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How can we persevere in prayer in the face of rampant injustice in our country today?
For the intercessors who have been painstakingly pleading battle-tested prayers for this nation and are still travailing for desirous outcomes, it is nearly inescapable that battle-worn weariness can set in. But the apostle Paul promises: As long as we don’t give up, we will reap a great harvest (Galatians 6:9 NET).
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Many prophetic watchmen on the walls thundered that 2023 would be a year of great shaking and that deeply embedded corruption would be exposed. It certainly seems those projections were spot on. Likewise, these gifted prophets anticipated that 2024 would be a year of retribution and that the justice of the Lord would be levied against lawlessness and deception, particularly in the second half. O Lord, may it be so!
These prophetic proclamations serve as fuel for the intercessors’ engine rooms because these many years of toiling on our knees have necessitated long-suffering in the face of seemingly unending injustice.
Habakkuk asked the same question in 7th century BC that many of us are asking today.
Why do You force me to witness injustice? Why do You put up with wrongdoing? For this reason the law lacks power, and justice is never carried out. Indeed, the wicked intimate the innocent. For this reason, justice is perverted (From Habakkuk 1:3 and 4 NET)
A Lowering Tide Lowers All Ships
Rudy Giuliani, the iconic former Mayor of New York City who rid the streets of crime and was a hero after 9/11, was recently fired by ABC Radio for discussing the 2020 election on his show. Best-selling author and syndicated radio host, Eric Metaxas is being sued by Dominion Systems because a guest on his show raised credible evidence of serious vulnerabilities in the election machines and systems.
When over half of this country believes the U.S. election process is not trustworthy, it seems to be a gross injustice to censor and punish those who want to talk about it.
Countless Americans were fired from their jobs because they did not deem the mRNA shot safe or effective. Now that Pfizer was forced to release their trial studies and the findings are unconscionably alarming, the mounting statistics reveal that vaccine injury and death are now a worldwide problem. Additionally, the once touted Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines have been removed from nearly all markets due to serious side effects.
Where is the justice for those who died, were injured, or fired?
As hardworking citizens watch mob after mob walk into department stores, steal as much as they can, and walk out with no fear of intervention, the obvious question arises: Is there no justice?
When college campuses erupt in vandalizing, antisemitic protests while the administrators and faculty remain silent, can you hear the cries of our Jewish brothers and sisters bellow throughout the land?
When innocent people who broke no laws at the Capitol on January 6 had their doors battered down by heavily armed FBI agents, can you imagine their desperate pleas for justice from their dank, deplorable cells?
The systemic lawlessness at our southern border is a travesty of justice and our government is culpably complicit. Children are being trafficked, women are being raped in the jungles of the Darien Gap, millions of migrants are secretly placed by the government in locations across the country, the cartels of Central America are flush with money and power, and fentanyl overdose is now the leading cause of death in 18-40-year-olds.
The list is endless, but the facts are clear: The people of God are watching our country decline, our fellow man suffer, and our government aiding and abetting blatant injustice.
Notice how Federalist Paper No. 51 describes the role of government specific to justice:
“Justice is the end [ultimate role] of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it is obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.”
It is heartbreaking that many of our government leaders today are bereft of the common ethos our Founders shared.
Where is justice, O God?
Words Matter
In biblical Hebrew, the words used for justice are defined as what is right, righteous, just, and normal. It means the act of deciding a case or decreeing an ordinance. It can also mean being honest and accurate when dealing with weights and measures. All three primary words used in the Old Testament for justice connote covenant. This means adhering to the law of the land is important, but not as important as following the rules of the covenant.
For I the Lord love justice (Isaiah 61:8 NIV).
We should be keenly aware that a common practice of cultural Marxism is to hijack language to confuse people’s ability to communicate clearly. They do this by subtly muddling the definition of commonly held words. The word justice needs no prefix or qualifier and stands wholly on its own. Justice is not only something The Lord does — Justice is who He is.
The Lord is a God of justice (Isaiah 30:18 NIV).
If a dozen people were asked, “What does social justice mean?,” be prepared for 13 different answers. Addled phrases like climate justice, gender justice, and racial justice are intentionally constructed to flummox the virtuous and wreak societal havoc. Justice is the only word we need because when justice is sought, every injustice is made liable.
How then shall we pray for justice? More so, how shall we pray in the face of so much injustice?
Are the Wicked Really Prospering?
In Psalm 73, Asaph deals directly and honestly with this question. He laments that God’s people unfairly suffer while the wicked seem to flourish. He envies the prosperity of the wicked because they don’t seem to undergo the troubles common to God’s people. And since it appeared that God is allowing it, Asaph concluded that his sacrificial lifestyle was done in vain and he was strangely being punished for it.
But the Lord reveals to us the truth of the matter. Asaph continues his musings of the wicked:
When I tried to understand all of this, it troubled me deeply. Until I entered the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end.
You indeed put them on slippery ground, You dropped them into ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, Lord, when stirred, You will despise their image (vv. 16-20 NASB).
Here, the Lord reveals to us the key to maintaining faithful intercession while wickedness and lawlessness appear to prevail. We have to gain heaven’s vantage and see the evildoers as they truly are.
Those who are far from You will perish (v. 27 NIV).
As we continue to intercede in spiritual warfare against the unseen realms, we can also perceive the clenching grip of evil that besets those who promulgate wickedness. We are then moved to pray for their deliverance, repentance, and restoration.
Asaph demonstrates for us that the only way to be an effectual intercessor is to first quiet our thoughts, enter the holy place, and worship the Lord until our heart beats as one with His.
Father, may we never grow weary of contending for your grace and goodness upon our land. Jesus, may we stand confident in the power of Your resurrection until the reconciliation of all things is complete. Holy Spirit, may we intercede in these dark days with the full measure of Your Gifts and power. All for the glory of God in our day.
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Keith Guinta blogs at www.winepatch.org. He is a husband and father, and he has been a worship leader and church planter. Photo Credit: simonapilollatnf Canva Pro.