Psalm 7 is riddled with a sense of justice – that God does and will make things right, but David also exhibits the sense that if he has done something wrong then he shouldn’t get away with it.

“God, if I’ve done what they say – betrayed my friends, ripped off my enemies – if my hands are really that dirty, let them get me, walk all over me, leave me flat on my face in the dirt.” -Psalm 7:3-5 (MSG)

It’s a limited understanding of justice but that is still, clearly, David’s sense of right playing out. It plays out later in the Psalm as well when he points out that those who commit evil meet a poor fate in the end.

I don’t disagree with David, I believe in all things being made right and I believe in a God who is acting towards that but I believe the justice that David understands is limited in how it plays out (in this Psalm) – those who do good will be rewarded and those who do bad will be punished. Jesus turns that notion on its head and shows us that God is making all things right, but grace, mercy and forgiveness are the key to it. Jesus’ life calls us beyond simplistic notions of justice.

The incarnation and the idea that Christ emptied himself to become a servant, placing himself at the bottom of the human status ladder, dying the death of an innocent man at the hands of guilty people to redeem all of creation – a creation that has and had continually turned its back on him, while calling for the forgiveness of those who killed him as he hung from the cross, that is God’s justice playing out. Mercy, forgiveness and grace are the cornerstones of justice because all things cannot actually be made right with a simple punishment and reward system.

For God to draw a wayward creation back to himself he chose to embrace it – he chose to embrace us. he chose to embrace those who crucified him. It didn’t mean ignoring the wrong being committed, instead it stared evil right in the face and defeated it through mercy, grace and forgiveness – through embrace. He starved evil of its oxygen.

This is a tough call when our inclinations are so often towards rage, accusation, revenge and punishment when we see injustice and indeed we ARE to work towards justice and that means standing up against injustice – but what are our tools for that work when the example we have is a saviour who emptied himself of all privilege and status, took on the nature of a servant, was faithful to the point of death – death on a cross – an action fuelled by obedience to the Father, love, mercy, forgiveness and grace? The challenge is on for us to be living examples of the same.

It’s not an easy thing. I struggle with it – it battles with my inner being. It’s impossible to do without our very core being dramatically shaped to reflect Jesus. I struggle to do it, I struggle to even say it or write it.

It’s a tough challenge that should be met by the deep seated knowledge that he first loved you and me and if he’s willing to do that for me, how can I possibly not do it for others?

May we be people who know that we are loved; loved by a God who has embraced us through the embrace of mercy, forgiveness and grace. As we turn to the world to be part of God’s story of making all things right may we be people who extend that to all those we encounter and in those places where injustice seems to reign.

Read more of my reflections on the Psalms.

Here’s why I’m walking this journey through the Psalms.