Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Bible in a Year: Proverbs 11-12 | Philemon 1
Characteristics of God: He is just.
The world is full of injustice. The headlines are filled with stories of war, murder, abuse, and discrimination. Rallies are held demanding justice, and yet we chafe against the idea that God is just. A God of justice seems opposed to a God of love.
But can God be full of love if he is not also just?
God’s sense of justice is one of his most praised attributes in all of Scripture. The Psalms repeatedly glorify God because of it. Here, King David praises God’s love and justice.
Psalm 101:1
I will sing of your love and justice, Lord. I will praise you with songs.
This is echoed in Revelation, when God’s people gather together in praise as justice is being poured out on those who rejected him.
Revelation 15:3
And they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:
“Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.”
How do we reconcile the ideas of justice and love? After WWII, the world witnessed the atrocities of the Nazi regime. Many assert that those who committed crimes were following military orders, yet as the prisons were liberated, the world knew that the guilty must be punished. We cannot be a society of love if we do not protect those whom evil is committed against.
Yet many don’t like the idea of God’s punishing sin, preferring to imagine he will overlook it out of love. But how could God be the embodiment of love if he overlooked lawlessness? Would it have been fair to those lives destroyed by the Nazi regime if we had just overlooked their suffering?
No! God’s love for humanity demands that sin is punished to protect his people. He demonstrates his love in his justice. We all deserve punishment, but God, in his mercy, took it one step further. He came down to earth to bear our punishment so we wouldn’t have to.
This is where love and justice converge. Love must enact justice, yet in his mercy, Jesus showed his love by receiving our just punishment so that we could be reconciled with him. God’s immense love and justice aren’t contradictory - they go hand in hand.
Questions:
Does God’s justice bring you comfort or discomfort?
When was a time you’ve seen things made right after something wrong was done?
Next Steps:
The next time you want to enact justice on your own terms, remind yourself that God is a God of justice, and trust him to handle the outcome however he sees fit. When you are struggling to remember God’s love, pray and ask him to show you how his justice is a way of protecting his people.
When it feels like the wicked will never be punished, read Psalm 37. Reflect on how God has promised to enact his justice.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank you for being just. Thank you for loving me enough to enact justice for my sins. Thank you for sending Jesus to take the punishment I deserve. Remind me that when I chafe at the idea of your justice, it is because of your love that it must be enacted. Thank you that we can be confident that your justice is in perfect alignment with your love. Amen.
Series Theme Verse:
Jeremiah 9:23-24a
This is what the Lord says: “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord….”
Written by Julie Mabus, a Whitehouse attendee and regular contributor to the Daily.