Scripture: Isaiah 32:16-18
Journal: How are justice and righteousness concretely taking shape in your life
these days? How is that bringing about
shalom? How is God calling you to be an
agent of his shalom in the world?
Reflection: In the kingdom of God, justice and righteousness are vitally and
intimately connected. Just look at the Scriptures,
you hardly ever see one without the other. Justice (mishpat), at its
core, means that all of the principles and standards of the covenant are applied
equally and fairly to everyone. And
righteousness (tsedaqah) has to do with right standing and right
relationship, first with God and then with one another. Righteousness means that everyone and
everything are living as they were intended to.
Thus, you can’t be righteous without being just, and you can’t be just
without being righteous.
And when you put the two
together, you get peace (shalom).
And by peace, I do not mean merely a calm and serene feeling inside, but
I mean wholeness. Shalom is always about experiencing the creation
intent of God. Shalom is about being
exactly who and what we were meant to be.
It is about reversing the effects of the fall whenever and wherever
possible and making space for God to usher in the kingdom once again. For only when we experience true shalom can
we ever have any real hope of finding the rest our souls most deeply long for.
The tricky part is that only
God can bring about true shalom, but we are all responsible to live
justly and act rightly—by his power and his grace. It is how we seek the peace of the city.
(Jer. 29:7) In order to seek shalom for all, we must consider what it
means for us as individuals to live in such a way that we do justice and
love mercy and walk humbly with our God. (Micah 6:8) We can’t just sit idly
by and hope that it will somehow magically come about. It will take a lot of effort on our
part. It will take a lot of prayer and
reflection and confession and conversation and repentance and reconciliation. It will involve each of us considering what
God would have us to do in order to make his shalom a possibility for
all.
What does that look like for
you? How will you take the first, or the
next, step? How will you live in such a
way, this day, that you are an agent of God’s shalom in the world? After all, “Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins
with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with
mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community
that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard
work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and
honor.” (James 3:17-18, The Message)
Prayer
Closing
Prayer: May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you
and be gracious to you. May the Lord
turn his face toward you and give you peace, so that you might be agents of his
peace in this broken and hurting world.
Amen.
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