The Heart's Cry: Psalm 4

Psalm 4

When I call answer me O God of justice
from anguish you released me have mercy and hear me

O men how long will your hearts be closed
will you love what is futile and seek what is false

It is the Lord who grants favors to those whom he loves
the Lord hears me whenever I call him

Fear him do not sin ponder on your bed and be still
Make justice your sacrifice and trust in the Lord

What can bring happiness many say
Lift up the light of your face on us O Lord

You have put into my heart a greater joy
than they have from abundance of corn and new wine

I will lie down in peace and sleep comes at once
for you alone Lord make me dwell in safety

If you are like me you probably encounter a lot of people who when you mention the love of God they mention the justice of God. And If you are like some people if you mention the justice of God they will bring up the love of God. What we all too often fail to realize is that it is not an either or, it is both and. David speaks of it clearly in the first stanza a God of justice who shows mercy. You see, God's justice is not like our justice, we have a justice system that is built around giving or reserving punishment, whereas God's justice is one that ultimately moves toward reconciliation.

But not only does David speak of God's justice showing mercy but then he says that we need to have a sacrifice of justice. What that says to me is that what we need to do is lay aside our need for 'our type' of justice and allow God's justice to prevail. Here it gets stickier, because we often want vengeance but will settle for justice, but we want that justice to be swift and hard not merciful. But the Bible requires us to 'trust in the Lord' which means that we believe and act as if God knows more than we know and acts in accordance to God's knowledge, not ours. That is never an easy road at first, because we exist on the other side of original sin and thus we desire things to happen the way we desire them to happen. Relying on God's justice is a daily dying to our desires, which opens us up to a new way of thinking and feeling.

+ In what ways do you think God's justice is and is not like our human justice?

+ How can you come to rely on God's justice and set aside your need for vengeance and justice?