Justice Means God Will Take Care Of It

I’ve heard some pretty tragic stories lately. A single mother is watching her two girls suffer under the injustice of their father and his new girlfriend living it up while they don’t have enough. Another single mom just saw her daughter come back from the grave, so to speak, only to be diagnosed with a life long disease, which her sister will also most likely suffer from. A church planting, young mother of four is dying of brain cancer. All of these women are Christians. Trying to live righteously. (1) But, the “wicked” seem to prosper. They don’t struggle. These are not the voices of whining, little kids who in frustration yell out, “It’s not fair!” These voices are legit. It truly is unfair.

How are the sufferings we or others experience made right? Does justice ever happen?

In situations like these, our hearts begin to despair. We sense the rope of our faith that we cling to unraveling down to a skinny thread. We might get angry with God. Blame Him. It is so frustrating. Why do our emotions and thoughts run amok when we need to be strong?

I wonder if one reason our faith falters in times of deep distress is that we tend to focus so much on God’s grace that we forget He is also a God of justice. We need grace. For sure. We need grace when we mess up. We need God’s unmerited favor to set our feet on the right path. But, we also need justice. We need justice when all is not right in our world. When things go bad.

Justice is the quality of being fair and reasonable. When things in life go sour, sometimes our spirits become disgusted or at least disillusioned with a God of grace. We long for a God who is fair and reasonable. Without God’s justice, we end up lopsided in our thinking, and thus, ultimately in our actions. Maybe we’ve forgotten what it means to fear God. And, so, instead of wondering what went wrong in our thinking about God, we get angry and blame Him.

Fearing God means to believe that God sees everything, that He rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. It is totally up to Him, however, when the punishments and rewards are meted out. If not in this world, then certainly in the world to come. Although it feels frustrating, if we are able to put confidence in the fact that He is just, we can stop being distracted by the “why’s?” and the unfairness of life and focus on things like calling out to our Refuge and Strength.

Solomon, who we know was the wisest man on earth, summed up his conclusions like this, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (2) I think this verse assumes a person has already accepted God’s grace and is ready to live his/her life choosing to do right (i.e. obeying God’s commands) because he/she knows, fears and, yes, takes confidence in the fact that God sees everything and rewards and punishes.

There is another danger of believing in only a God of grace. We might defend our sin to ourselves, knowing we can go ask for forgiveness anytime. Unfortunately, I did that in my teenage years. Finding myself caught in a particular sin that I felt horrible about, I’d confess and then ask God for forgiveness. But, I never repented. Repentance is different. It means to turn around and quit sinning. Just confessing betrays the fact that I only want a God of grace. Repenting means that I believe in a God of grace and justice.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not arguing against God’s grace at all. God, Himself, emphasized His attribute of grace more than His characteristic of justice. When God disclosed to Moses what is known as the “13 attributes of God,”God reveals 12 attributes of grace first and then, only 1 attribute of justice. (3) It is interesting to note that the grace I need far outweighs the justice I need.

I make it a habit to ask God a lot of questions. One of my questions is, “How can the Jewish people possibly survive, prosper and keep going with all the hatred and persecution they’ve suffered throughout the ages?” I think one answer is rooted in their singular focus on the Messiah, Who will one day come and make everything right. Messiah will bring justice for all the injustices suffered. (4) How much more, then, as a believer in Jesus, should I believe that Messiah will make everything right in my own life?

When I hear tragic stories, like the moms’ stories above, and when I myself am faced with difficult situations, I need to remember God is a God of grace, and He is also a God of justice. Grace means God did take care of it. Justice means God will take care of it. I can count on it.

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