Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Deuteronomy 24 before reading the devotional below.
“What is justice?” began one of my favorite college classes. I was taking an ethics class with a group of pastors in Boston. The professor did an amazing job in drawing out opinions and fostering a lively discussion. By the end of the conversation, my mind was spinning with new and challenging thoughts. I began, for example, to think of justice in systemic ways for the first time – how society creates constructs that either promote or obstruct justice. One thing was missing in my understanding of justice, however: action. Justice had become an idea to talk about or a concept to read and write about. It was an abstraction.
For God justice is never abstract; it is always practical. As Deuteronomy 24 continues on through a series of seemingly disconnected rules, one major theme continues to emerge. God cares about justice. He cares about justice for the divorced woman and the newly married man. He cares about justice for those giving loans and for those being kidnapped. He cares about justice for day laborers and for foreigners. Note that on some level, each of these groups of people are disempowered. Somehow they need extra help to be sure they get the justice they deserve. They don’t need extra help because they are somehow inherently less competent, however. They need extra help because systems of justice are most likely to fail them. They are the powerless, the disenfranchised, the disinherited.
For some of us, some situations in our lives have left us as the victims of injustice. You may have been taken advantage of or abused or scammed. If you have, God is passionate about restoring the balance of justice. He created you. He declares that you deserve justice. For some of us, however, some situations in our lives have left us as the perpetrators of injustice. God’s law shines a clear light on our actions. We have no wiggle room to excuse or explain our actions. This could be a deeply disturbing realization, and we are fortunate to know the the love of God always offers mercy to the lawbreaker. So if you are the victim: God promises you justice. If you are the perpetrator, God offers you mercy. In either situation you have a choice: will you trust the God of justice to care for you?