If we’re honest with ourselves, we are our own worst enemies.  Much of what we wish to blame God for — the circumstances of evil and injustice in our world — are really those created by us.  We are the one’s greedy for wealth and power and willing to do almost anything to get it.  There are some who allow their families to go hungry, while they throw their resources away of a hand of cards, or a roll of the dice.  We are the ones who have created alternative systems of justice, based on alternative truths, and stories, lies, and alibis to explain why we shouldn’t receive judgment or justice for what we do to each other.  We allow the rich to take from the poor.  We proclaim ourselves gods and choose to rule others by our own statutes rather than the law of Almighty God.  And God is not the blame.  We’ve created by our own decrees how we will practice justice in ways that strike terror in the souls of the weak, the poor, the fatherless and the oppressed.  And when they beg for mercy, the response they often hear is that mercy will cost them, or that there is no mercy, just cruel and unusual punishment.

         And since our response to the way we treat one another is to neither hear our cries, nor respond in ways that show we care, we have no other choice but to trust in the Lord to hear our cries.  Our option is to trust in the Lord to strengthen our hearts and give heed to the voice of our afflictions.  After all, those who have appointed themselves as king over us will only hold their reign temporarily.  It is the Lord God who is King and rules forever and ever.  It is God’s strength and true justice that will, by God’s mercy, remove the terror of other men and women’s justice, so that we don’t have to live terrified of one another.  It’s in God’s response to our cries that we will come to know true justice, even if we have to wait for it.

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Loving God, give me the strength to endure these days of evil and injustice until Your true justice appears and those who practice such things will no longer able to strike terror in the earth.

         We often wonder what might happen to those who seem to acquire great benefits for persisting in doing evil.  And when we hear that the Lord hates those who are wicked with a passion, in some ways we get offended.  In other ways, we replay the old Wendy’s commercial and say, “Where’s the beef?”  In our eyes, we don’t see the proof of it.  We don’t see the evidence of the wicked being punished for their wickedness.  If we’re honest, we’re most likely in the same camp as Jeremiah who said to God,

1 You will be in the right, O LORD, when I lay charges against you; but let me put my case to you.  Why does the way of the guilty prosper?  Why do all who are treacherous thrive?  2 You plant them, and they take root; they grow and bring forth fruit; you are near in their mouths yet far from their hearts.

(Jeremiah 12:1-2)

         Our eyes are not blind to what we see, or at the very least, what we believe to be our truth.  We often see those who have perverted justice avoid what we consider fair judgment or prosecution.  Or perhaps, we’ve neglected to realize that your mercy is a greater part of Your sense of justice.  Or maybe, those who practice deceit, violence, wickedness and injustice are just being allowed to live in their own world of delusion, believing that they’re getting away “Scott free” when in fact Your judgment awaits us all and, in the end, those of us who have satisfied Your requirements of faith will see Your face while others only see Your wrath.  It is a question we continue to struggle with, especially in these days and times.

• What do you think of feel when you experience injustice flourishing while the wicked and evil seem to be getting away with murder?
• What do you believe is your role in making true justice — God’s justice — a reality for today?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Loving and merciful and just God, empower and encourage me to wait on Your true Justice. Give me the strength to hold out until Your day of judgment and justice prevail.

         I don’t believe there is a culture in the world that is not based on a system of wealth.  In our world, we stories trend on the internet and social media about who is the richest, who has the most, the biggest, the most expensive.  We marvel at the salary size of supreme professional athletes.  In some ways, how much a person has — somehow — automatically makes them more important than those who have less.  One professional athlete, Shaquille O’Neal, tried to put it in perspective and once remarked: “If you think I’m making a lot of money, think about the guy who writes my check!”

         We live in a world where the lure of money and more money draws people’s attention away from what’s really important and what is just.  And to them we assign a certain credibility and value.  But with all of that wealth comes a responsibility to do the just thing, the right thing, the Godly thing.  When a person is blessed to have great wealth, the question isn’t really about how much, how big, or how expensive.  The question at the end of the day is, “Does that person know God?”  Does that person's relationship with God, who provided for them, lead them to use their surplus to promote justice?  Did they use it to care for the needy and not the greedy?  Did they use their wealth to do what was right and just?  Were they counted among the haves who used their wealth to uphold the “have nots?”

         In this world of relationships, both human and divine, it is critical to live in a just relationship with each side.  We have a responsibility for our neighbor and a responsibility to God.  If we are blessed to be counted among the “haves”, then our responsibility is to be generous with what God has given us, to reach down, and help someone up.  Whether we are one of the “haves” or the “have nots”, our quest and responsibility is to know God.  We display our knowledge of God by creating a just system of relationships that honors God and each other.  If we do what God asks us to do, then many won’t have to wait for true justice.  They would be able to find it in the helpful and just hands of their neighbors.

• How has your generosity shown your knowledge of God to create a just society?
• How would the wealthy’s generosity change the nature of justice in our world?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Loving God, help me to be an instrument of Your justice in the world. Empower me to be an advocate for the poor and needy and not the rich and the greedy.