Originally posted: 9/09/2020
“Surely, God will not act wickedly,
And the Almighty will not pervert justice,” (34:12).
Elihu continues his attempt to enlighten his dense listeners, as if to say, “If you would just hear me out, and listen to what I have to say, we will surely be able to get to the bottom of all this.”
“Hear my words, you wise men,
And listen to me, you who know.
3 “For the ear tests words
As the palate tastes food.
4 “Let us choose for ourselves what is right;
Let us know among ourselves what is good,” (34:2-4).
And once again, Job is placed on trial; well if not Job, at least his words.
“‘Job speaks without knowledge,
And his words are without wisdom.
36 ‘Job ought to be tried to the limit,
Because he answers like wicked men.
37 ‘For he adds rebellion to his sin;
He claps his hands among us,
And multiplies his words against God,’” (34:35-37).
I don’t know; but I confess I’m ready to wrap this book up. Searching to somehow see a glimpse of God in the midst of everybody’s opinions and dissertations has been a bit, well to be honest, exhausting. But it hit me this morning; our journey through the pages of Job’s story is a small inkling of what Job and his four advisors were trying to discern, attempting to make some sense out of it all according to their own understanding of Justice.
Job, convinced he had done nothing to deserve such discipline, asked God to reveal his sin.
“Have I sinned? What have I done to You,
O watcher of men?
Why have You set me as Your target,
So that I am a burden to myself?” (Job 7:20).
Job’s three older friends, who had dug through every bit of their theology in hopes of bringing God’s Justice to light and convincing Job of his need to repent, are now relegated to silence.
Then these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes, (Job 34:1).
And Elihu speaks again; God will not act wickedly or pervert justice. Truth.
Elihu’s conclusion: Job is getting the moral Justice he deserves. Human reasoning.
“Surely, God will not act wickedly,
And the Almighty will not pervert justice,” (34:12).
Job’s conclusion: God is withholding Justice. Ouch.
“Know then that God has wronged me
And has closed His net around me.
7 “Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer;
I shout for help, but there is no justice,” (Job 19:6-7).
So, who’s right? Well, no one, except the Lord God. Typically, man’s understanding of Justice, or the perversion of it for that matter, is based on his own conclusions drawn from his temporal surroundings.
But in order to know what Justice is, we must understand God’s point of view; for it is only God Who Will Not Pervert Justice.
Consider Him Who Will Not Pervert Justice
As I began to search His Word for insight into His Justice, I noticed a repeated pattern. His Justice is very often connected with His Righteousness. Of course! Only God is Righteous. His character will always do what is right and holy. Only God Who is Righteous Will Not Pervert Justice.
(My own emphases have been added to the following verses):
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Lovingkindness and truth go before You, (Psalm 89:14).
The strength of the King loves justice;
You have established equity;
You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob, (Psalm 99:4).
To do righteousness and justice
Is desired by the Lord more than sacrifice, (Proverbs 21:3).
And many of Isaiah’s prophecies also bind these two attributes together when speaking of the Messiah and His Kingdom.
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore, (Isaiah 9:6-7).
A throne will even be established in lovingkindness,
And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David;
Moreover, he will seek justice
And be prompt in righteousness, (Isaiah 16:5).
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.
He who believes in it will not be disturbed.
17 “I will make justice the measuring line
And righteousness the level; (Isaiah 28:16-17).
Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,
And the wilderness becomes a fertile field,
And the fertile field is considered as a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness
And righteousness will abide in the fertile field, (Isaiah 32:15-16).
The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high;
He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness, (Isaiah 33:5).
“Preserve justice and do righteousness,
For My salvation is about to come
And My righteousness to be revealed, (Isaiah 56:1).
How do we respond to Him Who Will Not Pervert Justice?
Because He is Righteous, He Will Not Pervert Justice. And because He is Righteous, He loves Justice.
“For I, the LORD, love justice,” (Isaiah 61:8).
The unrighteous don’t understand the relationship between His Righteousness and Justice.
Evil men do not understand justice,
But those who seek the Lord understand all things, (Proverbs 28:5).
The Lord has promised when we seek Him, we will have understanding, and when we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him.
“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart,” (Jeremiah 29:13).
But in our humanness, there are times when we tend to seek Justice, over seeking Him Who Will Not Pervert Justice.
So many times, we want Justice, and we want it now. But do we, really? Often, we want swift Justice because we’ve been wronged, and human reasoning calls for immediate action. But have we failed to take into account our own wrongs in the matter? Perhaps we haven’t acted out in the way those who have mistreated us have behaved; but what about our motives, our thoughts, our attitudes? And isn’t it possible, that if His Justice came as promptly as we believed it should, that we might actually be the ones on the receiving end?
But oh, praise God, He waits. He is the God of Justice; but He waits in order to grant us His grace and compassion.
Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him, (Isaiah 30:18).
These days, we find ourselves in a time where many are trying to discern and make some sense out of all that’s going on around us; many are attempting to find answers according to their own understanding of Justice; and many are desiring and demanding Justice.
But what we truly need to desire, to long for, is Him, and leave Justice to Him; for He Will Not Pervert Justice.
When life seems unfair, we must choose to trust, and not to measure His Justice by what may be going on around us; for He Will Not Pervert Justice.
Remember, much like Elihu, we don’t always have insight as to what is going on behind the scenes. But we can rest in this truth, He is Righteous, He loves Justice, and He Will Not Pervert Justice.
And we must be sure that we do not pervert His Justice by insisting on our preferred timing or our own rights. And while we wait for His Justice, we must do what He has told us to do.
“Thus has the Lord of hosts said, ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother;’” (Zechariah 7:9).
In dispensing true Justice, we will likewise extend kindness and compassion rather than insisting His Justice look like, act like, or be allotted in the manner in which we believe it must.
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8).
He has told us what is good and what He requires of us. But we can only “do justice” if it is according to His righteousness, the righteousness of God imparted by faith that loves to bestow His kindness in humility.
Let us seek Him with all our heart that we would walk humbly with our God, trusting that He will grow our understanding of His lovingkindness and His righteousness. Oh, that He would so grow our faith, that we would seek to know Him and delight in His ways, as we humbly defer to Him Who Will Not Pervert Justice.
Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord, (Jeremiah 9:23-34).