Justice Belongs to God

Verse of the day: Judges 21:2-3, Then the people came to the house of God, and remained there before God till evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly, 3 and said, “O LORD God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that today there should be one tribe missing in Israel?”

There is a very valuable lesson that we can learn from Israel’s attempt to exact justice upon the Benjamites for what they did to the Levite’s concubine. Although they were zealous about eradicating evil in their midst, they failed in too many ways. First, they failed to see their own sinfulness, thereby making themselves hypocrites in their valiant effort to make a wrong right. Even though they had gone to the Lord, they still counted on their numbers and their strength to help them get victory over their brethren. Consequently, they suffered great loss and defeat. Praise to our Lord who is merciful and full of grace. He used their defeat to bring them face to face with their own hypocrisy, to the point that they came to Him weeping and making a genuine effort to seek His direction. Now we see another grave mistake they made in making a rash vow not to give their daughters to be wives of the children of Benjamin. Their attempts at justice affected even those who had nothing to do with what a few men did. It affected women, children, and men who were not involved in the heinous act that was committed. When the Benjamites refused to give these men over, instead of punishing the ones who were involved by way of consent, who refused to turn the guilty parties over, they chose to instill their own form of justice upon all. This is the twisted justice of man. How often do we see this type of injustice take place around us today? How often do we complain about how unfair the world is in how they mete out justice? For this reason, we as Christians must leave justice and vengeance to the Lord. The Israelites would not be asking why this happened in Israel if they had truly worshipped the Lord and trusted Him to instill His justice in the situation. Had they done that, it would have given God the opportunity to judge those that deserved punishment and at the same time bring peaceful reconciliation between the children of Benjamin and their brethren, the children of Israel. Romans 12:17-19 tells us, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.” We are all created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27). Because this is so, we desire to see justice prevail over all that is evil. However, because of sin, our sense of what is just is blurred. On the other hand, our God, and Savior, is perfect and righteous. His justice is true justice, and this is why He tells us to leave vengeance to Him. We do well to be zealous about our faith. However, our zeal should be for the things that will uplift and glorify the Lord. Romans 10:1-3 says, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.” Titus 2:14 clearly tells us that we should be “zealous for good works”. Romans 12 admonishes us to abhor evil, but be zealous (fervent in spirit), serving the Lord. If we truly want to be zealous for the things of God, we ought to do all that we can to be zealous about the things the Apostle listed in Romans 12:9-16, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.” The bottom line is that we can be angry at the evil that exists around us, and we can desire to see justice done, but we must be careful that we not allow our own form of twisted justice override God’s righteous justice, even if it means that we have to be kind, and show love, toward those who have persecuted, offended, and cursed us, as we are told to do, by Jesus Himself, in Matthew 5:43-48.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).