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GENESIS 32:22-31

2 TIMOTHY 4:1-5

LUKE 18:1-8

SUNDAY REFLECTION

The Lord, our God is just, is the theme for our Sunday reflection. God is just means He is fair in His relationship and dealings with us. We shall consider three factors that indicate or demonstrate that the Lord, our God is just:

1. God is just although we may not have everything we expect or desire in life.
2. God is just although we may experience challenges in serving Him
3. God is just because in His own time He answers our prayers.

Firstly, God is just although we may not have everything we expect in life. In Genesis 32:22-31 we observe that before Jacob had an encounter with the angel of God he had no physical deformity but after he had been blessed, he was left with a deformity for the rest of his life. “When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him…The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day, the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.” Genesis 32:25,31-32) However when Jacob asked that Angel bless him “… there he blessed him. (Genesis 32:29). Dear friend, Is it not interesting to note that the blessings bestowed upon Jacob did not include the healing of Jacob’s hip socket? Would Jacob complain that the Lord has not been just or fair to him because he blessed him and did not heal him? Dear friend, the point I want to draw your attention to is that you may not have everything you expect in life but God is just in His dealing with you because you have a lot of blessings to be grateful for. Jacob had a disjointed hip yet he had generational blessings, in the same manner, you have someone terribly sick at the hospital but he or she has children who are blessed financially to take good care of him or her. Someone is unemployed yet he or she is not hungry because he or she is a beneficiary of the parent’s wealth. Conversely, someone is gainfully employed but the financial burden on him or her is enormous. Beloved in the Lord, life may be unbalanced yet God is just. One of our famous hymns tells us that “When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings; name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.[Chorus]Count your blessings; Name them one by one. Count your blessings; See what God hath done. Count your blessings; Name them one by one. Count your many blessings; See what God hath done.” Let us be thankful for where God has brought us in life even as we trust Him to provide what is lacking for He is just.

Secondly, serving God may come with great challenges yet God is just in calling us to serve Him as believers. It is for this reason Paul admonishes young Timothy to persevere in the ministry of the Lord Jesus. “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge…For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:1,3-5). This is a great encouragement to all believers who endure persecution and disaffection on account of preaching the truth and the Gospel in a chaotic world. God is just and will grant us the strength to overcome the hurdles of the antichrist and those who are opposed to the light. Be strong, persevere and maintain your integrity and faithfulness like Joseph, Daniel, the Apostles and ultimately like our Lord and Master Jesus Christ who said that “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39). To demonstrate that the Lord, our God is just, Jesus assures us that “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11-12)

Thirdly, although we may not have everything we expect or desire in life, although we may experience persecution on account of serving our Lord, we must continually pray because God is just and in His own time, He answers our prayers. Like the persistent woman who continuously knocked on the door of the judge “who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.” (Luke 18:2) until he gave her justice, so must we also be persistent in prayer, for God is just. “Jesus said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:6-8). Dear friend, this is a great consolation to those of us who are being cheated, taken advantage of or persecuted on account of our faith in the Lord. Jesus assures us that in all our tribulations, let us continuously lay our frustrations and pains before the Lord because our God is just. We are greatly admonished by Paul’s letter to the Romans that “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord” (Romans 12:17-19). It is, for this reason, we are again reminded in 1 Thessalonians 5:15-18 that “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Beloved in the Lord, I do not know what injustice, anger, and frustration you are going through in life but I can assure you that retaliation and violence is the not the way to go as a believer but through faith and persistence in prayer, God in His own appointed time will grant you justice and vindication. Truly, the Lord, our God is just.

In summary beloved in the Lord, we have discussed the theme ” the Lord, our God is just. We have looked at three important facts about the just nature of God in the affairs of believers and these facts are: God is just although we may not have everything we expect in life, God is just although we may experience challenges in serving Him and last but not the least, God is just because in His own time He answers our prayers. May the Holy Spirit help us to remain focused on our faith and relationship with the Lord even as He continues to remain just in our affairs. Amen.