'Justice' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
Psalm 85:10-13…“Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.” vs. 10 When we look across the political landscape of our country it’s hard to maintain a spirit of optimism. Not only is it difficult to know what is true, it’s virtually impossible to see how anything good can come of the intense polarization that is taking place. There are accusations and countercharges on every hand, and often civil discourse seems like a forgotten dream. Efforts…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 145:8-9, 14-17…“The LORD upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down.” vs. 14 Since we live in a world that is both good and broken, it is good to know that the Lord upholds us in our brokenness. It’s not that God is simply content with our inability to walk in righteousness, but God actually raises us up and restores our intrinsic goodness. We saw this reality acted out in the ministry of Jesus,…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 119:133-136…“My eyes shed streams of tears because your law is not kept.” vs. 136 This psalmist was saddened by the wholesale disregard for the precepts of the Lord. People were not walking in the way of righteousness and his heart was broken. While we don’t know the psalmist or his situation we can surmise that the pain came, not because he was angry at sinners, but because he was seeing the consequences of careless and lawless living. Such behavior…
Daily Devotions
Micah 6:1-8… “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” vs. 8 Micah imagines a controversy between Israel and the Lord which has come to trial. In spite of all the Lord had done for Israel, the people had been faithless and wearisome in return. After hearing the charges, Israel wonders what should have been done…
Daily Devotions
Isaiah 42:1-9… “He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.” vss. 2-3 Sometimes we want to cry out in protest against the politicians of our age. We cannot believe that the values of our nation could be completely ignored. We’re baffled by the transfer of power into the hands of…
Daily Devotions
And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?” vs. 7 Luke 18:6-8 When Luke wrote these words of Jesus, he understood many disciples were having a tough time remaining faithful. In some places they were being persecuted (and sometimes being put to death), by agents of the Empire, and they were naturally looking for help from God. The parable Jesus told implied that if…
Daily Devotions
The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago.” vs. 22 Proverbs 8:21-31 No wonder humans have valued wisdom since the beginning. According to the book of Proverbs she was the Lord’s first creation! And as the Lord then brought the universe into existence, Wisdom was put in charge of construction, giving shape to suns and moons and their orbits, even molding the earth with all its land and oceans, mountains…
Daily Devotions
If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” vs. 17 Acts 11:11-30 This was Peter’s clinching argument as he talked to the Jerusalem leaders of the Christian community. The question was a good one, “Who was I that I could hinder God?” Peter realized that God’s will would be done, and it would be best for him if he didn’t…
Daily Devotions
He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.” vss. 2-3 Isaiah 42:1-9 While Isaiah was not speaking of Jesus, he did provide a template for his ministry. There is little doubt that as Jesus began his work in Galilee he saw himself in the description of the Servant. When he…
Daily Devotions
But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.” vs.49 Luke 24:26-49 As the afternoon drew to a close on that fateful Friday, Jesus cried out, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” and breathed his last. The chief priests and the scribes lifted up the hems of their robes with thanksgiving and went home rejoicing at the death of their enemy. The repentant thief wondered and waited,…
Daily Devotions
A third time he said to them, ‘Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.’” vs. 23 Luke 24:1-25 The gospels present the trial of Jesus as being a complete miscarriage of justice. The charges presented by the religious leaders were misrepresentations of his words and actions and some were outright lies. Neither Herod or Pilate were convinced of his…
Daily Devotions
Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” vss. 23-24 Amos 5:21-24 During Israel’s golden age, the time of its greatest prosperity, Amos came out of the wilderness of Judah with a message from the Lord. To put it bluntly, there was nothing that the people were doing that was pleasing. They were cheating the poor,…