Day Twenty-one: Cry of Injustice

Read Matthew 2:16-23 and ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart to hear His voice today.

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
    weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.”[a]

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Herod had been outwitted by the wisdom only God can give, and he was furious. His anger led him to murder.  "He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem...AND its vicinity...who were two years old and under...then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah (the weeping prophet) was fulfilled:  'A voice is heard...weeping and great mourning...weeping for her children...because they are no more.'"  Listen to the cry of the broken.  This is the cry of injustice.

Over and over in scripture God is described as a God of Justice.  Psalm 9:16 says, "The LORD is known by His justice..."  Justice is simply making right what is wrong.  The slaughter of two year old baby boys in Herod's day was unquestionably wrong, it was unjust.  Hear the weeping and great mourning in the homes of the families in Bethlehem that day.  There are so many things wrong in our world and in the lives of those we come in contact with every day.  Can we see them with the Father's eyes?  The LORD is known by His justice.  He turns our mourning into dancing and clothes us with joy (Psalm 30:11).

What might happen if the cries for help and deliverance from the people of God became louder than the cries of the broken and lost and hurting?  When Cain killed his brother Abel, Genesis 4:10 says, "The LORD said, 'What have you done?  Listen!  Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground..."  The blood of the innocent cries out to God from the earth.  I wonder what God hears in the sound of the earth?

Psalm 102, verse 19 and 20 say, "The LORD looked down from His sanctuary on high, from heaven He viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death."

Hebrews 12 says Jesus is a mediator of a new covenant, "and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (vs. 24)."  Abel's blood cried out to God for justice; the blood of Jesus satisfied it.  Justice was served once and for all!

"See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks."  (Hebrews 12:25a).  May none refuse Him Who speaks today.  Father, heal our land.

"This is what the LORD says; Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded, declares the LORD.  They will return from the land of the enemy.  So there is hope for your future, declares the LORD.  Your children will return to their own land."  Jeremiah 31:16-17

Joy to the world, the LORD IS COME, let earth receive her KING!