Deut. 16:20 - "'Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you.'"
There is a pattern seen here; "That you may live and possess the land." We are seeing that there are rules and regulations that must be adhered to in order for the Israelites to experience the blessing of "full living" and "peaceful possession" of the land. In this verse, they must live justly in the land. They are not to "distort justice or take bribes or be partial," according to verse 19. In other words, they shall not be corrupt or allow anyone to corrupt them. When they stand firm on what is right in the eyes of the Lord, if they treat all as equals and defend the defenceless, God will bless them in that land. If you think about what the heart goes through when one is trying to cheat another, to get revenge, or to cause another to fail, you see a heart that is motivated out of self-ambition, jealousy, anger, envy, and the eyes are totally focused on "self". That is what God is trying to warn his people against. He doesn't want them to become selfish and so self-absorbed on what they can get and how they can better themselves that they forget who He is. I believe there are many societies in this world who have forgotten who God is. Politicians rule out of fear and selfish gain, if not for themselves, for their own political party. They have forgotten what it means to look up and to see who God is, therefore, they are not experiencing the promised blessing of the fullness of life and peaceful possession of their land. "Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is right (just), whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think (dwell) on these things. (Phil. 4:8)" Are we doing this? As a nation, I think not. Look at the blessing we miss out corporately. But I do believe, individually we must strive for "just" living, and when we do, He blesses us.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
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