Justice

Justice

Last week we wrote, in this blog, about how grace should be extravagant and not sensible.  Grace is the language of the Lord that we shout to others as we walk with them.  Grace, though, does not eliminate justice.  While God is a God of unbelievably extravagant grace, he is also a God of holy justice.  Those who are evil would do well to cower in fear under the wrath and justice of God.  While we would seek mercy and grace for all, it is righteous to call out, on behalf of the victims, that God would show his justice to the wicked.  We live in a land full of violence and wickedness.  Children being shot at school, queers (their name) giving lap dances to children during story time, politicians who rejoice in signing bills to slaughter babies...we could go on and on.  Here is my prayer today:


PSALM 94

 O Lord, God of vengeance,
   O God of vengeance, shine forth!
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth;
   repay to the proud what they deserve!
3 O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
   how long shall the wicked exult?
4 They pour out their arrogant words;
   all the evildoers boast.
5 They crush your people, O Lord,
   and afflict your heritage.
6 They kill the widow and the sojourner,
   and murder the fatherless;
7 and they say, “The Lord does not see;
   the God of Jacob does not perceive.”
8 Understand, O dullest of the people!
   Fools, when will you be wise?
9 He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
10 He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
He who teaches man knowledge—
11     the Lord—knows the thoughts of man,
   that they are but a breath.
12 Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord,
   and whom you teach out of your law,
13 to give him rest from days of trouble,
   until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not forsake his people;
   he will not abandon his heritage;
15 for justice will return to the righteous,
   and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16 Who rises up for me against the wicked?
   Who stands up for me against evildoers?
17 If the Lord had not been my help,
   my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
18 When I thought, “My foot slips,”
   your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
19 When the cares of my heart are many,
   your consolations cheer my soul.
20 Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
   those who frame injustice by statute?
21 They band together against the life of the righteous
   and condemn the innocent to death.
22 But the Lord has become my stronghold,
   and my God the rock of my refuge.
23 He will bring back on them their iniquity
   and wipe them out for their wickedness;
   the Lord our God will wipe them out.