“And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?” (Luke 18:7 KJV)
Let us continue from “Justice… Are you kidding?” to consider something else that is very important about a persistent prayer for justice. We know at the end of the parable of the unjust judge, as told in Luke 18, that justice was finally delivered to the widow. We also receive a clear understanding that those who persist in prayer to God, in whom is found genuine good, that justice can also be found. The part of the story that is not told, but we often see when justice actually arrives, is the answer to the question; in what form will justice take? We may request that justice will take this form or that and as we grow in a better understanding of justice, mercy, and grace our requests may change. So, what actually happened to the widow’s adversary? If it was stolen property was it merely returned? Were “punitive” damages awarded? Did the adversary spend the rest of his days in prison and receive enhanced interrogations? There really is room for reconciling with an adversary on the way to court (see Matthew 5:25). What if this would end up being one of the prisoners that the church in her own village would visit as part of prison ministries (see Hebrews 13:3)? We must remember that what we bind and loose here can also be bound or loosed in heaven (see Matthew 18:18). It is imperative that as we seek justice that we are sure to seek said justice from a truly good and just God. This is also difficult because when justice is administered we want a personal hand in it. After all, it sure feels like the blows we have sustained were personal. If real objectivity is to be had, it must be had by a God who sees and knows all. Even in the harshest of judgments, we are instructed to remove even the dust off our shoes on the way out of town so that no part of our presence is in the falling judgment (see Luke 9:5). It must be God who handles the delivery of justice, mercy, and grace. Our spirit must be surrendered to how He calls it. Not only does the persistence of this process help center our prayers with justice, mercy, and grace; but it affords us a chance to prepare our hearts to minister to the real need underneath the source of the injustice within our adversary should we be given that opportunity.
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:44-45 KJV)