Justice and Mercy

I've always wondered how justice and mercy coincide, how we can pursue justice as image bearers of God but also extend a hand of mercy as followers of Christ. In Amos, God talks about sending a famine of the land, a famine "for hearing the words of the Lord" (8:11b). God did keep that promise and remained silent for 400 years! I got to thinking how much God suffered in that act of justice. It wasn't just painful for Israel; it had to have been painful for Him as well. That's where His compassion (suffering with) came in. Mercy is another word for compassion. He extended mercy at the end of those 400 years by sending His Son to bring salvation. Even in that act of justice, He gave mercy: "For behold, I am commanding, and I will shake the house of Israel among all nations, as grain is shaken in a sieve, but not a kernel will fall to the ground" (9:9).

God is just for the sake of His name; it is His very nature to be just. God is merciful for the sake of His name; it is His very nature to be merciful. If He wasn't merciful, then we could only fear and dread Him, and therefore, our worship would be merely out of our fear of what He might do to us if we didn't worship Him. But it's His mercy that draws us to Him. It's His kindness that leads us to repentance. It's His grace that invites us to approach His throne of grace with confidence.

So, how should we view and pursue justice and mercy at the same time? God instituted human governments as His servants of justice. "...when human beings act with justice and fairly punish acts of injustice, while remaining mindful of the dignity of even the perpetrators of these crimes, we are living more fully as those who bear God's image" (Haugen 178). "Through holding perpetrators accountable, we protect vulnerable people--in response to God's clear call to do so (Isaiah 1:17). But it is important to remember: We do not take joy in perpetrators' suffering....We pray that their hearts would be softened, that they would turn from their ways and know the peace of forgiveness....We show godly love toward a perpetrator by restraining him or her from harming others, but also by praying for their reconciliation with their Maker" (178-79).

This is all making so much more sense to me now!