Joy in Justice.

I've wondered often in the past couple of years why "justice" no longer feels just. The standard of good has been set so low that it looks like gray, mirky water now. Is it even just to punish crime anymore? There are all these questions of capital punishment, prisoner rights, border security, equal opportunity, and work unions. There are endless topics that constantly beg our attention and force us to decide what justice is. These things that are hurled toward us daily make justice seem subjective and confusing. But then something happens that seems simple.

This month has been difficult because I, like many others who are praying and hoping, are waiting for some strangers to decide what justice is. It has felt like waiting for a time bomb to explode. Any day two little girls could be taken from my house in the name of justice. Two girls could be taken from their family in the name of justice. 

In this waiting, I've wondered more than ever how justice can seem so different to the other said. How is it possible that anyone can justify ruining a little girl's life, a little girl's chances at success, a little girl's understanding of reality. In what world is that a question? The answer to this question, as I've learned, is this: 

A fallen world.

Only in this world of fallen people can anyone think it is okay to separate a child from all she's ever known as family to put her in a desperate position. In the same way, it is Only in a fallen world can someone pervert justice to make it seem okay to rape a woman, okay to watch woman sell their purity for pleasure. Only in this disgusting reality is it possible for a young girl to feel that it is right for her to kill her baby because of a mistake she made. Only in this world have we all reverted to shameful things to desperately seek pleasure.

Jon Foreman captures this heartbreaking idea well:

And both of their hands 
Are equally skilled
Active in evil 
Equally skilled
At bribing the judges 
Equally skilled
At perverting justice
Both of their hands
Both of their hands

So as I await the fate of two little girls that have stolen mine, and so many other hearts, I am reminded of the deep injustice that runs through our human veins, and I quiver. I quiver because it is left to mere men to decide the fate of two beautiful souls. It is left to men to decide the fate of so many other little girls, grown men, and everything in between. But in this, the last bit of Foreman's song has reminded me, and convicted me, of some substantial truths. 

And both of His hands
Are equally skilled
At ruining evil 
Equally skilled
At judging the judges 
Equally skilled
Administering justice
Both of His hands

Both of His hands
Are equally skilled
At showing me mercy 
Equally skilled
At loving the loveless 
Equally skilled
Administering justice
Both of His hands
Both of His hands

His hands will bring justice. When I don't understand his justice his hands will bring mercy.   At the end of all things his hands will judge the judges.