God of Justice
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Genesis 1:31
Brokenness Abounds
All things were very good. This is what God spoke out over creation. It would be impossible for me to look very far and be able to say the same today. Though there is beauty, creativity and generosity, there is also much that can’t be described as very good. Broken systems and relationships continue to affect the people caught up in them. People who don’t have access to healthcare, mental health resources, or clean water; women and children who experience high rates of violence, and people sold like property to name only a few.
Covenant Promise
Genesis 18:18-19 says, “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” [emphasis mine]
The Biblical narrative moves from creation (when God made all things, and they were very good) to what is known as the fall (when creation became disordered and broken as a result of humans choosing not to trust God’s goodness).
Sometimes we can get stuck there, believing the lie that the brokenness is all there is, that we should be thankful for what we have, and there isn’t anything more to do this side of heaven.
The fall caused a disordering of creation, relationships, structures, and systems. Things were no longer very good. But we read in Genesis 18 that God would use Abraham and the generations that followed to do what “is right and just.” And not just for his own sake but as we see in verse 18, that “all nations on earth will be blessed through him.” God’s covenant with Abraham was not only for the prospering of his own family but also for the prospering of the nations. This is God’s ongoing act of re-creation and it’s happening right now.
Hope for a Better Future
God is inviting us, the Church, to participate in blessing the nations, to be a part of the restoration of relationships, systems, and creation.
You may not be the one to go and work on the front lines with victims of human trafficking, you may not have the skills and education to drill deep-borehole wells, but you do, as a follower of Jesus have the responsibility to do what is right and to seek justice. What might that look like? It might look like changing shopping habits, giving to organizations that work towards sustainable and holistic solutions, or working to clean up trash from local parks and waterways.
Whatever it looks like, God is already there. He is calling His people to partner with Him and to be a part of the mission to restore what was lost in the fall, to partner in meaningful ways with Him, and for each of us to do our part in doing what is right and just in this world to see His Kingdom come and His will be done.
