All His Ways are Justice

“You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.” (Deut 24:17-18)

“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” (Deut 32:4)

Some time ago, I witnessed a grave injustice, committed against people whom I love, committed by people whose duty it was to protect them. It was hard to watch those people hurting, and confused and angry. I am also angry. I am angry that I live in a world where injustice can be easily perpetrated against the disadvantaged. I am angry that those who have been placed in positions of authority can often abuse that authority with impunity. I am angry for the dishonour shown and harm done to those I love.

It is good to remember that these issues are not new ones. Biblical law frequently reminds and requires the people to care for widows, orphans, and foreigners. Each of these groups was without the protection of family, and without land to provide sustenance and income. None of these groups had legal standing in the ancient world. And while we theoretically have a system today where all people are equal, our society remains imperfect, and is administered, even at best, by imperfect people. We still judge people by their resume, by their skin colour, by their finances, by their nationality, by their education.

We should seek justice. God calls us, in the world today, to be a just people. But he also knows that because of our sinfulness and our fallen natures, we will never truly have a just society. So while we do what we can, our hope is not in people and systems, but in the God who is perfectly just, the God who has never sinned, the God who is faithful to his people. We have the promise that our King will come to finish what he started. The one who dealt the deathblow to sin and evil is going to come again, and he will be at last victorious. That is the day when all of this will make sense, when we will see how what feels like defeat has been redeemed and used in God's plan. That is the day when all wrongs will be righted. That is the day when the crimes committed against God's people will be avenged. He will heal our wounds, wipe our tears, and make all things new. Until then we wait, and we pray. Come, King Jesus.

Fed by God

“And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deut 8:2-3).

This passage says some amazing things about the purpose of the forty years that Israel spent in the wilderness. Obviously, the wilderness wandering was a punishment. Ten of the twelve spies who entered Canaan were afraid of the warriors and the city fortifications (Num 13:28). They died for their disbelief (Num 14:36-37), and God said that the rest of the nation would wander for forty years, until all the adults of that generation had died (Num 14:28-30). But here it says that there was a purpose to the wilderness wandering beyond a national time out. First he says that it was a time of testing. With the timing of their plans derailed, it gave God – and Israel – an opportunity to assess their hearts. Were they going to react to God's discipline with grumbling, or with humility? Next he says that he humbled them by allowing them to go hungry, but that he then fed them. Israel was fed by God himself – an amazing blessing. Even in discipline, even in humbling, God is still blessing his people.

The temptation of Jesus reflects the wilderness experience of Israel: Israel spent forty years in the wilderness; Jesus spent forty days. Israel was tested by God; Jesus was tempted by Satan, proving his loyalty to God. Israel was given a fresh scattering of bread on the ground every morning by God; Jesus is tempted by Satan to turn rocks into bread. God says in Deuteronomy 8 that the point of the manna was to show Israel that God decides when it's time to eat. Jesus quotes this passage to Satan, and I think that he's saying more than, “God's words are more important than food.” Jesus is content with however God decides to feed him: whether by manna, by the ministry of angels (Matt 4:11), or by the words of God that nourish our souls.

For Our Good Always

“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’” (Deut 6:20-25)

 

If Deuteronomy has a passage that everyone loves, it probably comes from chapter six. Both the shema (Hear, O Israel), and the beautiful passage following that describes families learning God's word together in daily life have for millennia challenged the people of God. But the end of this chapter is nearly as beautiful. It envisions a conversation between parent and child. The child wants to know why they have to do all this stuff that God has commanded. On what basis should they obey the law? The father could simply say, “well, God told us to do it, and because he's more powerful than we are and can fry us crispy when we sin, we'd better do what he says.” That would be a valid and completely accurate answer. But it's not where God wants them to go. Why keep the law? They were slaves, and God rescued them. God had made promises in the past to bless them, and they were unfulfilled. They were to obey because God sought their good. The many laws were given by God to bless his people, not to burden them, and to make them holy, so that he could have a relationship with him.

 

While we are not to follow the forms of the law as they are laid out in the Old Testament, much of this yet applies to us. God still calls us to follow him in obedience. We also were slaves, slaves to sin, and we have been rescued. God has blessed us, not with a physical land, but with an eternal kingdom. God still seeks the good of his people. So the answer to why we are obedient isn't because God can fry us crispy, but because he loves us, he has rescued us, and we are his children.

A Week of Deuteronomy (the Coolest Book!)

A close friend of mine recently asked me which book of the Bible is my favourite. Without hesitation, I chose Deuteronomy. Usually when I say this, people look at me as if I have four heads and ask why. My friend – dear lady that she is – smiled and said, “That's so interesting!” And then she asked “why”! After I explained a few of the passages that I find compelling, she nodded thoughtfully and said, “I think I need to go back and look at Deuteronomy again.” Nothing could delight me more than to cause people to reexamine God's word.

 

When it comes to Deuteronomy, “why?” seems like a valid question. We often see it as a list of laws, and if we have a passing familiarity with biblical law, we'll know that some of it feels like a lukewarm rehash of previous material. While I love biblical law, and find it both fascinating and challenging, what I love about Deuteronomy is not so much its laws, but what it says about the law, about its importance, and its place in the instruction of God's people. God gave his people the law not only so that they would know how to live, but so that they would know him better.

 

Recently on Facebook, people have been posting daily scripture for a week. I always enjoy things like this: I love to see what passages speak most strongly to people. Since Deuteronomy speaks so strongly to me, and apparently not to most of the rest of the Christian world, I have decided to blog a week's worth of Deuteronomy passages. I want others to see what I see in this book. So therefore I have accepted the unmade challenge (update: challenge was eventually made formally by my Dad). I will post the scriptures on Facebook, but I will also link back to my blog, so that if you're wondering exactly what I was smoking when I picked the passage, I can explain why it means so much to me.