He's a God of Justice

If you’ve heard me share my testimony before, then you probably know that in the early years of my life, I had a lot of things happen to me that were totally unjust and unfair. I was sexually abused by my father, abandoned by my mother, and repeatedly rejected by my first husband who ended up leaving me for another woman.

My life was a complete mess, and it stayed a mess until I turned my life over to God. Then, little by little, He began to bring justice into my life.

God wants justice for all of us. He wants to be that hero in our lives who makes wrong things right. And He will do something even better: His Word actually says that He gives us double for our trouble. Look with me at Isaiah 61:7-8 (AMPC). It says:

Instead of your [former] shame you shall have a twofold recompense; instead of dishonor and reproach [your people] shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore, in their land they shall possess double [what they had forfeited]; everlasting joy shall be theirs. For I the Lord love justice…and I will faithfully give them their recompense in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant or league with them.

When we are wronged, God asks us to forgive quickly and completely. We need to allow Him to be our vindicator, and this is our part to play. When we do, we can be assured that God will bring justice in our life.

Our natural inclination is to stay bitter and hold a grudge. You may even be reading this thinking, Joyce, I’m happy for you, but you just don’t know what I’ve been through. How can I ever forgive them?

I do understand your pain. But I would ask you: Do you really want to be free? Do you want to have freedom in your mind and emotions? Because you can’t have complete freedom and hold on to bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness.

I share this a lot at my conferences. Years ago, while I was struggling to release my anger and bitterness, God so clearly spoke to my heart and said, “Joyce, you can be bitter or better, but you can’t be both.”

The choice is ours. We can choose to hold a grudge, but what good will it do? The person who hurt you is most likely not thinking anything about it, and your grudge is only hurting yourself. I often say that holding onto unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping your enemy will die!

I encourage you to seek God’s Word for wisdom and comfort. Bring your wounds before God in prayer and ask Him to fill you with His love so you can forgive those who have mistreated you. Through that experience, you will come to know God more than ever before...and He will make you more loving and forgiving, just like Him.

Becoming More Like Him

Just as God will fight on our behalf and bring us justice, He also asks us to be good to people in our own lives. He desires to make us more like Him...to help us grow and change into people of justice and integrity.

I recommend that you read the passages in the Gospels where Jesus talks to the Pharisees. Of all the people Jesus talked to in a firm way, it was the religious people―the people who said one thing and did something else...the churchgoers who lived differently behind closed doors. He called them “whitewashed tombs” because they looked good on the outside...but on the inside, were filled with dead men’s bones (Matthew 23:27).

I’ll admit, there was a time in my life when I was a hypocrite. I’d sing in church praising God, acting like I had it all together. But at home, behind closed doors, I was terrible to live with!

Now, this is where we all start. When we first begin our relationship with Christ, we all need to change, and only God can change us—we can’t change ourselves. His Word says that He’ll help us to change “from glory to glory” as we seek Him and spend time reading and studying His Word.

The Bible also says that God disciplines us and tells us our faults because He loves us (Hebrews 12:6). Thankfully, when we do wrong things, God doesn’t just let us get by with it. It’s not because He wants to punish us—it’s because He loves us too much to let us stay that way!

When God is “dealing with us” in an area—when we go through times when it feels like we can’t get away with anything—it helps to remember that everything God does is for our own good. When He helps us to grow, it’s so we can be prepared for the blessings He wants to give us...and so we can become a blessing to other people.

God desires for others to be able to look at our lives and truly see a reflection of Him. When people get to know us, they should find love, mercy, compassion, and justice. Unlike the Pharisees, our faith shouldn’t just be a nice-looking exterior—we need to be the real thing!

God desires to bring justice into your life. If you’ll let Him, He will take all of your hurts, offenses, and past pain, and He will make it up to you...He will give you double for your trouble. Not only that, He will also do a work in you. He will change you into someone who can demonstrate His authentic love, grace, mercy, compassion, and justice to a world in need.