I’ve heard many people talk about God’s justice as divine punishment.
He doesn’t punish; He teaches and guides. The consequences of our choices have never been God’s fault, but rather our own errors and steps taken alone.
Warning
“He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity.”
Psalm 9:8
He is love. But God cannot be a God of love without also being a just God. Love comforts and confronts. It corrects, guides, warns, and cares.
If your child makes a mistake, you teach them. You show them where they went wrong, instruct them on the right way to do things. But most of the time, you cannot prevent the consequences. If they climb somewhere they shouldn’t and fall, the pain of the fall is inevitable. However, your role as a parent is to instruct and correct, so that it does not happen again.
God warns us, gives us new chances, directs us, and calls our attention repeatedly. But often, we continue in error and suffer the consequences, blaming God for them.
Fair judge
“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.”
Romans 1:17
We often pray for the justice of the Lord, and sometimes we perceive it as vengeance in certain situations. But that’s not what it represents. It signifies faith, hope, and strength!
Divine justice implies that God is a perfect judge, who judges impartially and lovingly, according to what has been done. He reproves and teaches, not as punishment, but by allowing us to experience the consequences so that we may understand that, with free will, we are responsible for our choices.
We want the freedom to walk on our own, but often blame God when we don’t include Him in our steps.
Recalculate the route
“If you say, ‘The Lord is my refuge,’ and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.”
Psalm 91:9-10
Change your course today! Run into the arms of the loving Father.
When we put God at the center of our choices, the phrase “God is a just judge” doesn’t frighten us, but comforts us. In this way, we know that He cares, teaches, guides, and warns us. Even amid the consequences of our choices, He will be with us, walking by our side and changing our steps.
Sometimes, we need to see with our own eyes to understand our mistakes. Until we experience the consequences of something, we remain in error.
God warns us countless times to come down from high and dangerous places, but we only obey and understand the danger when we fall and hurt ourselves.
Don’t wait to fall. Listen to the voice of the loving God so that the just God is not a source of fear for you. We should fear the Father, listen, and understand that He knows what is best for us, even if it doesn’t make much sense at the time.
Allow the Father to take care of you. He wants the best for your life and offers it at every moment. Follow Him!
