God Is Just

I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
Deuteronomy 32:3-4

God is just. That means he is right, lawful, correct and true and that he gives deserved punishment or reward. But wait a minute! Punishment? Isn’t that a bit unfair?

Actually, God’s justice requires that at times he punishes. People have a human perspective of right and wrong, fair and unfair. They try to impose that concept on God, thinking that he is bound to what they think is fair and just. The reality, however, is that God himself is the standard of justice. He is morally perfect, so he cannot be unfair or unjust.

The Bible is the story of God’s justice. God created a perfect world. People sinned. God is merciful and loving, and so he set into motion a plan of salvation. A God of impersonal justice would have simply left us without hope. A God of grandfatherly love would have overlooked our sin, but that would deny his holiness. So God justly dealt with sin. Sin required death, and so God sent his Son to die in our place. Christ’s death satisfied God’s justice, and love and mercy were extended to sinners. God’s justice is our salvation. “Upright and just is he.”

GOD’S PROMISE TO ME
• I am perfectly just. Everything I do is right and fair.

• You can trust in my justice, knowing that I am also merciful and loving.

MY PRAYER TO GOD
How glorious you are, God. You are my Rock and your work is perfect. You promise that everything you do is just and fair. Thank you for giving me a clear standard for living in your Word, a standard in which to trust.