Doing Justice – Jeremiah 22

Doing Justice – Jeremiah 22

In Jeremiah 22 the prophet has gone in front of the king to warn and rebuke him. In verses 15-16 God says through Jeremiah, “Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy, then it was well. Is that not what it means to know Me?” declares the LORD.

Here it is made very clear that by serving those in need, by doing just and right things we are building our relationship with God. By pleading for the afflicted and needy, we are repairing the covenant. While Jeremiah mentions the myriad ways that Judah will suffer if they continue to ignore the oppressed, the widowed and the orphaned, it shakes me to my core to think of what it would be like to be removed from God.

The Amity foundation in China, with support from Global Ministries, covers the expenses of educating children who have been orphaned by AIDS, their volunteer teachers work to liberate their rural students from the oppression of poverty, and their micro-credit loans offer new hope to the widows trying to rebuild after disasters. Their programs demonstrate to the people of China what it means to know the LORD.

God, help us to do justice to the poor and vulnerable in our world. Amen

Thomas Morse, a member of First Christian Church, Helena, Montana, serves with the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital. He is working on the hospital’s English communications. His Lynnea, serves the Amity Foundation of China through Church World Service as an English teacher.