Good morning, and a most blessed Thursday to you.
In our devotion time together this morning in God’s Word, we’re going to look at two different verses, each through the lens of two different meanings of one word: just.

When you look up just in the dictionary, you’ll find both an adjective form and an adverb form. We’ll begin with the adjective.

When we describe something or someone as just, we mean guided by truth, reason, and fairness—something that is right, lawful, proper, and in accordance with what is required. When we say that God is a just God, we are saying that He is the standard—the standard of fairness, rightness, and perfect truth. Every understanding of justice is measured against who God is in His eternal nature. He is eternally just—eternally right, proper, fair, and true.

When we turn to God’s Word with this in mind, we see this expressed in Deuteronomy 32, in the song of Moses before he departs to be in the presence of the Lord. In verse 4, Moses sings:

“The Rock—His work is perfect, and all His ways are just.
A faithful God without deceit, just and upright is He.”

Here, Moses lifts up the eternal righteousness and uprightness of God—the eternal standard of justice. God is always upright, always faithful, always true, and there is no deceit in Him. Our entire understanding of justice is rooted in our eternal God.

However, when we pray, we often use a different meaning of the word just—the adverb meaning “only” or “merely.”
We say things like:

• “Lord, if you would only hear this one little prayer…”

• “Lord, if you would just listen to this request…”

As though God cannot handle the fullness of our prayers, or that we must shrink our requests down to something small enough for Him to manage. As if He can take care of everyone else only if we give Him something “little” to do for us.

And yet we serve the Almighty, all-powerful, just King of Kings and God of glory.

In Revelation 4, we are brought into the throne room of God. The living creatures fly to and fro, just as in Isaiah’s vision. Beginning in verse 9 we read:

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
the twenty-four elders fall down before Him and worship Him.
They cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,
for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.”

The eternal, just God—the One who is truth and the standard of rightness—is also almighty and all-powerful. He sits on the throne, sovereign and reigning today, forever, and for all eternity.

Therefore, when we come to the Lord in prayer, our prayers do not have to be “merely” or “only” requests. We come before the just Lord who has promised to hear us. Nothing is too big or too small, too great or too little for Him. All existence rests in His hands, under His almighty sovereignty.

We do not pray just prayers.
We pray to the One who is just—who hears all, knows all, and answers according to His perfect will and perfect timing.

Let us now turn to our just Lord in prayer.

Heavenly Lord, we thank You.
You are truly the King of Kings, the One who sits on the throne, reigning sovereign and almighty over all.

Lord, we lift our prayers to You—those on our lips and those held quietly in our hearts. You know the depths of our sorrows and the heights of our joys. We turn them all over to You.

We know that You are just. We know that You are right. We know that You are perfect and true.

Help us, Lord—
in our times of need,
in our recognition of Your blessings,
in every season as we turn to You in prayer with thanksgiving, supplication, and trust.

Keep before us always the truth that You are our just God—the One who is right, true, who has claimed us, saved us, and who still sits on the throne now and forever.

Lord, we praise You and thank You.
Truly You are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, seated on the throne for all eternity.

Amen.

Have an amazing rest of your week, and I greatly look forward to worshiping our King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ, with you this Sunday.
Until then, God bless you.

Pastor Malinak