DAY 47 - SEEK JUSTICE
MILANNA MARTILLARO, YA CREATIVE & PRODUCTION TEAM LEAD
“Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Deuteronomy 16:20
“Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" Amos 5:24
“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.” Isaiah 1:17
Justice seems to be a theme that is heavy on my heart lately. I find myself in my recent prayers crying out to The Lord for justice. Begging Him to bring Biblical justice to our fallen world. I think that justice is an inherent characteristic that God has placed in the hearts of His people. So when we see our world pervert the idea of justice, it creates turmoil within our soul. When we, time after time, have to watch as innocent people die because of the color of the skin, it creates a God-given reaction of unsettlement in our spirit, or at least it should. And when things like this happen I think it’s easy for us to be tempted to call God’s justice into question.
The Bible speaks a lot about justice. Throughout scripture we can easily see that we are called to follow justice, to let it roll on like a river, to seek it. We as humans were created to be God’s representatives of Himself on earth. We are called to carry out His plan for humanity, to live in and abide by the morals and justice that God Himself abides by. And according to the biblical justice that God has put in place from the beginning of time, we see that all humans are equal, that all humans are created in His image, that all humans, no matter their race, gender, age, or background are born into God’s great story of humanity and in turn inherit every blessing that God had originally intended for His creation.
And yet, we have seen for thousands of years of a vicious cycle of humans not behaving as such. Even in the earliest stories of the Bible, we see humans rejecting God’s principles of Biblical justice. Today, we as a human race continue to demonstrate injustice, or stand by and watch it happen. And in turn, we suffer, because our hearts carry God’s design. And God’s heart is justice for ALL.
His solution, however, was/is different than ours. God sent Jesus Christ, being fully righteous and fully justified, to die for our sins so that we all can stand righteous and just before Him. But this gift did not come without commission. It is now our biblical duty to seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause, to do good. We are commissioned to fight for others. To call this world to the moral standard that God created it with. This means that when racism is breathing within our nation and our world, our duty as followers of Christ, as image-bearers of God, as brothers and sisters in the human race, is to