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Reflect
Few things irk us more than seeing someone getting away with something. “THAT’S NOT RIGHT!” we shout when we see a cheater not getting caught. We fume when a speeder blows past us on the highway. We boil when we hear of the distress caused when a child support order is ignored. These actions violate our basic sense of fairness. They’re especially grating when we are powerless to right the wrong ourselves.
Something in us wants to see things put back into balance, the score evened up. In extreme cases, we derive no solace even in knowing the culprit is dead. We may think history’s great villains – Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot – got off too easy by escaping into their graves.
Letting our minds churn with reports of injustice causes restless nights waking into days of bitterness. Driven to despair, you could reach the point where you want to either give up entirely, or more tragically, join in on the lawlessness, if the risk of getting caught seems low.
While we are to strive for justice (Is.1:17), we can be kept in “perfect peace” (26:3) by reminding ourselves of these truths: (1) escaping justice today is only a short-term reprieve, (2) there will be a final reckoning by a judge who is completely just and has the power to dispense true punishment, and (3) there are things only God can make right. Seek justice, yes, but have your desire, your mind resting in him, knowing that in the ultimate righting of wrongs, only he has the capacity to do it right.
Respond
Lord – our world and our lives are immeasurably broken, uneven and undone. I know this isn’t the way you meant things to be and we accept that it is our embrace of sin that is to blame. But you are the Chief Justice, Lord. Help me seek justice. Draw me to you.
Gary Drouillard
Gary is enjoying a post-career afterlife in South Surrey, BC. His greatest professional achievement was pioneering a 10-year mission to make it possible for Canadians to use their cellphones around the world. Today, as a feeble but fascinated student of intellectual history and early church formation, his days are filled with reading, viewing online courses, thinking, and occasionally writing along with involvement with various volunteer work. His life’s journey has been made possible and pleasurable only by the accompaniment of his lovely, long-suffering wife, Pamela, and his two “too good for me” daughters who are now embellished with amazing American husbands.