47 Days of Justice 2024 - Day 23: People who pervert justice, or stay silent about injustice, have become deaf to the cries of the victims.
- araratchurch
- Jun 21, 2024
- 3 min read
“Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.”
Genesis 37:25 NLT
Don’t let the fact be lost on you that having just thrown their little brother into a dry cistern, leaving him for dead, Joseph’s brothers are about to sit down to eat!
Imagine this: Joseph is surely crying out for help, imploring that they change their minds. He is hungry. He is exhausted. He is thirsty. He is horrified. Yet, they’ve worked up an appetite!
When our own hurt, agenda, desires, etc., are louder than the voice of justice, we no longer feel compelled to respond to cries of distress. Cries for mercy become background “noise,” barely interrupting the loud demands of our wicked agenda. So what if we have inflicted hurt? Even more reason to ignore and deny what is really happening. Move along, nothing to see here.
For some people, anything—including anyone—standing between them and what they want, is objectified, and seen only as an obstacle to their desires. So naturally, there is no consideration for the other person or group. After all, objects require no consideration.
Oh how important it is that we treat one another as one of God’s beloved and as our dear sister(s) or brother(s) in Christ.
“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.”
1 John 4:7, 11-12, 20-21 NLT
As we discussed on Day 18, if we are dealing with our sisters and brothers out of our envy, our jealousy, our greed, our ambitions, our hurt, etc., we will necessarily become abusive and commit injustices.
“What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.“
James 4:1-2a NLT
Additionally, it is easy to become abusive or insensitive in our dealings with others when we allow the pressures of life to cause us to be completely self-centered, totally self-absorbed.
We must beware lest imprisoned in our own echo chambers, we become oblivious to how our actions are causing harm; or how our inactions may deny relief to suffering souls.
Joseph’s brothers have allowed their own bitterness to make them calloused to Joseph’s suffering. Now they are about to do something they think will tie the bow on their heartless scheme.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
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