Do I want justice or to be justified?
RE Verse reading–Luke 18:9-17 (day six) “Will not God bring about JUSTICE for His elect who cry to Him day and night?” (Luke 18:8) “I tell you, this man went to his house JUSTIFIED rather than the other.” (Luke 18:14) The Bible is filled with people who pray when in trouble. When life is unfair. When justice doesn’t come. “I waited patiently for the Lord. . .He heard my cry and brought me out of the pit of destruction.” (Psalm 40:1) Valid use of prayer. ( See Luke 18 — story of the determined widow) Our reading this week is a second story. Deeper story, I think. Subject still prayer. Rather than ask that for JUSTICE ( for his circumstances to be made right) the tax-collector seeks to be JUSTIFIED (made right with God). It is a rare prayer. Harder. Different focus. Most of us blame life and others for our misery or ineffectiveness. This man knew. What needed to be put right was his own heart.