The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 97:1-2,
"The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne."
The Lord clearly wants us to know that he is both righteous and just. Listen to what the Lord said in Jeremiah 9:24, "let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight."
Merriam-Webster defines righteousness as "acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin." Whatever is consistent with God's character and nature is righteous. When I say God is righteous, what I am saying is that he is simply consistent with himself, in every case at any time.
Real justice is something we all have an innate understanding of. The same dictionary defines justice as "the quality of being just, impartial, or fair". These days the term has been hijacked by those with political axes to grind. God's justice and our own innate understanding of true justice and fairness have nothing to do with the meaninglessness, unfounded nature of, and baselessness of this perverse use of the term (usually coupled with another term such as "social" or "economic" or whatever fancies the demagogue employing it.)
1 John 4:16 tells us that God is love. But, as we see in the Jeremiah passage, there is more to know of God than only his love. As the psalmist points out in Psalm 97 and as we read in Jeremiah, the foundation of God's throne and what he delights in is justice and righteousness.
It was God's very sense of justice that placed Jesus Christ on the cross. In his desire to make a people for himself to spend eternity with he determined to satisfy his own strong sense of justice by having our sins paid for by Jesus Christ to provide us a righteous standing with him.
That payment for our sins gets credited to our account with God only by embracing him if faith in this life. How thankful I am that God loved us so much and wants us for himself so much that he gave his one and only Son to pay the penalty for our sins. providing for himself satisfaction of his sense of justice and providing for us a righteous standing with him!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
"The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne."
The Lord clearly wants us to know that he is both righteous and just. Listen to what the Lord said in Jeremiah 9:24, "let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight."
Merriam-Webster defines righteousness as "acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin." Whatever is consistent with God's character and nature is righteous. When I say God is righteous, what I am saying is that he is simply consistent with himself, in every case at any time.
Real justice is something we all have an innate understanding of. The same dictionary defines justice as "the quality of being just, impartial, or fair". These days the term has been hijacked by those with political axes to grind. God's justice and our own innate understanding of true justice and fairness have nothing to do with the meaninglessness, unfounded nature of, and baselessness of this perverse use of the term (usually coupled with another term such as "social" or "economic" or whatever fancies the demagogue employing it.)
1 John 4:16 tells us that God is love. But, as we see in the Jeremiah passage, there is more to know of God than only his love. As the psalmist points out in Psalm 97 and as we read in Jeremiah, the foundation of God's throne and what he delights in is justice and righteousness.
It was God's very sense of justice that placed Jesus Christ on the cross. In his desire to make a people for himself to spend eternity with he determined to satisfy his own strong sense of justice by having our sins paid for by Jesus Christ to provide us a righteous standing with him.
That payment for our sins gets credited to our account with God only by embracing him if faith in this life. How thankful I am that God loved us so much and wants us for himself so much that he gave his one and only Son to pay the penalty for our sins. providing for himself satisfaction of his sense of justice and providing for us a righteous standing with him!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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