God of Justice

When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 1:12-17

May I make a confession?

I have been tormented lately by the concept of justice and all that God has to say about it in scripture. In the past, every time I have read 2 Peter 2:8, I have asked the Lord to give me the same torment that Lot had about the evil of his society. Strange prayer request maybe, but if God is grieved by our evil and unrighteousness, I want to share His heart about our own deeds as well as those that surround us.

This being said, over the last month or so, my most persistent personal plea has been that God would open my eyes as He opened the eyes of the blind men on the road to Jericho in Matthew 20. I know that in that story Jesus opened their physical eyes and I have already been gifted with eyes that see in the physical realm, but I want my eyes opened to the deeper things of the Spirit. The things that matter most. Reality. As I've prayed for this, I have had my own concept of what that spiritual vision would look like when it began to appear and the truth is, that the Lord has answered my prayer in a way that I never expected. Not a rare occurrence, I must admit. My feeble mind has little comprehension of our incomprehensible God.

I digress. Anyway, this brings me back to justice. What does it mean to be a person of justice? What, in particular, does that mean for us today as Christians in the US? How am I called to be involved personally and institutionally in bringing God's just reign upon the earth?

I must say that pondering these questions has led me to some places I would rather never have explored. I'm not sure I wanted to go on this field trip after all. It has led me to take a hard look at our nation and the choices that we make to exploit others for the sake of our own convenience. It has forced me to think about choices that I make for the sake of cost and comfort and convenience and whose blood I will be held responsible for as a result of my priorities.

I've come to the belief that you can tell a lot about a nation and its people by how they treat the helpless. And from a million perspectives- abortion, the poor, the immigrant, our exploitation of third world labor, our treatment of God's world and creations- we fail the test of being anywhere near a just society. Don't get me wrong- there have been triumphant moments of justice in our nation- the end of slavery, women's suffrage, a black man as president. Let's just say we still have a long way to go. And it is over the vast injustices that remain that I stared into the beautiful night sky last night and wept in repentance for all I have contributed to.

What does living a lifestyle of justice look like for Christians in America today? Can we be people of righteousness and justice if we turn our heads and pretend that our country did not just sell 60 billion dollars in arms to the rest of the world, 70% of which went to 3rd world countries? If we close our eyes to the fact that as a result, we are partly to blame for the current African holocaust in the Congo which has wiped out over 3 million people and left a wake of raped and orphaned in its path? If we keep buying our clothes at Gap, Old Navy, or (insert any other big name store) because we can take it off the rack without having to look at the faces of the children working in their sweat shops in Cambodia or acknowledge that this year, the CEO of these companies will make over 20 million dollars while those working in these sweatshops will make about $2000 a year working 18 hours a day? Are we to condone these practices and others (see the video below for another example I have just been confronted with) because the problem is "just too big and what can one person do anyway?!"

Beloved friends, I cannot do it anymore. I cannot choose naivete because it's more comfortable. I cannot live the status quo because it's hopeless to change things and more convenient to just keep on. I don't know what living a life of justice looks like yet. Undoubtedly, it starts with an honest survey of my life and repentance for the ways that I have supported injustice by the things I wear, the things I eat, and the way I live. I'm guessing it means more thrift stores and less department stores, locally grown foods and less manufactured imports, and maybe a few letters to those in places of power now and again. I welcome your thoughts on what it means to live justly!! Some of you have gone much farther down that path and I respect your choices and input greatly!

All I can say at this point and time is that I'm having my eyes opened. And just like those blind men on the road to Jericho, once Jesus opens these eyes, what can I possibly do but follow in His footsteps?

God of Justice, Saviour to all
Came to rescue the weak and the poor
Chose to serve and not be served
Jesus, You have called us
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give
We must go live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
We must go
Stepping forward keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We must go
To act justly everyday
Loving mercy in every way
Walking humbly before You God
You have shown us, what You require
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out Lord
-----Tim Hughes "God of Justice"

Send us out Lord. Make us people who act justly, who love mercy, and who walk humbly with you.