Justice. As someone born and raised in the United States, that is a loaded term. Phrases like liberty and justice for all come to mind. So do historical movements, courtrooms, and balance scales. Justice is something so deeply ingrained in our culture, and as people, it’s woven into our sense of how the world is supposed to be. Is it any wonder? We were, after all, made in God’s image, and Psalm 89:14 says, “Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne,” which means justice is really important to God too. But is my sense of justice always God’s sense of justice?

NOPE. Let me give you an example. I’ll springboard off my recent posts about dragon bait in this post. If you just read “dragon bait” and did a ?!!! in your mind, feel free to go back and read through the (intentionally vague) scenario.

It took MONTHS. Emotionally processing all the facets of yick and allowing God to do a deep work in my heart. Healing. Freedom from the sneaky people-pleasing trap. Identity. Then I had a startling realization. There was an injustice (no, that wasn’t the startling realization) that I wanted the wrongs to be righted (that was it). This righting didn’t have to be anything dramatic or even punitive, but I wanted some form of righting to happen. It was my sense of justice. Then came the whisper into my heart….

What if I choose to heal instead? What if a conversation never opens up?

It was a convicting revelation. There was part of me that wanted a conversation, a conversation with a neutral third party. Oh, sure, there might be intentions of reconciliation within the conversation somewhere, but if I’m going to be honest, there was mostly (a very human) part of my heart that wanted someone to know that I had been treated unfairly with no recourse. I wanted a form of satisfaction on an emotional level. GULP. OUCH!

Would I want my human frailties on display for someone else? YIKES! Right? It challenged the reservoirs of grace in my soul. It challenged my human sense of justice. My human sense of justice that sought some sort of emotional recompense, but what if….

What if I took my human emotions out of it and looked at it from God’s perspective. Does He always expose my human frailties? Or does He instead meet me with His love and grace and bring healing truth into my heart which delivers me into FREEDOM? THAT’S God’s justice.

God’s justice isn’t so concerned with making my human emotions tip onto the happy side of the scale. His justice is all about healing, wholeness, and freedom. When God delivered justice to the world, He did so through the death of His Son. God’s justice delivers us back into our original condition, the condition we lost when sin entered the world. Unity with God. Freedom. Wholeness. Authority. Therefore, if I take my human emotions out of the mix, God’s choice to deliver another person out of a position of woundedness into healing and freedom IS His justice; I can choose to rejoice in the power of His grace in someone else’s life. I can also choose to stand firm in the love of Christ which covers a multitude of sins (and not just mine), and trust that God is more than enough to heal my heart too if I allow it (see 1 Peter 4:8).

Is there a place for accountability? Absolutely. Reconciliation? Yes! Restoration? Of course! Forgiveness and grace? ALWAYS. We are ALL human and make mistakes; one person’s human frailties collide with another. It’s a story as old as sin. But it’s not my job to judge someone else’s heart (that’s God’s); it IS my job to stand firm in peace, love, and unity and trust God to take care of my heart (see Matthew 7:1-5, Ephesians 6:14-17, Philippians 1:27, and 1 Peter 4:8).

It was a God-sized challenge that worked deeper measures of grace into my heart. I had to lean HARD into His presence, focused solely and daily on His grace. As He lavishly poured out His grace into me, I was able to overflow grace around me—including this particular situation. I couldn’t have done it on my own; it required complete trust and dependence upon the Lord. I’ll be honest, there were times I wasn’t sure I could, but He is abounding in love and kindness and FAITHFUL. Always. Sometimes it was all I could do but fall into His grace-laden presence, but He carried me through and did a work beyond my understanding and wisdom. Could there still be a conversation? Sure! But one rooted in God’s grace to do a work of healing and wholeness, not one looking for emotional satisfaction of a human frailty.

I pray this story encourages and challenges you to lean into His grace to not only receive it but also to release it. He truly is a good, good Father. To all of us.