Hi
Here’s today’s Holy Nougat
“You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.” Psalms 10:18 NLT
In many places across the world, war has wrested both parents from children. In several instances, the children are also wrested from their parents; leaving broken hearts and minds all around. And in many instances, Justice was denied.
The natural temptation is to either become our own arbiters of Justice, creating even more loss (for the perpetrators must also experience pain); and a cycle of violence is given room to fester. Although it may provide satisfaction in the moment; retaliation is not likely to ease the pain of loss in the long term. Moreover, war does not always carry the face of guns and other similar weaponry. Sometimes it looks like discrimination or persecution or the ongoing denial of rights in response to wrongs which have caused physical or psychological death.
If we are not among those who allowed our natural instinct to reign; we might opt for God’s intervention. That is actually the best approach; however, God’s Justice doesn’t always look like ours. Hardly ever. For sometimes, it seems that God allows the wicked and guilty to go unpunished; while we are left making ‘funerary’ arrangements for our minds or our loved ones. NOT fair! But God’s Justice is not fair by human standards. Seriously! We expect and anticipate immediate retribution for wrongdoing; with limited scope for repentance and/or restoration of the perpetrators. But if God permitted immediate punishment for our sins (even when committed in ‘war-time’); humanity would possibly have already been extinct. And that is not God’s ultimate desire. Like the malefactor who Saw Jesus; God’s Grace extends to the end; affording the worst of us access to Paradise.
So then what does God’s Justice look like? I think sometimes it’s about an active conscience; which urges the perpetrators to confess and repent of their wrongs. Or, it may be the provision of practical, active, healing support for those left behind – survivors and impacted alike.
And the first responders may just be you and me.
Can we do it? Can we effect justice for the disenfranchised and grieving; helping them heal past their brokenness? Let’s start with a prayer for them.
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
