{"id":1710,"date":"2020-06-03T15:37:41","date_gmt":"2020-06-03T19:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nancylucenay.com\/staging\/8869\/?p=1710"},"modified":"2025-07-14T17:58:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T21:58:55","slug":"what-does-god-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nancylucenay.com\/staging\/8869\/what-does-god-want\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does God Want?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ask protesters what they want, and you\u2019ll receive a variety of answers. Accountability. An apology. Political and\/or systemic change. Justice. Equality. One individual answered on national TV, \u201cI\u2019m just here for the loot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what does God want? Like many of us, he grieves over injustice. How should believers respond? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has shown you\u2026 what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.<\/p>Micah 6:8<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

God directs us to do justice, to walk according to the law. But he also commands us to love mercy\u2014\u1e25esed. God\u2019s kind of never-ending, merciful, faithful, long-suffering, loving-kindness. The covenant love he shows to us, and we\u2019re to show to him and one another. \u1e24esed isn\u2019t something we feel but something we do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But aren\u2019t justice and mercy opposites? Shouldn\u2019t the requirement be one or the other rather than both\/and? Yet both are part of God\u2019s nature. He cannot be one without being the other; he can\u2019t be just without being merciful. How can we reconcile justice and \u1e25esed? Follow God\u2019s lead. He has shown us what is good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s justice is redemptive, seeking the restoration of relationships. He wants restored relationships with us and for us. His justice creates the potential for peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we practice that kind of justice? First, we must recognize our limited perspective. There\u2019s always one more fact, always more to the story than we know. Then we must depend on God\u2019s grace to empower our actions. Our pursuit of justice must begin in our relationship with God, who loves all people equally\u2014both victims and victimizers. He desires justice for both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God demands that we do justice with our hearts as well as our laws. An impossibility unless we walk with him in humility. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God desires justice and mercy. How can we do both? Aren’t they opposites? 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