In the sermon 'Finding Justice' by Peter Allison, the speaker explores the themes of justice, righteousness, and discipline as outlined in Proverbs 29. The sermon emphasizes that justice is a foundational pillar for a prosperous nation and is sourced from God rather than human favor or lobbying efforts. It critiques societal tendencies to seek justice through political influence or financial power and underscores the importance of trusting God's providence. Furthermore, the sermon discusses the necessity of discipline at both personal and national levels, drawing parallels between self-discipline and societal order. It also warns against the fear of man, highlighting it as a barrier to true justice, and encourages the fear of the Lord as a guiding principle. The sermon concludes with reflections on God's ultimate authority in administering justice and the importance of waiting on the Lord's timing, acknowledging that while human justice may falter, divine justice is assured. God's mercy is also highlighted as a critical component, reminding believers of the grace they receive despite their shortcomings.

Your scriptures to Proverbs 29 And let's please hear the word of the Lord beginning at verse 23. An angry man stirs up strife, and a furious man abounds in transgression. A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor. Whoever is a partner with a thief hates his own life, he swears to tell the truth, but reveals nothing. The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.

Many seek the ruler's favor, but justice for man comes from the Lord. An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, and he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked." May our petitions be received that the Lord would deliver us according to his word. Almighty Heavenly Father, pray that you would open the eyes of our understanding that we may behold your beauty and your wisdom and your truth as you have revealed it in this passage. We ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips that they might proclaim your riches through Jesus Christ, amen. This is the last section, the last verses of this second section of Solomon's Proverbs this section or the second set of Solomon's Proverbs that began in chapter 25 these these five chapters Were were the said to be the Proverbs of Solomon, which Hezekiah, the king of Judah, copied and set in order.

And there was an earlier set starting in chapter 10. So This is the second set. This second set we've seen focuses more on national, civil, kings, and these sort of what we might call broader cultural matters. And we've seen, especially in the previous two weeks, previous several weeks actually, the two pillars that undergird a prosperous nation remember them righteousness and Justice these pillars of a prosperous culture and When a nation is populated by the righteous, the people rejoice. And we saw earlier in this chapter in verse four that the land is established by justice.

It's established, it's a foundation, it's justice. And so in this closing section that we'd like to look at this morning, Proverbs teaches us where this justice is found and where it is not found, where it is and where it isn't. It comes from the fear of God, and it does not come through the fear of man. But before we look at that, I'd like to just pause a minute in a little parenthetical thought here that doesn't tie directly with What we want to look at this morning. I want to pick up that last verse In 21 that I didn't comment on last week, partly because we ran out of time, but partly because I wasn't sure what to say about it.

I wasn't sure how to interpret that. Because It's a hard message for our culture today the way it seems to be written, and I just wasn't sure that that's what that meant and and I so I wasn't willing to I Wasn't confident enough to say anything on it, but after some more thought and prayer I I didn't know with this verse that says, He who pampers his servant from childhood will have him as a son in the end. I wasn't sure whether that was telling us what we ought to do, is that a good thing? Is that speaking of something desirable? Or is that speaking of something that we ought not to do?

Is it speaking of something that is undesirable to have a servant become our son in the end? And if it's something that we ought to do that would kind of fit very nicely with what our culture would like to hear. If it's something that we ought not to do, that becomes a very offensive thought in our culture today. And what I realized, or what I, in thinking about this more, every single commentator that I trust, and every commentator, I shouldn't say every single that I trust, most of the, most all of the Reformed commentators, and every commentator before the 20th century looked at this verse as something that we ought not to do. And so I'd like to just read what Matthew Henry said about this particular verse.

And Matthew Henry said, quote, it is an imprudent thing in a master to be too fond of a servant, to advance him too fast and admit him to be too familiar with him, to suffer him to be overnice and curious in his diet and clothing and lodging, and so to bring him up delicately because he is a favorite and an agreeable servant. It should be remembered that he is a servant and by being thus indulged will be spoiled for any other place. Servants must endure hardness. It is an ungrateful thing in a servant, but what is very common to behave insolently because he has been used tenderly. The humble prodigal thinks himself unworthy to be called a son and is content to be a servant.

The pampered slave thinks himself too good to be called a servant and will be a son at length, will take his ease and liberty and will be on par with his master and perhaps pretend to the inheritance that masters give their servants that which is equal and fit for them and neither more nor less. This is very applicable to the body which is a servant to the soul. Those that delicately bring up the body, that humor it, and are over tender of it, will find at length it will forget its place, and become a son, a master, a perfect tyrant." End quote. And you remember, Proverbs speaks about one of the unsufferable things is when a servant rules. But the other other aspect of this is speaking of discipline.

And you remember, If you remember last week, the title of the sermon and this text that we looked at was that national prosperity requires discipline. National prosperity required discipline. Just like self-discipline is needed, if we are to be successful, we have to be disciplined, we need the spiritual disciplines, but there is a discipline that is required of a nation as well if there is going to be prosperity there. And so what this verse is speaking about then is this aspect of discipline. Just like there needs to be self-discipline over our own bodies and and Matthew Henry alludes to that when he speaks about this this is applicable to the body right.

We have to we Paul says I buffet my body I bring it into submission lest after I have preached to others I myself am cast away. And so this then is very in keeping with the need for discipline. We saw how proverbs referred to discipline in the family and how those proverbs were kind of mixed together with these proverbs dealing with kings and rulers and peoples and so on. And the inference or the truth that we drew from that was that the Lord was teaching us that these same principles that apply in the family, they are also applicable in households, in broader households, in business, and in our nation with respect to our culture. So they relate to kings to cultures in the civil society.

So back to justice now, Where do we find it? Where is it found? Well, the text says that justice isn't found in lobbying. Many seek the ruler's favor, verse 26. Many seek the ruler's favor, but contrast, there's a contrast, That's not where justice comes from.

Justice comes from the Lord. But whoever trusts in the Lord will be saved. But justice comes from the Lord. So justice isn't found in lobbying. Many people seek a ruler's favor.

That was true in Solomon's day apparently, and it's still very much true today. This is most often done, this favor is most often sought in the form of campaign donations and flattery. And it's called, that's called lobbying today. Where corporations and other people with lots of money pay, donate, they pay in order to have access to politicians, to rulers. See, the mafia simply pays people under the table, but lobbyists with campaign contributions and other benefits, they pay people with, sorry, lobbyists pay people with campaign contributions and other benefits called fundraisers.

With a fundraiser, you can bring all sorts of pleasures to politicians, all in the name of fundraising, But it's really seeking access to them. Because those who make these campaign contributions expect their ruler, whoever it is, their legislator to make time for them when they wanna talk to them. They expect them to listen to them, more importantly, when they make recommendations on how they should vote. And it works. Just look at the voting records of people.

Their voting record is driven by the people that are making the biggest campaign contributions to them. And it can be very tempting for us as Christians that are involved in politics to follow these same methods and to try to duplicate this because it does outwardly seem to work. I had lunch a number of years ago with a leader in Texas, someone who would be well known to homeschoolers in our state, and he was very unwilling. He actually grew quite angry at the mention of faults in one of the candidates he was endorsing for governor. Why?

Why? Why did he become so agitated, so angry over the thought that we would not support somebody? Because as he explained it, he needed to preserve access to this person. And that meant you couldn't speak against them. That's what this is talking about, seeking a ruler's favor, face time with them.

Okay, justice isn't found that way. Justice isn't found in money. It's commonly said today that justice is for sale to those who can afford the highest power lawyers. Because we live in a day when many courts are corrupt. Prosecutors routinely lie.

They cover up evidence. They disregard the truth. And we saw a blatant example of that in this recent, very prominent case. And so people turn to very high-powered lawyers to fight this same thing by their lawyers doing the same kinds of things. Bible says in Proverbs 19, A disreputable witness scorns justice in the mouth of the wicked devourer iniquity.

But that's not... Justice isn't found with money and high-powered lawyers. God brings justice. Justice is from the Lord. Justice for man comes from the Lord.

Proverbs 16 says, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. What appears to us to be random chance events, the Bible says every one of those decisions comes from the Lord. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. He turns it whichever way he will, just like we change the course of a river, divert a channel of water to make it go where we want it to go. God brings justice.

He holds the hearts of kings. He controls the decisions that they make. When God promised to restore Israel in Isaiah 28 through Jesus Christ, He said, Therefore, thus says the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. Whoever believes will not act hastily. And I, God said, through Jesus Christ, I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line.

So although the king may need, or even though God may use kings and rulers and judges to bring justice. God doesn't need them. He doesn't need us to bring justice. And that's something I think we need to remember. It's so easy to forget that.

And to put all our hopes for justice on people. Sinful people. Maybe You probably remember the account in 1 Samuel 6 of how the Ark had been taken out to battle with the Philistines in a superstitious attempt to think that if they had the ark there at the battlefield, then God would have to give them a victory. Well, God showed the Israelites, no, they were defeated, their high priest was killed, his sons were killed, the ark was captured by the enemies of God. God said, no, that doesn't work that way.

But the next chapter talks about what happened now. You would think, okay, here's this ark. This is central to the Israelites' worship. It's where the ark dwelt in the Holy of Holies, where the Shekinah glory of God was. You would think that this was very important, that they would need to send a team of rangers, a delta force, in to retrieve it, capture it, a recon raid.

But that's not what happens. God doesn't need anybody to get his ark back to Israel. And the story that follows shows that it comes back without any human hands involved. It's an amazing story. And nobody has to do anything to the Philistines for them to give the ark back God brought the circumstances about so that they were trying to get rid of it They didn't want it anymore because it made them sick gave them illnesses people died their God would just fall over and He broke And they'd stand Him up and He'd fall over again.

In the middle of the night when nobody was around, they realized this was a power They had no idea what it was, other than it came from God and it scared them. And they realized that God's wrath was on them. The sicknesses and the pestilence that was coming upon them was because they had this ark. And so they passed it around, but it got to the point where no city wanted to have it. They didn't want God's wrath on them and to get sick and die.

And so they asked, what do we have to do? How do we get rid of this? And the answer was, well, they had a few things to do related to their pestilence, they had to make some golden images, but they were to take this cart, and they would take two cows that had never been milked before, never had their first-time mothers with calves, And they were to lock the calves up, and they would hitch these cows up to the cart and let the cart just go wherever the cows took it. Now, it's kind of like Elijah pouring water upon a sacrifice that he wanted to set to fire. It's the opposite of what you would expect.

If you take cows that have newborn calves, they're going to head right back to those calves. And if you get in their way, they're going to toss you aside, as many ranchers have experienced. But not these cows. These cows went straight back to the land of Israel. And without any human hands guiding them, they brought this ark back to the Israelites, and as the Israelites were in their fields harvesting grain, and they see the ark appear, no humans guiding it.

God didn't need any army to go back and get his ark. He was perfectly capable of bringing it back all by himself. And that's the sense here in which we need to understand justice. Justice comes from the Lord. He doesn't need anybody to do it for us.

He's very capable of bringing justice to us. But justice is also defined by God. Justice is according to God's law. It's not what we think would be right. We don't define it.

God said it was just for Adam's sin to be imputed to all mankind who descended from Him. God said it was just for Christ's righteousness to be imputed to us and our sin to be imputed to Christ. God defines justice. God defines who is accountable. God's standard is that children are not punished for the sins of their fathers.

Deuteronomy says, Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children be put to death for their fathers. A person shall be put to death for their own sin. But in God's justice, God also visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. Those two principles are both true. Those children in the third and fourth generation upon whom the iniquity the fathers is visited are bearing their own iniquity as well.

So we we need to remember that that God is just that and but that God is the standard that the one who defines what is just. God is the one who gives the authority to administer justice. God is the one who gives authority to administer justice. Remember Jesus said all authority in heaven and earth belongs to Me. He told Pilate you would have no authority except what I have given you.

The king, verse 4 says of this chapter, establishes the land by justice. He is God's minister. He is the one to whom God has given authority to bring civil justice over people. And the application of this truth that God is the one who gives authority to administer justice is that if we do not get justice through the means that God has ordained it, then we need to wait on the Lord for that justice. We need to wait on the Lord for that justice.

Sometimes that justice doesn't come immediately. We need to wait on the Lord. It is never right for us to assume authority to administer justice, Whether that's in our personal level, whether that's in the church, or in the state, or anywhere. If we do not have authority to administer justice, If God hasn't given to us that responsibility, then it is wrong for us to assume that authority and try to administer justice our way. That's not justice.

That's never justice. Now, where God has given us authority, then we are responsible and we need to administer justice. And it's wrong for us not to administer justice when God has given us authority to do so. So wherever we have authority, we need to see that justice is carried out. Justice is also based on truth.

Verse 14 says, The king who judges the poor with truth is thrown is established forever. Justice has to be based on truth. And again, these principles, they're just illustrated almost every week in our culture. We've had this very famous trial that I mentioned last week. It's an example of justice has to be based on truth.

The facts of what happened matter. And what is just and unjust depends on the facts and what the truth is. And If you believe a lie, you're going to come to a very different idea of what is just. And so we need to understand. We need to know what the truth is.

Without the truth, justice is impossible. See, of course, God knows the truth perfectly. He knows all the thoughts and intents of our heart. He knows what we were wanting to do, even if it wasn't what we actually did. He knows everything that everyone has ever said in secret or done in secret.

There is no meeting. There is never a meeting of any two conspirators that isn't on the wire. Because God knows and hears everything that is said. And we don't. We don't.

And so where we don't have truth, where we do not know the truth, then it is impossible for us to come to bring justice. And that's another thing to remember. If we don't know the truth, If we recognize that we don't know the truth, then we cannot bring justice. And we have to recognize that as a human limitation, that justice comes from God. And if he hasn't given us the authority, or if he hasn't given us the truth in that matter, then we aren't able to bring justice and we need to wait on the Lord.

Now one of the snares is the fear of man. The fear of man brings a snare. But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. The fear of man is that thought that comes to us that says, what are people going to think? What are other people going to think of me?

If I do this, if I say this, if I wear this, if I drive this, if I live here, if I do this, What are people going to think of me? If I do this, if I say this, if I wear this, if I drive this, if I live here, if I do this, what are people going to think of me? That's the fear of man. And it doesn't bring justice. The fear of man brings a snare.

It's a snare of the devil. Saul offered a sacrifice without authority to do so because he feared the people. When Samuel came to rebuke him for that, he said, I have sinned for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in your words because I feared the people and I obeyed their voice. That's the fear of man. And It was a snare for Saul.

Herod killed John the Baptist over his fear of what the guests would think of him if he didn't. Remember when Herodias' daughter came in and asked for the head of John the Baptist. After the king had promised to give her anything she wanted up to half his kingdom, the king was sorry. Nevertheless, because of the owes and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. He feared the people.

The fear of man was a snare when Pilate condemned an innocent man, Jesus Christ. When Pilate heard the people saying that if you allow this king then you are no friend of Caesar, When he heard the people saying that, then he was the more afraid, John tells us. He feared the people, and it was a trap to him. Elijah fled in terror at the threat of a wicked woman. Remember after that Mount Carmel event, which we'll look at in a little bit.

Jezebel sent him a message, said, so that the gods do to me and more also if I do not make your life as a life of one of those people that you just killed by tomorrow about this time. And when Elijah heard that, he got up and ran for his life Because he was afraid of man. Peter fell into a deceptive practice regarding living as a Jew. Remember he was living among Gentiles and so he started living like the Gentiles did. But when the Jews came, then he would separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of the Jews thinking poorly of Him if He lived like a Gentile.

You remember Paul rebuked him for that. That was a fear of man. As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Fear of man. Preachers, pastors, can preach either false things or fail to preach the truth out of a fear of man.

A fear of what people will think. That was a condemnation that Isaiah brought. This is a rebellious people lying children. Children who will not hear the law of the Lord, who say to the seers, do not see, and to the prophets, do not prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Remember how Elijah pleaded with God against Israel saying, Lord they have killed your prophets and they have torn down your altars and they are seeking my life.

Why? Because these were preachers, prophets that had dared to bring the truth to them. But there were a lot of prophets that were gathered together that didn't bring the truth. Because they feared the wrath of the people. The antidote to the fear of man is to have a fear of the Lord.

We will always serve someone And we will always fear someone. Why? Why will it always be true that we are fearing someone and serving someone? Because we didn't make ourselves. And because we're not all powerful.

If we didn't make ourselves, then we don't own ourselves. And we're not all powerful. So it's a question of who we fear. Do we fear the Lord or do we fear man? In the Antitote, whenever we're tempted to fear man, whenever we're tempted to be more afraid of what people will think of us or do to us, we need to remember the fear of the Lord.

This is what the fear of the Lord does. Remember the Hebrew midwives feared the Lord. And because they feared the Lord, many Israelite babies were saved from Pharaoh's unjust decree, including Moses. Pharaoh had decreed that all the male children were to be killed at birth. And the midwives, because they feared God, They didn't do that.

And when Pharaoh called them into his presence, he said, how come there are so many living males? They said, well, because the Israelite women are strong women and they give birth before we can get there. Why did they do that? Because they feared God more than they feared Pharaoh's anger. And so it was because the midwives feared God that He provided households for them.

God gave them homes because they feared Him and didn't listen to the king's unjust command. God brought justice through them. Obadiah saved the prophets of God from Jezebel's murderous intentions. Remember, she was killing all the prophets of God. But Obadiah feared the Lord greatly.

And so it was that while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah had taken 100 prophets and hidden them 50 to a cave and fed them with bread and water He feared the Lord and he brought justice to these hundred people he preserved them from injustice Or or Elijah at Mount Carmel. You had Jezebel, a wicked queen, and Ahab, wicked kings. And they were massacring the prophets of God. And there was idol worship going on continually in the land. Justice was not being done.

Those people who were worshipping idols were not being brought to justice. And so look what happens here. Because Elijah fears the Lord. Elijah as a prophet commanded Ahab to gather all Israel together. Elijah doesn't take the matter into his own hands.

He didn't raise up a secret band of people and say, well, we need to bring justice here. We need to bring justice. These crimes are going on and they're not being properly adjudicated. That's not what he did. He went to Ahab, the king, and said, gather all Israel together.

Now, all Israel refers to the assembly of the leaders there. All Israel is used to speak of things that are done in the name of all the congregation, but it doesn't necessarily mean every individual person. I think we just need to remember that when we read that word, all the children of Israel, or all the congregation. And so Ahab essentially here is convening a civil court. When God rebukes Israel for national sins or when other matters of a national importance are transacted, It is, quote, before all the children of Israel.

There are a number of places that we can see that. So the children of Israel doesn't always mean every single soul. It sometimes is referring to the representative leaders as I think it does in this case. So then this assembly, this court convenes on top of Mount Carmel, and Elijah poses a judicial question that is to be decided by the court. Who is God?

Jehovah or Baal? And the people don't answer. They're silent. They say nothing. So Elijah proposes a method to answer this question before the court.

And I think it's Not insignificant that the method he proposes involves the priest of Baal offering a sacrifice to Baal. Just remember that. Remember he proposes, alright, you prepare a sacrifice to your God, and we'll see which God answers by fire. So the people agree to this trial that Elijah proposes. And all the people answered and said to him, it is well spoken.

So the trial is conducted, and you remember the dramatic results. Prophets of Baal spend all morning cutting themselves. This is satanic rituals. And no answer, no fire. Elijah then at the end of the day prepares the altar.

He has him dump lots of water on it, and he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered with fire from heaven that licked up everything on the altar. Everything. Despite the fact that it was drenched in water. And you would think some of the things in that altar didn't burn God destroyed everything with the fire and when the people saw this they fall on their faces and they render the verdict The Lord he is God the Lord he is God the people proclaim At that point Elijah instructs the court to do their duty. Elijah said to them, take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape.

And they took them, and they were eyewitnesses, to 900 prophets. These were people here. They just watched 900 prophets spend all morning publicly offering a sacrifice to an idol. And the law stipulated in Exodus 20, 22 that he who sacrifices to any god except to the Lord only shall be utterly destroyed. And so he commands this court, which has just seen this sin go on for an extended period of time publicly before all the representatives of Israel, Elijah set up this trial that has them offering a sacrifice to Baal.

The people witnessed it. So he says to the people then that they ought to do their duty and execute every one of those people. Because they ultimately are the ones responsible. The authority to the king is delegated from the people. The king is one installed into civil office, but the people are responsible for the leader they have elected or put into office.

By over means they do that. And these then were taken down and executed. So justice was done because one man feared the Lord. Now there is another verse here that is added to the very end of this passage. An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, and he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.

We cannot have common cause with those who are outside of and opposed to Christ. An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous. Psalm 15 specifically describes a characteristic of a righteous man as someone in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord. We cannot cooperate with those who are outside of Christ and think that we have common cause together. One area where this was often being done is schooling.

Parents would send their children to a school to be taught by those who hated God, by those who denied that God is the Creator, by those who deny that God is the standard of justice, by those who ban all mention of His name, except in vain. We can't do that. We can't have common cause with those outside of Christ. An unjust man has to be an abomination to the righteous. So if we want to be righteous, if we want to live as the righteous, then we can't join up with the wicked in something as important as the education of our children, or in any major undertaking like that.

The other aspect of this is that we have to expect to be hated by the wicked. He who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked. We can't expect to be popular or to be liked. Just remember Christ with the Jews and with the people. We have to be willing in this case to wait on the Lord to bring justice.

We can't be those who seek the ruler's favor, to want access with them, because then we're going to get justice. It won't work that way. The Lord may not give us justice at a moment. There are many, many times, believers have been in situations where there was no justice. The Bible actually says that it is blessed to be treated unjustly.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sakes, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you. And say, O man, are of evil against you falsely for my sake. Blessed are you when this happens. Blessed are you, God says, when the wicked treat you unjustly because you are just, because you are righteous.

Blessed are you when people slander your name, speak falsehood of you, for My sake. Rejoice, rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, because you're in good company when that happens to you. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Rejoice. Rejoice when you suffer injustice for my sake, Christ said, and be exceedingly glad.

Because justice may not come in your life. Remember the saints in Revelation that were killed in the great tribulation, they were martyred. And they ask God from heaven. John sees their souls under the altar. And he sees them asking, how long?

Until we're avenged. Revelation 6, when he opened, verse 9, When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God. Justice was denied them. They weren't treated justly. They were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they had.

That means they were speaking. They weren't afraid of man. They weren't afraid of what would happen to them. They were speaking, the testimony. They were killed for it.

And they cried out with a loud voice saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? See, it's not that justice doesn't matter to us. It's not that we are content with injustice. It's that we are willing. We are willing to wait on the Lord to bring justice when He has seen fit to not bring it through human authority.

How long? They ask, how long? How long, these are people who are fully sanctified. How long, O Lord, holy and true? Until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth.

And then a white robe was given to each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer. And both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who would be killed as they were was completed They were told you need to wait wait on the Lord. It is coming It is coming God is the judge of all the earth and God is a just judge But we need to we need to praise him Also for his mercy, right? Because it is by his mercy, it is by his mercy that we are not consumed. And that's why the Scriptures say, mercy triumphs over judgment.

We can praise the Lord this morning that God has been merciful to us, and that we have not known justice for the sins that we have committed. And the next time we are denied justice here on earth. The next time we are treated unjustly, unfairly, or slandered, and there's no human court that intervenes. Maybe because they don't have the truth and they don't know. Maybe because they're just, maybe it's a wicked court, and they're not doing it.

Maybe they've made a mistake. Whatever the reason, it's so easy to become bitter. It's so easy to throw everything out because We've been treated unjustly. And people that we depended on have let us down. They haven't rendered justice as maybe we think they ought to.

Remember, if we have suffered for righteousness sake, then we are blessed. But also remember, in that very moment, remember that God has spared you and me what was justly due us for our sin. And then wait, wait on the Lord knowing that He will render complete and total justice. Almighty Heavenly Father, we ask that You would enable us to wait upon You. For it is those You have said who wait upon You that renew their strength, who run and are not weary, who walk and are not faint, who mount up with wings as the eagle.

We ask Lord for patience to wait upon you, to wait patiently for you to bring justice. And to, Lord, remember to praise you for your mercy toward us in Jesus Christ. For It is by that mercy that we are not consumed. And Lord, in our cry for justice, which is a good cry, maybe be patient, remembering that you are good in all that you do and in everything that you bring to pass and that even the heart of the King is in your hand and if you have turned it against us, you have done so that you might be glorified and that you might bring good to us. And so Father, we ask for patience.

In Jesus name, Amen.