No Injustice in God

“All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.” (Psalm 25:10 NIV).

In a world full of injustice, isn’t it good to know that we serve a God who will never act unjustly? That thought of course is comforting until we realize that if God deals with us only with the justice we deserve not one of us could stand! How wonderful to realize that God’s holy justice is tempered by His great love! With this as background, let’s look at this marvelous verse from Psalm 25.

Please notice that there is a qualifier for the loving ways of God–it is “for those who keep the demands of His covenant.” I talk to people all the time who think God is only love and that such a God would never condemn anyone for anything. Lewis describes this mentality this way: “What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, ‘What does it matter as long as they are contented?’ We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven–a senile benevolence who, as they say, ‘liked to see young people enjoying themselves,’ and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be said at the end of each day, ‘a good time was had by all.’” Lewis, C.S., The Problem of Pain, (Collier Books, MacMillan Publishing Company, 866 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022, ISBN: 0-02-086850-2 p. 40). That is what we would like, but it is not what God is like. Yes God is a God of love and mercy and grace but He is also a God of justice, and if we refuse to respond to His love, mercy and grace nothing is left but for us to face His faultless justice. Lewis puts it into perspective, “I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside. I do not mean that the ghosts may not wish to come out of hell, in the vague fashion wherein an envious man “wishes” to be happy; but they certainly do not will even the first preliminary stages of that self-abandonment through which alone the soul can reach any good. They enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self enslaved.”

“In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell is itself a question: ‘What are you asking God to do?’ To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does.” (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain pp. 127-128).

But for those who respond in obedience to Him we find a God of gracious love and unfailing faithfulness!

Now, you may ask, what about this passage? Does it really apply? After all, we are not under the demands of the Old Covenant (The Law) but are set free from it by Christ. Such reasoning is partially true. While it is true that we are not required to follow the stringent demands of the Law, we are not free from law but we are under the Law of Christ. (See 1 Corinthians 9:20-21). Jesus Himself said that the key to experiencing God’s gracious love was through obedience–we’ve missed that message today! Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” (John 14:23-24 NIV). It doesn’t get simpler or clearer than this. While it is true that God loves the entire world (John 3:16), only those who respond to that love can experience that love.