JusticeSample

DEFEND AND RESCUE The Psalm is difficult to understand – who is God speaking to? Other gods? Rulers and judges? But the crux of the message applies to every one of us. Do we blame people for their poor circumstances? Then we are acting as judges. Are we being fair to those who seek to be rescued from evil people’? Do we place ourselves on a pedestal above those who are needy and helpless? Then we are treating ourselves as gods. God commands us to act-to ‘defend’ and ‘rescue’- not to sit silently on the sidelines and shake our heads in disapproval. If we are in a position to pity someone we are also in a position to lift them up. “Jesus says, God will judge you in the same way you judge others, and he will apply to you the same rules you apply to others.” (Matthew 7:2). Dear God, Forgive us for looking down on others. Move us to compassion and to action, to defend and rescue those who need to know your love and care. – Amen 'Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.' - Frederick Douglass