Psalm 119:121

With the New Year begun, we now begin a new octave in our mediations on Psalm 119.  This octave bears the title of the Hebrew letter Ain.  The ai is pronounced like the ai in the word aisle.  Now I ain gonna spend a lot of time tryin to think up somethin funny.  I just ain gonna do it.

Psalms 119:121  ¶AIN. I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors.

We usually think of confession as something one does when one has sinned.  But today’s verse is an example of confessing to God something good that one has done:  I have done judgment and justice.  So that we may know what it is to do judgment and justice¸ we need to define the terms.

Judgment - The action of trying a cause in a court of justice; trial. The sentence of a court of justice; a judicial decision or order in court.

Now the psalmist may have been a judge in a court of justice.  If so, he was a good judge.  But it is not necessary to occupy the office of judge in a court of law in order to do judgment and justice.  Every one of us exercises judgment in the court of our own thoughts and decisions.  Following is the definition of judgment as it pertains to our personal judgments.

Judgment - The formation of a deliberate opinion or notion concerning something by exercising the mind upon it; an opinion, estimate.

But if our judgment of something is to be a right judgment, it must be accompanied with justice. 

Justice - The quality of being just (which is defined as “righteous in the sight of God”). The quality of being (morally) just or righteous; the principle of just dealing; the exhibition of this quality or principle in action; just conduct; integrity, rectitude.

For a judicial decision of a judge to be a just decision, it must be righteous in the sight of God.  And the same is true of the judgments that we all personally make when we judge what others say and do, or when we judge what we say and do.

Notice that inherent in the definition of justice is a standard of righteousness, which is a law.  Now there is only one lawgiver and that is God.

James 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

Isaiah 33:22  For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.

This explains why a judgment must be righteous in the sight of God in order to be an act of justice.  And, of course, God’s law is given in His word, the Holy Scriptures, which is the theme of this psalm.  Any law that men make or any decision a judge makes that violates the Holy Scriptures may be a judgment, but it is not a just judgment.  And if it is not a just judgment, it is not justice! 

Isaiah 10:1  Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

2  To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!

The same holds true of our personal judgments.  This is why our Lord taught us:

John 7:24  Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

We must be very careful that when we judge the words and actions of others we do so justly, in accord with the Scriptures.  When we judge others as evil simply because they cross our standards, or our expectations, or our plans, then we are not doing judgment and justice.  We are usurping the place of God by setting up ourselves as lawgivers.  We are judging God’s law as though it is not sufficient as a judge of others and we are treating our personal law as supreme.

James 4:11  Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

Being able to say that he had done justice and judgment, the psalmist could then make this request:  leave me not to mine oppressors.  There is nothing like a clear conscience when one is being persecuted and feeling the weight of oppressors.  Take the apostle Paul for an example.

Acts 25:10  Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest.

It was the want of doing judgment and justice that provoked the Lord to leave Israel to their oppressors time and again, as we read in the Old Testament.  They foolishly thought they could get away with injustice by appearing before God in His temple, observing holy days, and bringing sacrifices (see Isaiah 1:10-17 and Jeremiah 7:4-7).  Not so! 

Proverbs 21:3  To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

Micah 6:6  Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?

7  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

To engage in the ordinances of God’s house is a good thing indeed.  But it is never a substitute for just and fair dealings with our fellow man!

So if we wonder why we are seeing a steady erosion of freedom in our nation and why we feel the weight of an ever-expanding, oppressive hand of bureaucracy, we can trace it to this: 

Isaiah 59:14  And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

15  Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

In the halls of government, in the courts of the land, and in the opinion of citizens there is an ever decreasing amount of judgment and justice.  Courts uphold the killing of innocent babies by abortion and claim that sodomites have a right (?) to be married.  Multitudes of men and women are cohabiting in a sexual union without marriage.  And the man that stands against this tide of evil is judged as being a perpetrator of hate and injustice.  He becomes the criminal in such a perverted society.   And it was into just such a society that our Saviour came.  He stands as the perfect Example of one who did judgment and justice.  Said He of Himself:

John 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Yet He was judged a criminal and nailed to a cross.  Nevertheless, He was not left to His oppressors for God raised Him from the dead on the third day! 

So no matter how evil the time is, do judgment and justice.  Or, as Jim Ruma put it:  “Do the next right thing.”  Furthermore, you parents, one of the most important lessons you can teach your children is to do judgment and justice.  Let it be said of you as it was said of Abraham:

Genesis 18:19  For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

And even if you feel the hand of oppression for awhile, know that the Lord will not leave you there.  He will arise; He will plead your cause; and He will deliver you.

Psalms 37:32  The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.

33  The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.

34  Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

I did not set out for this blog to go on for so long.  I trust I have not wearied you.