God of justice and righteousness

What should I do when I see injustice?

As a Christian we should fight for justice. Seek justice for the poor and underprivileged, for the widow and the orphan.

In the Old Testament the prophets claim justice for their people and terrify the wrongdoers with awful punishments.

Is this current today? 

I find that many people don't care about this issue. There is an apathy growing inside the believers.

“Apathy is the acceptance of the unacceptable.”- John Stott

But doesn't Paul say that who does not work should not eat? (2 Thessalonians 3:10)

How can we apply that in the context of the rest of the Bible urging us to take care of the less fortunate?

Paul continues ¹¹ We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. ¹² Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. 2 Thess 3:11-12 

It seems that in the early church in Thessalonica there were people too busy to work. They were busybodies. They would go around being idle and disruptive of other people’s work. And then at the supper time they would sit down with everyone else and expect to be served.

According to Wikipedia “A busybody, do-gooder, meddler or marplot is someone who meddles in the affairs of others. An early study of the type was made by the ancient Greek philosopher Theophrastus in his typology, Characters, "In the proffered services of the busybody there is much of the affectation of kind-heartedness, and little efficient aid”."

 

So, a busybody is someone who wants to help but instead of it just causes problems and delays.

What Paul is saying is that we shouldn't let these people keep meddling but make them work for their food.

That sounds very different to me than leaving a child to starve or a disabled person without his or her medicine because they should work for it.

In Proverbs 20:24 it says “A man's steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?”.

We can find in Exodus 23:2 “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd".

So, we should not be fooled by the common opinion to pervert the justice just because it's popular.

In Leviticus 19:15 it says: “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly"."

We should not side neither with the rich nor with the poor but be impartial in our judgment.

In Deuteronomy 24:17 we can find that God cares about the immigrants and foreigners also: "Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge".

 

We can see that justice and righteousness are important to God both in 1 Kings 10:9 "Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness". And 2 Chronicles 9:8 "Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on his throne as king to rule for the Lord your God. Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them forever, he has made you king over them, to maintain justice and righteousness”.

We also can deduct that Israel as a nation needs to be just and righteous. A country needs to take care of its people in a just and righteous manner.

Jim Elliot talks about a God whose word could be found not in the thunder and the wind but in the gentle stillness. “The sound of 'gentle stillness' after all the thunder and wind have passed will the ultimate Word from God.” - Jim Elliot

What could we learn from a God that is just and righteous and talks to us gently, in the stillness?

This is the God of the new covenant, about whom the psalmist talks: PSALM 89:28 “I will keep my loving kindness for him forevermore. My covenant will stand firm with him.”. 

Have we kept our part of the covenant? Are we seeking God's will or are we interpreting His word as our will dictate?

There has always been one guardian for the homeless, foreigner, poor and orphan “But the LORD has been my high tower, my God, the rock of my refuge.” Psalm 94:22. 

Mandela in my life

When I was in the fifth grade there was a program in the Finnish TV where professional actors did short sketches of words they were given. An actress recieved the word "apartheid" and you could she that she had a lot of problems with the word while other actors did their words. Finally it was her turn and she said: "Apartheid is a traffic sign where white people go to the right and black people to the left."

I did not know at the time what apartheid was and I asked my father if this was true. It struck me very odd that if the definition was something that simple why she would have so much trouble with the word. And why my parents found her explanation of the word so accurate and witty.

There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
Nelson Mandela

That was the beginning of my adventure in the human rights and justice. A theme that I have had many encounters with, I fell in love with and fought about with God many times.

Why is the world so UNJUST? That was my recurrent thought during my early teens and adolescence. Why God lets injustice happen? Since then I have been searching answer to this question.

Finally I was able to find out what apartheid was and it made a very profound impact on me. I think it was one of the definive moments of my life. The feeling of injustice and need to aid south-africans with their fight for freedom and justice.

“When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”
Nelson Mandela

Something excelent about Mandela was that he was alive, unlike Martin Luther King Jr and Gandhi, people that I learned to admire also. I could see the way these people fought for many things that Jesus was about. But there were differences. And those differences made me even more interested. And my quest to understand these subtle differences led me to read even more Bible and wonder even more about what God really wants in our lives.

There is much controversy about Mandela's life. He was denounced as a Marxist terrorist and even though he won the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. In South Africa he was despised as a criminal and respected as Tata (father), he has been even described as "the father of the nation". 

“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”
Nelson Mandela

I can still remember the fear you could sense in the white people, even through TV set, when Mandela became the first black president of South Africa on May 10th 1994. I can also remember how he choose de Klerk his first Deputy President working to reassure South Africa's white population and building "the Rainbow Nation".

When he oversaw the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Comission to investigate crimes committed under apartheid, for me, it was an example of the forgiving Jesus taught us. I could only wish one day my heart would be big enough and my roots strong enough in Our Lord, to be able to forgive the same way.

But at the same time, I returned to the same question. Why does God condone injustice?

I know we live in a world full of sin, in a fallen world. I know we have free will. But these were only words for me. If God is onmipotent, there must be a way...

If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.
Nelson Mandela

Mandela, or Madiba, his Xhosa clan name, was a person of great controversy. But to me personally, he represents a choise to let go, to forgive and see beyond your personal injuries. A legacy worthy to follow.

And this leads to my answer. There is another legacy, even bigger one. There is the answer. Sadly it isn't a fix it all, easy answer. God had to be made flesh and die for us to end unjustice. And only if we let go ad forgive, if we are able to see beyond our personal injuries there can be justice. It can only happen in God if He wills it and it can only happen in us if we let go.

My Top 10 Nelson Mandela Quotes

1. Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

2. For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

3. If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

4. If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.

5. There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.

6. It always seems impossible until its done.

7. Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity; it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.

8. There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.

 

9. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.

 

10. No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.