Daily Lesson for Tuesday 18th of March 2025
Scripture declares that God loves justice and hates evil (for example, Psalms 33:5, Isaiah 61:8), and He is deeply concerned about injustice, which evokes righteous indignation on behalf of all those who are the victims of injustice. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God is consistently passionate in favor of the downtrodden and oppressed while expressing righteous anger against the victimizers and oppressors.
Read Psalms 82:1-8. How does this psalm express God’s concern for justice in this world? What might it mean for us today?
Image © Lars Justinen Goodsalt.com
As many commentators understand it, this passage decries both the earthly rulers responsible for the injustice in society and is also a reference to when God judges the celestial rulers (the “gods”) behind corrupt earthly judges and rulers (demonic forces, obviously). Specifically, the rulers are asked, “How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?” (Psalms 82:2, NKJV).
Further, they are charged: “Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked” (Psalms 82:3-4, NKJV). Here and elsewhere, the prophets of the Old Testament set forth a clarion call for justice. This is no peripheral concern of Scripture; it is central to the message of the prophets throughout the Old Testament and to what Jesus spoke when here in the flesh.
It is no secret what God desires and requires of those who would claim to love and obey Him. He specifies very clearly in Micah 6:8 (and in similar passages elsewhere): “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (NKJV).
This sentiment is echoed throughout Scripture. For example, Jesus said: “ ‘By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another’ ” (John 13:35, NKJV; compare with 1 John 4:8-16).
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What would our families and churches look like if we focused on Micah 6:8 and intentionally put it into practice in both word and deed? In whatever context you are in, how could the application of these principles be made manifest better? |
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