“Do not deny justice…”
Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
their evil imaginations have no limits.
They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.
They say, “How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?”
This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.
Psalm 73:1-12
“Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.
“Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.
“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.”
“For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it.”
Exodus 23:6-10
If you turn on the television today and listen to prominent politicians, influencers, and media members that claim to be Christian, you will hear quite a bit of righteous anger towards a handful of pet issues.
You will hear incredible amounts of outrage about the state of our world. Almost always you can point to 2-3 specific issues that seem to come up again…and again…and again.
I am extremely grateful that God put on my heart this year to read back through the entire Bible again. It has been extremely lifegiving and has caused me to go deeper in my faith.
It has also forced me to take a step back and remember God’s priorities, instead of allowing my heart and mind to be corrupted by the priorities of the loudest voices in our society that claim to be Christian, and use Christianity to focus on their own personal agenda.
Over and over again throughout these first 70+ days we see God’s heart for the less fortunate.
The poor, the widow, and the foreigner.
Repeatedly Jesus implored us to take care of his flock.
In Matthew 25 we read:
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
Earlier in Matthew we saw Jesus storming into the Temple and turning over tables and driving out merchants because they were taking advantage of the poor.
Today in Exodus we once again see God’s desire that we are intentional with how we care for the poor and the foreigners. This was not God suggesting someone start a non-profit, donate money if they can, or generally try to just be a good person who helps; this was Mosaic law.
This was the legal system he gave to the people of Israel.
In Psalm 73 today we read our Psalmist speaking out against the rich and powerful that go about amassing wealth, power, and prestige.
These are not isolated verses plucked out of context.
If you have been reading the full Bible with me this year, you start to see a pattern.
Jesus spent WAY less time fixated on individual sin issues in each of our lives, and significantly more time on encouraging us to focus on serving others.
When other people are fixated on an adulterous woman, Jesus asks he who is without sin to cast the first stone.
When people felt unworthy to follow Jesus, he provided a way.
Over and over again we see compassion for our individual sins.
However, if Jesus saw people in positions of power oppressing the less fortunate, now there was going to be an issue. Now angry Jesus was going to come out!
How aligned are our hearts with Jesus?
This year, my prayer is that Christians would spend less time watching the news and listening to voices that would pit us against each other, and more time in God’s word, seeking out his desire for our lives and prayerfully seeking how we are called to love his creation.
Daily Reflection & Dialogue
When taking in the totality of the Bible we have read so far this year, what themes have stuck out to you?
