Justice

I started thinking though a new scripture set to have in the holiday season back while traveling through South Africa. I had a lot of ideas - Did I want to focus on the story of Jesus’ birth in Luke 2? What about portraying Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1? 

I tried painting multiple things based in both stories, but nothing stuck. As I continued exploring, my mind was brought back to the exact passage I was meditating on through nearly that entire season - Isaiah 42:1-9. 

So, this scripture was not chosen because it represents Christmas. It was chosen because it’s what the

Lord was using in my life during that season, and I wanted to share that with you all, praying that God would use it in your life too.

Within this passage are a lot of themes and promises, all of which I encourage you to explore, but here I’ll focus on one that stood out to me as I read through this passage - God’s justice. It’s mentioned multiple times in the passage. 

“He will bring forth justice to the nations.” (1)

“He will not grow faint or be discouraged

Till he has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands wait for his law.” (4)

“I will give you as a covenant for the people,

A light for the nations, 

To open the eyes that are blind,

To bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

From the prison those who sit in darkness.” (6-7)

I think the key to what is meant by “justice” is found within the above verses. The first and fourth verses imply that justice is not something the nations currently have, but rather something that God will give. Verses six and seven imply that this will come about through someone God will give as a covenant and a light, and that this person will set people free.

Justice is about God changing this - Him making things right in a way that is consistent with his own vision and idea of a perfect world. 

No matter who you are and what your political leanings are, I would bet that you don’t believe everything is as it should be. Maybe you’re inundated with news through your phone and feeling an overall baseline of consistent weariness for the brokenness in the world. Maybe you have witnessed or personally experienced the results of decisions that have helped those with power and hurt those without. 

Regardless of where and how you view the brokenness, you see it. And this passage means that God is committed to changing the brokenness you see in one way or another.

I don’t want to make a political claim of what should and should not be. Rather, I want to encourage you to consider what God’s justice may look like - what does he mean? What hope can this provide?

When I read this passage, I was surrounded by some of the biggest economic disparities I had ever seen - my eyes couldn’t evade them. So, as I studied this passage, I wondered what hope God provides through his justice to those inequities, and here is what I found.

• Presence - God is actively working within the brokenness I witnessed. I saw this through the actions of many people aiming to care for those who were on the powerless side of these inequities: Mamas walking multiple children who are not their own to school to ensure they safely make it and community members walking into unfamiliar neighborhoods with a desire to listen to needs.

• Light - Darkness appears to be everywhere. But, in this passage, we receive the promise that God is working, and we are invited to look for that. As I saw the examples mentioned above of God’s presence, I was more and more able to reside in the light rather than the darkness. 

Maybe you’re like me and this theme sticks out to you for one reason or another. Or, maybe there is another theme that sticks out to you. But, if you are with me, as I imagine many are, I encourage you to look - Look for where you see God’s presence at work in the brokenness around you. Look for how he may be asking you to focus on light, rather than darkness. 

Asking yourself these questions, over and over, I promise, will lighten your heart.