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Matthew 5:5-6,11 – God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. (NLT)
I once thought that if an injustice were made public, it would immediately be condemned and fixed. Along with a group of older women, I regularly helped to use songs and spoofs to publicize wrongdoings in government and society. One time, I had an elderly neighbour who was on a small pension and whose bank closed his account because his balance remained persistently under a certain amount. Shortly after, the bigger banks left our poorer areas downtown to relocate to fatter accounts in the suburbs.
Outraged, we wrote letters to the editor. We organized a demonstration, back in the days before the Internet, and advertised it using the local cable channel, flyers on telephone poles, and our telephone network. I wrote a song to the tune of The Man On The Flying Trapeze:
- Oh we are the banks and we do as we please.
We'll charge you a fee if you happen to sneeze.
We don't want to bother with someone if he's
Under the poverty line.
If you keep your bank balance at less than we say,
We'll charge you such fees that you won't want to stay.
Such little accounts will not help us to pay
Our CEO 5 million bucks!
Then we took a bunch of monopoly money and our stuffed dummy down to city hall, wearing false noses to imitate the bankers, tossing our dummy at the crowds as a typical victim. I handed out copies of my song for everyone to sing. They applauded and agreed — but nothing changed. It took years for me to understand that injustice is a fact of life. It is often used as an excuse for not going to church, since churches are usually blamed for not doing anything about injustice in society and even for being part of it themselves.
Sometimes, justice seems hard to come by, with innocent victims of shootings at worship and at school, with false imprisonments, and with war killing peaceable families and destroying their land. But the greatest of all injustices was the death of God's perfect, sinless Son on the cross — He who preached love instead of hate and forgiveness when we suffer at the hands of others. From the cross, "Father, forgive them!" cried the One whose name was righteousness and peace, as a model that we might follow as we trod in His footsteps.
Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, we are grateful today for the gift of Your sinless Son, given for us as an example of love and truth. Thank You for Your promise that one day, You will bring about perfect justice. Until then, help us to shine Your light in our unjust world by our actions of kindness and mercy, working for peace and always recognizing our need of You. May we each take every opportunity to do justice. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
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Tuesday, December 3, 2024 – In Canada — Pray for those in small or rural churches, many of whom are struggling without adequate leaders or funds to minister to their communities. Give them faith and courage to reach out to neighbours and those who are not involved in worship and fellowship. Pray for their dependence on God to grow as they trust him for guidance and provision.
Prayer for Pastor Kristen: "Update December 2, 2024: Kirsten is not doing well. She will probably need to go on disability. She..." 
Thanks, I love your song too.
May we live out your prayer, Rose.
Amen Rose. Happy Easter to you and yours.
Thanks for a good reminder today Rose.
Blessings.
One of the best devotionals I’ve ever read. Thank you so very much.
All it takes for evil to reign is for God’s good people to do nothing.
Thank you, Rose, for sharing this devotional and poem with us. Blessings.
Listened to the podcast version today. It surprised me. Blessings on your day.
Thank you. Father, forgive them. A difficult message. Love is not easy.
(Manitoba)
Hi Rose,
I’m sure glad you are on the Lord’s side; you are fierce and by the way, great song! Thank you for your willing to stand up for injustices.
Dear Rose DeShaw,
Your devotional comes into its own with the last paragraph and your prayer.
Very suitable for the season of Jesus giving his life to pay for our sins and set us free.
It is frustrating when injustices are never made right… however, in Heaven all will be made right and the Christian victims will never again have to face injustice. What a wonderful peace awaits those who love the Lord.
Thank you for your prayer to be grateful for Jesus Christ, to allow His light to shine through us to others as we wait for His perfect justice.
May we all remember the kindness and mercy toward others as we go through each day.
In His Glorious Name.
Thank you.
Justice issues require such action as you took even when things do not seem to change… but change comes in many way – maybe even if it is in your own heart.
Thanks again!
Excellent example of the truth about our fallen humanity. One of the things I find most difficult is that my own efforts may not change the people or circumstances that I’m praying about. The only answer I have come up with is to keep on loving the people, even as they continue to refuse God’s promptings toward justice and away from self-centredness.
What else can one do?
Hello Rose,
Many thanks for this devotional. So distressing to hear about so much injustice in our world every day. More people need to come to know the peace and love that prevails in knowing and following the teachings of our Lord.
Blessings for contributing devotionals.
(B.C.)
Wonderful devotional Rise.
Luke 23:34 was my scripture for the day “Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.” I added it to my journal this morning and told myself this would be a great addition to my resentment prayer. It doesn’t surprise me that you would soon share the companion scripture from Matthew with me later in the day. That’s how God works. He is awesome and He makes you awesome too.
Thanks.
Dear Rose:
Thank you for wonderful devotional today.
My book club just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird. This is one of the terrible facts of life I am so passionate about, racism.
Two of my book club members are on our church’s refugee committee and work tirelessly with our refugees from Myanmar.
If my body would let me, I would be doing all I could to help others to know God’s unquenchable love for them.
I always appreciate your kind words Rose. God bless you and I pray you have an amazing Easter.
Thank you, Rose. You have had such an interesting life!
Rose – great devotional. I have an atheist/agnostic friend who uses these examples constantly to support her beliefs. There is no answer for the injustices of this world.
Blessed Easter to you and your family.
Hi Rose,
Good devotional. There is a lot of injustice in the world for sure. We are witnesses to it, through the news media, almost every day.
And we often wonder when it will all end. Here on earth at least. All we can do, and we do, that a change will come about.
Thank you for writing. Keep up the good work.
But you know what?
Jesus would approve of your actions. Many of his actions went against the harsh unjust treatment of poor and persecuted people.
“Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone.”
If we don’t name injustice for what it is, it just keeps growing.
I know of a town where the bank closed just as you said.
People got together and invited another bank in.
Super.