Do What Is Just and Right

Some Salt members put together this litany in support of workers at the Yale-New Haven Hospital to have the choice to form a union, something that has been illegally blocked from them through worker intimidation and job threats. Reading these verses, I'm reminded how much God calls us to care about injustices and speak out against them. Additionally, it's frightening to look at these verses and see how easily we're implicated in injustice. If my life now is my palace, then I'm sure it's been built up by unrighteousness forces due to my personal actions and my stations as a consumer, Yale student, and an American (to name a few). The only step to remedy that I've found is caring about Christian justice in order to deconstruct myself of silently accepting injustices. This is incredibly similar to the way we fight against our fallen nature with other Christian understandings. I must start caring about everyday problems in both areas to truly challenge my sinful nature and our sinful word. Speaking out in God's name is one way. I hope to do this today at 4:30 pm on Beineicke where a rally for support of YNHH workers will take place. SALT will be praying and delivering this litany. Please pray that our efforts are meaningful in condemning injustice and in leading others to a higher Truth, namely God's Justice.


“This is what the LORD says: ‘Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
But if you do not obey these commands, declares the LORD, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.' "
"Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,
his upper rooms by injustice,
making his countrymen work for nothing.”
Jeremiah 22: 3, 5, 13
Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people
Isaiah 10: 1-2
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12
[The Lord] judges the world with righteousness; [and] the peoples with equity. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Psalms 9:8-12
Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.
James 5:4-5
[The Lord] judges the world with righteousness; [and] the peoples with equity. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Psalms 9:8-12
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Isaiah 58:3,6
O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek; you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed, so that those from earth may strike terror no more.
Psalms 10:17-18
...So we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8:7-9
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us - and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?
1 John 3:16-17
[The Lord] judges the world with righteousness; [and] the peoples with equity. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Psalms 9:8-12
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
James 5:16b

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Matthew 19:26