Psalm 82
God calls the judges into His courtroom, He puts all the judges in the dock.
“Enough! You’ve corrupted justice long enough, you’ve let the wicked get away with murder. You’re here to defend the defenseless, to make sure that underdogs get a fair break; your job is to stand up for the powerless, and prosecute all those who exploit them.” Ignorant judges! Head-in-the-sand judges! They haven’t a clue to what’s going on. And now everything’s falling apart, the world’s coming unglued. “I commissioned you judges, each one of you, deputies of the High God, but you’ve betrayed your commission and now you’re stripped of your rank, busted.” O God, give them their just deserts! You’ve got the whole world in Your hands!
Truth is the glue that holds this world together. God is the author, source, determiner, governor, arbiter, ultimate standard, and final judge of all truth.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” —John 14:6
“Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.” And Pilate asked, “What is truth?” —John 18:37,38
Right is right, even if nobody does it. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong about it. – G. K. Chesterton
Every man’s way is right in his own eyes… —Proverbs 21:2
What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. —Isaiah 5:20
“…the father of lies…comes only to steal and kill and destroy…” —John 8:44; 10:10
From a Letter to Danbury Baptists
I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. – President Thomas Jefferson
“He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings.” —Daniel 2:21
Read what God says about government in Romans 13:1-7.
“If any of them offer their children as a sacrifice to Molech, they must be put to death.” —Leviticus 20:2
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice. —Proverbs 3:8,9
Pastors Blog, Marty Haas
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Discussion Questions
1. Describe a current topic in which people mislabel good as evil and evil as good.
2. Read Matthew 20:31-46. What might Jesus say on Judgment Day to:
• A ThriVe volunteer who talked a scared teen into sparing her baby & letting ThriVe help her?
• A Planned Parenthood volunteer who talked a scared teen into getting an abortion?
• A politician who fought to give those teens the ability to abort their babies?
• A Christian who voted for that candidate?
3. What’s worse: shoplifting a candy bar or emptying an elderly widow’s savings account? Why? Why do you suppose we might begin to think that all sin is equal?