“You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Deuteronomy 16:19-20
One of the lessons I learned from my parents is not to show partiality – to be fair. God gave my parents six children. For my father or my mother to show partiality to any one of us would have caused a riot. We would have yelled, “It’s not fair!” That is not to say that we children all received the same rights or rewards. Our age determined what rights we had, and our accomplishments earned us our rewards. In those days, “allowances” were unheard of and we learned responsibility by working for the good of the whole family.
God has given me three daughters and I attempt to be as fair as I can with them because I know that showing partiality is perverting justice. I pray that my daughters are all equal in my sight. That does not mean that all three of them received the same rights or earned the same rewards for jobs done. The older the daughter, the more the rights. And the bigger the job completed, the greater their reward. That’s fair and just.
God, by his grace, gave us a country that was set up where all its citizens were to be considered equal under the law. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights were written to assure that no partiality would be shown to any one individual or group. Our founders knew that to show partiality is unjust. They knew that it is just to own property and goods that are earned by working. They knew that the rule of law is necessary for a country to survive. Lawbreakers must be justly punished or anarchy will prevail.
According to the Bible passage quoted above, citizens in any country are not to pervert justice if they truly want the right to live in the land God gives them. It’s “justice, and only justice” that should and does uphold a country. Up until this time and by God’s grace, the United States has been known as a nation of justice. However, if we do not punish wrongdoers, if we show partiality to some groups, if we accept bribes, and if we subvert the causes of those who are doing right, then we will lose our land.
Someday, God will come to judge the nations (Matthew 25:31-34) and our nation will be one of them. Until that time, my goal is to promote justice wherever I can. I want to stand for what is right. I want to give to just causes. I want to write to my congressmen. I want to write blogs that encourage others to promote justice in our land. But what I want and pray for most, is for God to save this land. We have made such a mess of it.
Will you pray earnestly with me every day that God in his mercy will show us how to live and act justly?
Amen, Rosemary. I came from a family of 9 children. We, too, worked for the good of the whole family. That fostered loyalty, unity and willingness to set aside our own desires, if necessary, for the good of the whole. (I saw my father do that many times). We need to apply these same principles to our nation. Righteousness and justice applied to the whole, fosters loyalty and unity. We should be willing to vote in a way that will benefit the entire nation, with equal liberty and justice for every citizen and to punish law-breakers equally. I pray for God's mercy to show us how to do that again.
ReplyDeleteWell said Rosemary. Let us pray for our nation. We have indeed made such a mess of it. Beth
ReplyDeleteSadly I agree. We have made a mess. Our leaders have given the blind lady feelings and govern by how it feels instead of the Constitution or written laws.
ReplyDeleteI will continue to pray for this land. May righteousness reign again as the Church is strengthened by Truth.