HE IS GOD

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

"When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit. 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 righteous." Exodus 23:2-3, 7-8

Today’s scriptures deal with the matter of judgment and one certainty arises from the verses: God commands fairness in justice. Let’s look at three main points raised here because they are points still valid today.

First, there is the matter of fairness. Notice in the verses that there is equal attention given to the poor as there is to the rich. God tells Israel that "favoritism" should not be shown "to a poor man in his lawsuit" and to "not deny justice to your poor people in…lawsuits." In other words, a person should not receive judgment based on his or her status but rather on the crime he or she has committed. God wanted the judges and courts to be focused on the crime more than the criminal.

This makes me wonder about our current day legal system. Do people receive preferential treatment based on who they are and not what they’ve done? And I’m not talking about a judge taking into consideration whether a person has a prior record of offenses. That is taking prior crimes or the lake thereof into consideration to make sure the judgment is proper and fair. No…what I’m talking about is the celebrity who gets treated differently than the common man or woman just because they’re famous. We see and hear about it happening all the time. The powerful, rich and famous too often walk while the ordinary get punished. This is just what God was warning against over 2,000 years ago. And before I get too focused on the rich and famous, this applies equally to the poor who might be given lighter sentencing because they don’t have much. Don’t read this as saying we should not be merciful because we should. But why would God, the King of Mercy say to not show favoritism to a poor man? Why would He also say, "Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits?" Because regardless of our financial standing, sometimes punishment is just what we need to get us on the right track toward holiness. Sometimes we need to be corrected and experience consequence.

Secondly, there was a matter of false testimony. I’ve written about this at length in prior devotions but God reinforces what He has already said on this matter by saying, "I will not acquit the guilty." In other words, the ones who bear false witness which leads to an innocent person dying will not receive pardon from the Almighty Infinite Father. These are strong words and rightfully so. No innocent person should be put to death for something they didn’t do. It was the ultimate act of injustice and thus received the ultimate penalty…the loss of God’s forgiveness.

Finally, there was the matter of bribery. Judges back in the Old Testament days were just as vulnerable to bribery as judges are today. God strictly forbade justice based on payments from the accused because He knew the adverse effects that bribery had on justice. He didn’t want anyone to buy their way out of judgment but rather take whatever penalty was warranted for their actions.
From our scripture, God tells Israel that bribery "blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous." In other words, the judge was blinded to ensuring the process was fair because he was bound by the bribe to favor the one who paid him, despite whatever the person who was innocent (the righteous) might have to say. Money trumped testimony and funded final decisions.

Today, we still see bribery in the news. A quick search on Yahoo will show you that it is alive and well. One thing is certain, God can’t be any too pleased with the way our courts administer justice today. As we see as in so many other places in the bible, we have yet to learn although the words of God are clear. The matter might lead you to just throw your hands up and give up, feeling that we’ll never truly live in a society that is just and fair. But we’re not really as far away as we might think…just as in so many other things we lament about. Because the key to us getting on track toward a world that is holy and righteous in God’s sight, is every man and woman turning their hearts and minds over to God Himself. Everything wrong about the world would change in the blink of an eye. This continues to be my prayer each and every day. That there would be a global change of heart toward God and His Son, Jesus.

Will you join me in this prayer this day and forever more? And before you think I’m dreaming…think about the One who we are praying to…the One who created us and everything we know. Do you not think He could snap His Almighty Fingers and make anything happen at any time? Believe that He can. For He is God.

In Christ,

Mark

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