God Judges with Equity
–Begin by taking some deep breaths. As you breath you can begin to clear your mind.–
- Breath in by saying or thinking “God”
- Breath out by saying or thinking “will judge”
-continue this breathing exercise until you feel you are ready to continue.–
Say among the nations, “The Lord is king!
Psalm 96:10-13
The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.
He will judge the peoples with equity.”
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the Lord; for he is coming,
for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with his truth.
Meditation
The psalmist is excited that God is coming to judge the earth. Who looks forward to judgment? I do not look forward to judgment unless I am not the person who is being judged. The only person I can think of who might happy about judgment is the person who has been judged wrongly, and knows God will see past the wrong judgments to judge with fairness. To be judged with equity is something we all hope for. Judging without prejudice: without preconceived notions of who a person is. This is what is being celebrated.
As human beings we are not always fair in our judgments. Even when we think we are being fair, we still use prejudices we have been taught to make our determinations. I know there are times I am shocked to realize prejudices I have are influencing how I think. There have been many times in my life when I look at someone and think something; then it strikes me my thinking is not as a result of knowing that person, but as a result of the way I was taught to think about people who look, act or live like that person.
I am so glad God does not look at me based on the way some people look at me. God is able to see what is in my heart: not just the way I look, act or live. Thinking about judgment this way, I can rejoice with the psalmist that God is coming to judge the world with equity.
- Take some time to imagine what it will look like when God is judging the world.
- Think about you last week. Have you judged others with equity?
-please take a moment to do one of these things. After meditating you might want to write your thoughts down.-
Prayer
God, you look down on this earth and see each of us where we are. You see our faults and our triumphs. You are able to look past the things people judge us on, and look into our hearts. Thank you for judging all of the earth with equity and fairness. Please help me to be able to judge the people around me with equity as well. Amen