Our American justice system, though better than most, is gravely imperfect. At our human core, we want to believe that a human judge and human jurors can hear all the evidence presented and come to the just conclusion. But we have all come to understand that is not always the case. Often, even after acquiring all the information needed to make a right decision, the guilty go free without penalty and the innocent are indebted to those who have plead their case to an unrighteous conclusion.
And yet, when we find ourselves on the “wrong” side of the law and receive the justice we deserve, don’t we often complain about the consequences to our unrighteous actions? We want to receive forgiveness and mercy and we want our lives back to the way they were before we chose to do the wrong thing with more regard for our own discomfort than the discomfort we have caused or potentially could have caused another with our actions.
Isaiah 5:16 says, “But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.”
Wow! God is exalted by his justice. He shows Himself to be holy by His righteousness. As we, His creations, experience the consequences of our poor choices, God is exalted. He is just, perfect and His laws are perfect. When our human justice system fails, we know that we can depend on a perfectly just God. Isaiah warns against those who live unjustly, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter… who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.” (Isaiah 5:20, 23)
Our job, as His children, is to keep our focus on Him and follow His Words and the model of Christ on earth. We are not to be like the Israelites who “worshiped the Lord, but…” (2 Kings 17:32, 33). Instead, we are to be wholly devoted, single minded in our focus and purpose to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, while loving others as ourselves. We are to put no other gods before the One True God and trust and obey His Word. Our human systems will change as the law makers and judges change, but our God is same yesterday, today and tomorrow and we can trust Him.
“In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it – one from the house of David – one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.” (Isaiah 15:5) As we learn later from Acts 17:30-31, that day is drawing nearer. “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
Today, what changes might we need to make in our life to be ready for that day of judgment? In what areas are we “… worshiping the Lord, but…”? What idols have we erected in our lives that need to be torn down to put God in the highest place of our lives?
The Bible in a Year 