Briefing: Peace officers take their job very seriously. We know the citizens of our communities are counting on us to protect and serve them. It is reassuring to know God is standing in our corner.

Dispatch (Assignment): Read Psalm 94.

On the Street: God has blessed a certain people to be His ministers of justice. We call them peace officers. The men and women of law enforcement have a very important job, not just in the eyes of our communities but in the eyes of God Himself.

Genesis 19:20 says, “Then the Lord said, “the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” The outcry of the people of those communities reached God and since there was no one there to act on His behalf, He had to go Himself.

I believe this outcry for justice still goes on today. Many people in our communities and towns echo it daily. “LORD, help us, our ‘foot is slipping’ and we are about to go down.”

Ezekiel 22:30, “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.” This is a different story than the one of Sodom and Gomorrah but this city is facing the same kind of judgment. We have been called to stand in the gap between chaos and civility, between evil and good. This “gap” is what we call the thin blue line.

In Psalm 94:16 the question is asked, “Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?” God is looking for men and women to rise up in His righteousness to protect the widow, orphan, and victimized and give them justice. We know God has invited us to this task because He explains and sets out our commission in Romans 13.

God could answer the call Himself but He chose a select people out of the populations to work on His behalf. We, the Christian men and women of law enforcement, were created to do the works God has called us to. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Our God is a God who loves justice. Isaiah 61:8, “For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them.” Psalm 33:5, says “The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His unfailing love.” And Psalm 37:28 tells us, “For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake His faithful ones. Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed; the offspring of the wicked will perish.” You can see how important justice is to God.

This call to law enforcement is a grand and noble calling. It is a very important and serious call. Because this is such a critical job, there are consequences for anyone who does not carry out their duties with honor. Ezekiel 33:1-6 says, “The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: “When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head. Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.”

Until Christ returns, we are a people who God calls to fight evil. This evil is embodied in, what 2 Thessalonians 2 calls, the man of lawlessness. In verses 3 and 4 it says, “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” Verse 7 says, “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.”

We have a huge task in front of us, to fight injustice and lawlessness until the Lord returns. We will prevail because we have God on our side. He is our Chief, Sheriff, Director and our leader. He is our God. Ephesians 6:7 says, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people”

Investigational Resources: Romans 13, Ezekiel 33:1-20, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17, Colossians 3:23.

Officer Safety Principle: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” Colossians 3:23.

from Psalms Through the Eyes of a Cop, Volume 2
©by Charles Gilliland. Used by permission.
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