Tuesday: God Loves Justice
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 18th of March 2025
Scripture declares that God loves justice and hates evil (for example, Psalms 33:5, Isaiah 61:8), and He is deeply concerned about injustice, which evokes righteous indignation on behalf of all those who are the victims of injustice. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God is consistently passionate in favor of the downtrodden and oppressed while expressing righteous anger against the victimizers and oppressors.
Read Psalms 82:1-8. How does this psalm express God’s concern for justice in this world? What might it mean for us today?
Image © Lars Justinen Goodsalt.com
As many commentators understand it, this passage decries both the earthly rulers responsible for the injustice in society and is also a reference to when God judges the celestial rulers (the “gods”) behind corrupt earthly judges and rulers (demonic forces, obviously). Specifically, the rulers are asked, “How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?” (Psalms 82:2, NKJV).
Further, they are charged: “Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked” (Psalms 82:3-4, NKJV). Here and elsewhere, the prophets of the Old Testament set forth a clarion call for justice. This is no peripheral concern of Scripture; it is central to the message of the prophets throughout the Old Testament and to what Jesus spoke when here in the flesh.
It is no secret what God desires and requires of those who would claim to love and obey Him. He specifies very clearly in Micah 6:8 (and in similar passages elsewhere): “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (NKJV).
This sentiment is echoed throughout Scripture. For example, Jesus said: “ ‘By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another’ ” (John 13:35, NKJV; compare with 1 John 4:8-16).
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What would our families and churches look like if we focused on Micah 6:8 and intentionally put it into practice in both word and deed? In whatever context you are in, how could the application of these principles be made manifest better? |
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Today, I have collected all the verses in Psalms that mention Justice. I leave it as a homework excercise to read these to see the big picture of not only God's justice but our resoponsibility.
We often equate God’s judgment and justice with our system of justice. One of the things we need to understand is that God‘s justice involves giving him permission to convert and save an evildoer!
The Church should be a champion of justice within its structures and in the society. In a loving and firm stance, the church leadership should actively promote justice in all its operations, policies, and theology. In the context of Micah 6:8, the church is God’s platform here on earth and it should be as white as snow in all matters of justice, mercy and humility. What should the church leadership do to execute this role faithfully?
A) The church should act justly:
1. The church should speak/advocate for the oppressed. Never should the church be silent in the face of corruption, discrimination, oppression or any social injustice (Proverbs 31:8-9). In the first instance, the church leadership must not participate in any form or shape in these evils.
2. The church should uphold integrity in matters of financial management, decision-making and discipline. Unfortunately, in some cases, church leadership has been engulfed in financial and leadership scandals. The church’s integrity should be beyond reproach within its leadership.
3. The church needs to be the voice and source of refuge to vulnerable (the poor, widows, orphans, and marginalized (Isaiah 1:17). Unfortunately, in some cases, the voice of the rich and the powerful overshadows justice and fairness.
4. The church should administer fair discipline. Unfortunately, in some cases, favouritism is practiced towards the more influential members of the church. Favouristism is evil and must not be part of God’s church.
B) The church in all its operations must exercise love and mercy:
1. The church must support the needy in its programs and policies. God has allowed us to love Him through our fellow human beings. The church must be relevant to the needs of the vulnerable, otherwise it ceases to be God’s church. How can we say that the money belongs to God when the church neighborhoods are ravaged with hunger!
2. The church discipline is to restore and not to condemn. Those who have fallen into the devil’s trap should be rehabilitated, mentored, counselled and reconciled into the family of God.
3. The church should be the strongest platform for promoting peace and forgiveness. As much as possible, the church should advocate for the resolution of disputes biblically (Matthew 18:15-17).
C) Church leadership should lead by humility:
1. Church leaders should be “servant leaders”. They should seek to serve and not seek power and control (Mark 10:45).
2. Church leaders should avoid being led by the spirit of materialism. Financial gains should not be the prime motive for seeking office. Display of excessive affinity for materialism goes against Christ’s humility.
3. Church leaders should promote unity and equality. All church members should be treated with the same respect and dignity regardless of social class, race, or gender (Galatians 3:28). Unfortunately, in some cases, members are treated according to the size of their financial pockets. This should never, ever be the case!
4. Church leaders need to seek God’s guidance at all times when making decisions, big or small. Church leaders need to fortify their actions through constant prayer. Also, church members ought to pray for their leaders always.
"To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice" - Proverbs 21:3
But we are the church.
1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ...but we don't love one another, why is it we don't love one another?
v12...'if we love one another God abides in us...The answer to v11- God's not abiding in us and why?
v13 answers v12 we abide because He's given us His spirit! Do we have the spirit? We don't love each other because we don't have the spirit and why's it we don't have spirit?
v15 says whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, wow is it that simple? But all of us christians we confess that and yet still God doesn't abide in us - because we do not love each other.
What should we do in order to be able to love one another??? Please help
“How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked? (Psalms 82:2, NKJV). This rhetorical question underscores God’s intolerance for corruption and favoritism, revealing His anger toward those who pervert justice.
Also Psalms 82:3-4 emphasizes the need to defend the poor, fatherless, afflicted, and needy, and to deliver them from the wicked.
This lesson reminds us that justice isn’t optional, it’s core to God’s will and we are expected to uphold it and protect the vulnerable, not favor the wicked or oppress the weak.
living out justice transforms both us and the world around us.
Thank you Omwenga. Church leaders and members need to be reminded of this. Too much injustice within the church and if this is not brought to their attention we are in a wrong place.
We all depend on God for everything, and His justice never fails. Whatever may seem wrong now will be clarified because everyone will bow before the Lord.
Justice and injustice coexist in the world and are experienced in varying degrees. Justice often depends on societal systems, governance, and moral values, while injustice stems from inequality, corruption, and oppression. Despite ongoing efforts to promote justice through legal systems, human rights movements, and social reforms, injustice persists in many forms, such as discrimination, poverty, and abuse of power.
The balance between justice and injustice varies depending on where you look. Some societies prioritize justice, while others face environments where injustice is more prevalent. Ultimately, both continue to shape the world.
From a biblical perspective, there is an expectation that injustice will increase as we approach Christ's return. Scripture speaks of worsening conditions in the last days, including moral decay, corruption, and growing wickedness.
Jesus mentioned this in Matthew 24:12, saying, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” Paul also warned of difficult times in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, describing people as "lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."
These passages point to a time of growing lawlessness and injustice as people turn away from God's principles. However, even in such times, we believers are encouraged to stand firm and remain faithful, as God's justice will ultimately prevail when Christ returns to restore righteousness and establish His eternal kingdom.
You know that our justice system is messed up when the victims have less rights than the victimizers, or when there is a two-teired system of justice. When the wealthy, and people of position, and power are allowed to escape justice, and commit crimes with impunity, then you know that the department of justice has been corrupted into the department of injustice. This demoralizes a people and leads into a mindset of everyone doing what is right in their own eyes.
Has God's patience contributed to this situation? I believe so. It wasn't this way in the beginning. After Adam and Eve betrayed sacred trust by submitting to Satan's scheme, God was quick to confront the situation and the parties involved, and assign consequences to the offending parties. When Cain slew his brother Abel, once again, God quickly stepped in, and called Cain out, and assigned consequences. Yet it seems that the longer time has gone on, the more lackadaisical God has become when it comes to administering justice, to the point that now there seems there is no restraining "fear of God" in mankind anymore. Humans are a sorry lot, and it seems to many that God has become a disinterested "grandfather", unwilling to call out individuals or hold them accountable for their misdeeds. Some wonder what happened to the protective Father God, that swiftly and severely confronted sin and sinners, like Adam & Eve, Cain, Korah, Achan, etc.? Has he lost interest in justice? Has he gone soft on injustice? Has the "goodness of God" become his Achilles heel? To many it seems so. The earth itself seems to groan longing for deliverance from such a state of condition, and the people cry out, like the blood of the martyrs under the altar, (Rev.6:10) beseeching "how long oh Lord..." How many times has that expression been made in scripture? Too many times! I can't be the only one with such thoughts.
I have often stated that "this side of heaven we will have many imponderable questions." Once there, perhaps they will be forgotten with one look at Jesus' face. In the interim, don't let the things that you don't understand interfere with the things that you do, chiefly, that God is love. Until then keep a prayer on your lips, and a song in your heart to help you on the way. It's really the only way that I can remain sane in this crazy world.
This is one of many hymns and songs that have encouraged me on my journey
632 - Until Then
My heart can sing when I pause to remember, A heartache here is but a stepping stone.
Along a trail, thats winding always upward,
this troubled world, is not my final home.
Refrain
But until then, my heart will go on singing,
Until then, with joy I'll carry on,
Until the day my eyes behold the city,
Until the day God calls me home.
The things of earth will dim and loose there value,
If we recall they're borrowed for awhile;
And things of earth that cause the heart to tremble,
Remembered there, will only bring a smile.
Repeat Refrain
Righteousness, justice, mercy, and grace can only exist because God chose the Way of Love in His interactions with Creation. The universe and all life — whether in heaven, on earth, or beyond — are governed by principles that manifest through Love. When Lucifer rebelled, he opposed God’s Way of Love, which expresses and sustains life.
No one can be righteous, just, merciful, or gracious without God’s Love transforming the heart and mind into a new nature first. These divine attributes begin to take shape when an individual is rescued from the darkness of this world and brought into God’s Light of Love.
God’s Love takes root in every follower of Jesus Christ and placed in the heart and mind by the Holy Spirit. This new nature is drawn to living in the Light of God’s Love. Individuals from all corners of the earth make up the worldwide Ecclesia which God assembles to manifest His Glory.
Jesus Christ's spiritual presence in the local fellowship of believers calls the individuals and the leaders to representing Him in the Spirit of God's Love - expressing righteousness, justice, mercy, and grace to each other and govern the affairs of the living body of Christ - His church. Matt.18:20; Eph.4:11-16.