“We thank you, O God! We give thanks because you are near. People everywhere tell of your wonderful deeds. God says, “At the time I have planned, I will bring justice against the wicked. When the earth quakes and its people live in turmoil, I am the one who keeps its foundations firm. Interlude “I warned the proud, ‘Stop your boasting!’ I told the wicked, ‘Don’t raise your fists! Don’t raise your fists in defiance at the heavens or speak with such arrogance.’” For no one on earth—from east or west, or even from the wilderness— should raise a defiant fist. It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall. For the Lord holds a cup in his hand that is full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours out the wine in judgment, and all the wicked must drink it, draining it to the dregs. But as for me, I will always proclaim what God has done; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. For God says, “I will break the strength of the wicked, but I will increase the power of the godly.””
Psalms 75:1-10 NLT
It is a common sight among social justice movements to see a fist raised to the heavens pumping defiantly at the authority present. It is a physical symbol of rebellion and signifies man’s might against God and his authority. Those who raise it exemplify a wholly different picture than the suffering servant of Israel, who is beaten and punished injustly. Instead he waits upon the justice of the Lord to make things right. It is different than David, who would not take the blood of Saul out of respect for God’s anointing, though he was irrationally hunted by him. It has a different timbre than those martyrs who call for the day of wrath in heaven while waiting patiently for God’s plan to be fulfilled. The rebellious heart doesn’t care for God’s plan. It doesn’t believe in God’s justice. It doesn’t have faith in God’s timing. And it doesn’t know God’s character. It justifies its own appetite and insecurities without having earned the right to impose them. The rebellious say in their own heart that are like God and that they are the ones upon whom all justice rest. But they neither understand the nature of justice, nor possess the power to create it or maintain it. Their rebellious ways only lead to destruction for all. Their hearts only make them kings for a day and tyrants for the remainder of them. Woe to those whose hearts raise their fists against anything that God controls.
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