The Keystone Holds
Well, friend, mosey right on up these ol’ front porch steps and don't let that bold ol’ raccoon that's been ransackin’ the kindlin’ pile since before first light this mornin’ give you a moment's trouble. That creature's got the audacity of a camp meetin’ preacher and absolutely no sense of personal boundaries, so just step right past him and ease into this comfy rocker over here because what we've got to sit with today will plum put solid ground under your feet and your theology both.
God is righteous. God is just. Psalm 11:7 says it as plain as a cloudless August sky: "The righteous Lord loves justice. The virtuous will see his face." That there ain’t no personality trait God picked up somewhere along the way the way the rest of us pick up bad habits and strong opinions at family reunions. Righteousness and justice are just downright who He is, all the way down to the marrow of His eternal nature. And Psalm 89:14 builds the whole throne room on it: "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and truth go before Your face." Not decorating the throne. Actually plum holdin’ it up.
Deuteronomy 32:4 piles on the glory: "He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong." A Rock. Not a wind vane spinnin’ with the cultural breeze. Not a riverbank that reshapes itself every time the water runs high and fast. A Rock. Unmovable. Unshakable. The same before the world began and long after every headline fades.
Even Pharaoh, stubborn as a razorback hog that's claimed a mud wallow and filed a legal deed on it, looked up through the plagues hammerin’ Egypt and confessed right out loud in Exodus 9:27, "The Lord is the righteous one, and my people and I are wrong." Friend, when your enemies git to testifyin’ on God's behalf, that’s a thoroughly settled case.
But here’s where Micah 6:8 steps right onto this porch and makes it personal: "What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" God's righteousness was never meant to be sittin’ behind velvet rope and be admired from a polite distance. It's meant to be movin’ into your heart and walkin’ right back out through your hands and your feet and your choices every single day. Isaiah 1:17 confirms it without a single syllable of decoration: "Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows." Justice sho’-nuff’ matters to the Lord, which plum means it has got to matter to us.
Father, You are the Rock and the Righteous One, and I confess I've sometimes treated Your justice like a courthouse I drive past but never walk into. Forgive me because justice isn't somebody else's calling. It's mine, carried straight out of Yours. Teach me to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly right alongside You today. Make Your righteousness move in me the way sap moves through a living tree, quietly and completely and all the way to the outermost branch. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Friend, here’s the truth that holds all this together like a keystone holds an arch. A God that was all-powerful without bein’ righteous would be nothin’ but a celestial bully with unlimited resources, and a God that was perfectly righteous without being powerful would be a beautiful ideal with no ability to do a single thing about the brokenness He sees. But our God is both, all the way and all the time. That means every wrong will be answered, every injustice will be addressed, and every tear cried in the dark has been witnessed by eyes that see perfectly and hands that will act rightly. The God of all righteousness and justice is on His throne, standin’ on the only foundation that has never cracked, never shifted, and never once needed repair. Go on now. Walk steady.
With joy,
Gwen
