path to his journey for them. And he was.

God is an absolute God. So, when he tells people what to do and what to expect, he carries through on that unless moved to mercy or grace. In a way, you can glimpse the example of parenting here where he tells them what to do and what will happen if they don’t listen. He then follows through on the consequences he warned them of.

Some of the harshest punishments though, were to meet the harshness of the sin that was committed. In America, we are shielded from many of the evils of war and only catch glimpses of the true terrors happening in war-torn countries ruled by evil people. It can be hard to get a sense of what a war filled life looks like.

But don’t forget that God is unchanging, so while at times he seemed overly harsh, he also showed great compassion, mercy, and grace. We need to be highly grateful for that. Things changed when Jesus died on the cross. Our relationships to God changed and how we were able to communication with him changed.

When we ask, there is forgiveness to be had for everyone who has done any kind of wrong. Thank goodness for that!

But, when we mess up, we are due consequences. Sometimes the consequences are naturally occurring and sometimes they’re intentional from God. For example, a natural consequence of drinking too much alcohol is that you feel terrible and likely have a hangover the next day. We can still be forgiven, but that doesn’t always negate the consequences.

In his great love for us, God will show compassion and mercy sometimes and we’re able to skip the justice we rightly deserve. More to come next week on that beautiful trait of God’s.

Revenge is Not Ours

Even when we are wronged in our mostly peaceful little corner of the world, there is justice to be had. However, it is not to be by our hand unless you are actually a judge or justice of the law.

God clearly warned to not seek our own revenge, but rather leave it to him.

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.”’

Since we are fallible human beings with a sinful nature, we cannot always be trusted to make the truly best decisions. And since we cannot see the true heart of everyone and understand their motives, it would be unfair of us to judge them.

I understand there can be a strong desire to doll out your own punishment. That you can feel oh so clever with how you intend to pay them back their wrongs. That Revenge is a concept our world loves to embrace. But that is NOT the way of God!

God tells us to turn the other cheek and give them your coat (Matt 5:38-40) and love our enemies (Matt 5:43-48). God’s way is often described as upside down and opposite to the natural way of the world.

My favorite counter to “eye for an eye” is that then the whole world would be blind. It doesn’t solve anything and it doesn’t take away your pain. It leaves you feeling empty.

God is compassionate and longs to bring justice for you, but remember, he is an eternal God and his timeline is not the same as ours. You may never know what the punishment is for the one who wronged you. And as much as you want to, it’s not always for you to know.

That issue is between the sinner and God. Just like your sins are between you and God and the punishments you receive are not always going to be known to those you wronged.

Closing:

My friends, “The LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him! ” Isaiah 30:18.

Wait on the Lord, do not take your own revenge, for then you will have your own justice to face. God treats everyone the same, he sees no hierarchy or thinks anyone is better than another. His love is the same for all; as hard as that can be to fathom sometimes, this is one of the many reasons that he is God and we are not. We cannot always muster that same love, forgiveness, and compassion for those who have truly done us wrong.

But God tells us to try so try we must. Allow him to be truly just, allow him to judge the hearts of others. Our lot is really good at lying, especially to ourselves and our loved ones when we don’t want to expose our biggest flaws and darkest secrets. But God knows them all and he will be just with the whole of the person in mind.

Trust in his justice and leave the revenge to him. You sit back and let it go because God’s justice will be poetic and absolute.

Prayer:

God, Righteous God, You are absolute justice and we are grateful that you are in charge of that. We are grateful that you seek revenge and justice on our behalf. We are flawed and in need of an ultimately just God who is always compassionate. You are truly unique in this and we’re in awe of your beautifully complex character. Help us to leave revenge to you so that we are not furthering a wrong. Please do justice on our behalf. We are grateful to you.

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Hey sweet lady, we want to take a quick minute to guide your next steps with the scripture and application portion. We believe that in order to truly grow closer to God, we need to spend time dwelling on what he’s trying to teach us and not rush through it. We encourage you to spend a full week dwelling on this devotional and all it has to offer you. That means you can save some of the scripture passages for another day or re-read them in the week. We also encourage you to take your time with the application portion. You can sit in each prompt until you feel God revealing his truths to you. Don’t rush, take time to truly get to know him better by sitting in what he’s trying to teach you this week. That's where your faith will grow.

Scripture for Deeper Study:

• Judges – pick one or two Judge’s stories to read

• Isaiah 30:18-32

• Deuteronomy 32:1-4

• Matthew 5:38-48

Application:

• Think of a time when you had to face justice for a wrong you had done. Do you think it was done by man or God?

• Read some stories about a judge, see how they interacted with God and how justice was brought about back in the Old Testament.

• Is there anyone right now that you have been plotting revenge against? You need to let that go to God. Trust he will seek justice for you and carry it out at the right time and in the right way.