Bringing Our Thoughts And Prayers To A God Who Listens Without Prejudice

 The famous author C S Lewis told a little story in the introduction to a book of his I was reading recently.  He explained how it was often easier to learn from a fellow student who had a bit more knowledge in an area than oneself than from a learned teacher.  When asked a question the teacher would explain things the student already knew or give lots of information that just didn't seem to connect to the question in their mind.  He was speaking from a far distant view of the subject at hand.  The fellow student, on the other hand, is closer to the experience of the questioner and by each putting their "bit" together, the answer to the pressing question that fits the current context is likely more helpful.

This is what I appreciate about these few moments we spend together each day with one another.  We're not solving the great theological questions of the day but we hopefully are touching the heart of God in a way that awakens a sense of His goodness and trustworthiness in all our lives. 

Different translators of God's word help me in this regard as well. I will look at something in various translations as www.biblegateway.com or biblehub.com/parallel and although they are all faithful renditions of the thought in the verse, one set of words will help me understand things better.  I had that experience when I read these words.

Declare the greatness of our God! The Rock--His work is perfect; all His ways are entirely just. A faithful God, without prejudice, He is righteous and true. Deuteronomy 32:3-4

For many decades I've known and sung the song, "Ascribe greatness to our God the rock.  His work is perfect and all His ways are just.  A God of faithfulness, without injustice.  Good and upright is He" which uses the King James or New King James English words. While my soul has been lifted up in praise to God with these words there was something fresh in today's reading and I think a good bit of it came out of that phrase, "A faithful God, without prejudice."      

I've been around the legal system for a number of years and spoken to all sorts of folks on all sides of the situations from defendants to judges to plaintiffs, to lawyers.  Rare is the case where information is presented just as it is, without a desire to influence the thoughts of the judge or jury one way or the other. 

The same is too often true in the telling of the nightly news.  The media is supposed to be impartial but switch from a right wing to a left wing channel for the simple sharing of the news and the slant on what's being told differs greatly. 

I'm so grateful that the God we serve and to whom we bring the issues of our lives before, is a God whose ways are entirely just, a faithful God, without prejudice.  And not only that but a God who is full of mercy and grace. 

The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.  Exodus 34:6-7

Heavenly Father, you love what is good and right and every view of every situation we bring to You has that clarity of thought, understanding, and judgment brought to it.  We too often think of harsh and ugly things when it comes to judgment but Your judgment wonderfully sorts out good from evil and highlights that for us. 

I’m so grateful that we don’t have to hide facts from You, even the ugly ones because not only are You a God of justice who sees the facts for what they are, You are also a God of mercy who has prepared all we need to be forgiven and restored when the facts in the case against us are not good. 

Thank You for the Lord Jesus who suffered and died to pay the penalty for our sin.  We can safely admit our guilt.  You can properly mete out punishment for wrongs done and in Your amazing mercy, when we ask You for it, You take on our guilt and give us Your forgiveness and righteousness.  Help us to never take this amazing reality for granted.  It is too precious.  It cost You too much. 

We live in a world full of prejudice and a telling of the facts – and too often the non-facts – and it makes what we think and how we act feel unsafe and unsteady sometimes because we’re not sure what the real situation is and what we can actually trust.  We’re so glad that we can bring our confusion to You and know that You, in the power of the Holy Spirit, will help us sort through what’s going on, without prejudice.  We get the real story, the proper perspective, and a good route to take through it all from You. 

And so we just want to celebrate this amazing place of security we can live in today by affirming these words again:

Declare the greatness of our God! The Rock--His work is perfect; all His ways are entirely just. A faithful God, without prejudice, He is righteous and true. Deuteronomy 32:3-4