Judgment: A Good Thing? - Amos 5:24

Amos 5:24
But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

The book of Amos might not be one of those places where you would expect to get much out of devotions, but there is a lot there if you are looking for it. The context of the verse we are looking at is God telling His people how He refuses to accept their worship when their lives are so rotten. And it is against this backdrop that the subject of judgment is brought to the surface.

The layout of this verse is in synonymous parallelism (Hebrew poetry is in use here), meaning that the two phrases in this verse mean basically the same thing. For example, the word waters is parallel to the phrase a mighty stream. Likewise, the word judgment is parallel to righteousness. Does that seem strange to you? Most of the time, we think of a judgment as something that is negative, because that is the way the term is often used in our culture. But this passage obviously sees judgment as a positive thing because it is connected with righteousness. However, this is not strange at all, if you remember that a judgment can be either positive or negative. If a person goes to court, the judge or jury may rule for or against their case. If the individual did that which was unacceptable by the laws of the land, the judgment will be unfavorable. But, if someone is in the right, then the judgment will work to his advantage.

We should be thankful that God is a righteous judge. He always judges perfectly. He never lets us bury ourselves in sin without his chastening judgment. But He is also faithful to uphold us when we obey Him in righteousness. And best of all, we are positionally righteous in Him because Jesus Christ offers justification through His righteous life and death on the cross.

So, when you are praising God and meditating upon Him, do not forget that among all of the wonderful things about Him, His judgment is remarkable as well. By the way, if you want to see another place where the word judgment is used positively, check out Psalm 119, where that word is one of many synonyms for God’s Word.