Justice Demanded

Justice, people seek, demanding for them.

Railing, begging, striving, and bribing for their suit.

Claiming validity, for their “just” sake.

Unjust they be, though supposed claiming the truth.

Justice is my right, people declare.

Seeking to obtain it for themselves is their claim.

Wanting the profit and advantage from its reaping,

Shouting for justice, requiring, demanding it be made.

Justice, we seek, when we are unjust.

Claiming to be weakened, received harm from a hand.

Obtained unjust actions and words that have harmed,

We cry for justice for us; it’s for what we demand.

Seeking justice when we’re unjust seems unbalanced, untrue.

Why do we seek for our purpose that which we don’t bestow?

Striving always to be ahead, caring not for other’s lives now;

Wanting what we can get, uncaring what they are owed.

Justice we seek, we cry for, we plead.

Justice is not what we give, what we think, or what we heed.

Justice requires a person to be just, an impossible human task.

No one is always just, always right, sin makes sure of that.

Justness, rightness, can’t be defined by humanity;

God’s character defines it, the always righteous Holy One.

Humanity strives but fails to do what is right;

Weakness, temptation, sin separates and makes alone.

For this reason, humanity’s sin and God’s great love,

The Father sent the Son to live as man yet sinless to be the One.

The One who lived to die so sins may be cleansed,

The One who died so God would make righteous, just, everyone.

Justice we seek as if we’re the most important person alive.

Christ came and loved to show each His love and make right.

Nothing we can give nor anything we can do

Gives the salvation Christ gives, and, with it, eternal life.

Come as a child, nothing to give, no way to earn;

Righteousness from God comes by belief in Christ alone.

Jesus taught belief in Him alone, God’s love justifies;

What God asks of you is belief, for His grace makes you whole.

Justice we demand, yet justice we don’t give.

God demanded nothing for your sins to be cleansed.

He provided everything needed for you to be justified;

You pay Him nothing for the redemption price of your sins.

Though you owe God everything since your sins caused your death,

He paid the whole price, redeemed you, now you are fully cleansed.

Once you believe in Jesus as the Redeemer for your sins,

God’s grace and His cost are fully repaid as He welcomes you in.

As one of His children, cleansed, saved, redeemed,

Your only requirement is to answer the “Follow Me” of Christ’s beckoning.

“Follow Me with your life, with your actions, words, and thought.

Love Me, love your neighbor with your whole being, your whole heart.

Sell all you have, give to the hurt, lost, and needy;

Give your right to yourself to serve Me and others to eternity.”

These things Jesus taught as He spoke to the faithful, rich man.

The utmost he wouldn’t give though he followed the law of the land.

All that’s written cannot give you righteousness and peace;

Only through God’s gift, Jesus’ sacrifice, can we be justified, find justice, and all we need.

This all that God gives is eternal life and relationship with Him;

It’s better than all we can think, ever want, demand, or conceive.

It’s the ultimate of God, the source for all good things.

The definer of truth, justice, and giver of everything we need.

Justice we demanded and justice God gave.

At the cost of His Son by Whom we received His grace.

The power of death held no sway over His mighty power;

He rose from the grave and gave us cleansing and victory for every hour.

Jesus calls to us as we called to the judge;

“Justice,” I give, “with mercy and love.”

“Seek Me and find Me, I wait for you to come.

Believe in Me and receive from the depths of My love.”

Come to the Savior, Who for your life He died.

Come see the cross where He was crucified.

Give Him your life, your heart, everything,

And He will give you grace, justification, love, and all you need.

“For it is My Father’s will that all who see His Son and believe in Him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:40 [NLT])

“The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63 [NLT])

Note: Read Luke 18 and John 6 for more understanding of Jesus’ teaching as referred to in this poem.

All About God

“The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’” (Psalm 91:1-2 [HCS])

So often, when we read the Psalms we think something like this, “David was such a faithful man of God.” Or, “David wrote all those psalms, but my life isn’t like that. Real life isn’t like that.” As I read Psalm 91 yesterday, it came to me like it hadn’t in a while, David didn’t write about himself; he wrote about God and how He manifested Himself in his life. When we understand this (the Bible is really all about God), then we can read each psalm looking for how God revealed Himself in that particular situation.

Consider Psalm 91. The first two verses of this psalm are the crux of the psalm. The last three are God’s response to David’s “ah ha.” What did David say about God in verses one and two? He said God is Protector, Most High, Almighty, Refuge, Fortress, and trustworthy. Did you get that? God had revealed Himself to David over his life in these ways and David reminded himself he could trust God because He is the Most High over all things and He is Almighty. Nothing can go against God and defeat Him.

One thing stands out that so often people miss. I’ll admit I missed it until last night. Consider the prepositional phrases of verse one-“under the protection of the Most High,” and “in the shadow of the Almighty”. Consider, too, the subject of the verse. The “one” in this psalm is the child of God. How do we know this? Because God protects him or her. But there is more to the relationship of the child and Father, just as there is in human relationships. God isn’t just Protector. We must, if we truly are children of God, activate the faith we profess (put our faith into action) and be the child of God. Being the child of God means living in relationship with Him. Being in a relationship means being close, not wandering off, not going before or lagging behind because of fear. Living in a relationship is a closeness in location, spirit, emotion, and mind. Does that ring a bell? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is what Moses taught in the Old Testament and Jesus re-iterated in the New Testament.

What does this have to do with Psalm 91, you ask? Everything. Yes, God is Protector, Almighty, and Most High. But, if we are not near Him, if we do not let Him lead us, then we cannot be in His shadow (under His protective watch). Consider shadows in our physical world. If the bird is above the tree, the tree cannot provide a shadow or shade for the bird. If the bird is not near the tree as the sun moves, the sun will not cast the tree’s shadow on the bird to protect it from the heat of the day. Similarly, if we choose not to put our faith into action and be near God in relationship, (location, heart, mind, and spirit), then God’s shadow cannot be our dwelling place, our protection. We can’t live in God’s shadow if we try to live without Him, above Him, or around Him. He must be in His rightful place, above us. “He must increase and I must decrease,” as the disciple, John, said in John 3:30. So this verse says of the “one” who is a child of God, he or she will be “under the protection of the Most High” and “in the shadow of the Almighty” because he or she is in a close, vibrant relationship with God.

Many times in our life, we forget Who is almighty and all-knowing. We forget Who has all-wisdom and is available to be near us if we will draw near to Him. At those times, we drift away from God and His shadow (protection). Not that  God can’t protect us anywhere we are, but when we walk away from God, He doesn’t always chase us to make us return to Him. He calls to us, but His perfect love gives us free will and so He waits for us to return to Him. Does it hurt Him when we get hurt because we walked away from Him? Of course. But any wise parent knows that sometimes a child must learn from experience and God allows experiences to help us grow. He’s always there waiting for us to call to Him, to return to Him. He’s ready to stretch out His wings for us to take refuge. God wants to protect His children from terrors, plagues, pestilence, wickedness, and evil. He won’t force Himself on us. We must want to be in a vibrant relationship with Him and “dwell in the shadow of the Almighty.”

When we “dwell in the shelter of the Almighty,” we will see the hunter’s net fail, the plague slip by, the wicked punished, and God’s angels protect us in all our ways so we receive support, and don’t strike our foot on a stone, and we will defeat lions and snakes. Most importantly, when we choose to live in the shadow of the Most High God, we will devote ourselves to Him and know His name, and He will deliver and protect us. God will answer us when we call to Him. He will be our Protector and Savior, satisfying us with long life with Him.

David learned from God’s response to his own faithfulness to Him that God loves him and would be his Protector. God would provide shelter for David to dwell in His shadow as he lived with Him in a close relationship. He learned God takes care of His children and blesses them, as God stated in verses fourteen through sixteen. This psalm is about God, and it’s about being in a close, faithful relationship with Him. When I ask people if they go to church or know Jesus, I often get the response, “Oh I took care of that a long time ago. God’s got my back.” The problem with this statement is that we do just that. We show God our backs and leave Him behind us. When we leave God behind, we make God irrelevant for us and walk away from a close relationship with Him. We no longer dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. We leave Him back there somewhere.

Do you say “God’s got my back?” Or, is God a very real and vibrant part of your life? Is He as close to you as your next breath? Can you say with David that you “dwell in the shadow of the Almighty?”

“Oh Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name: for You have worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
For You have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat.” (Isaiah 25:1, 4a [NASB])

Oh Lord, God, You haven’t given up on me. Though I have wandered and walked away sometimes not realizing I left You, You have not given up on me. You wait faithfully for my return. Lord, Your love and grace have upheld me in the past, but I still tend to walk and not realize I’ve left You. Please forgive me for neglecting our relationship. Forgive me for wandering on my own paths. Lord, my life You’ve given to bring You glory and I have failed You many times. Thank you for Your love and forgiveness. Grow me closer to You and to be more like You. Make my life be a testimony about You so that my life is like the Bible, all about You and You alone. Amen.