The Judge of the Universe
"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" — Genesis 18:25
When You Have Done Everything and Nothing Works
There is a place some believers reach that this study must address, because reaching it and having no answer is unbearable.
You have done everything you know to do.
You have searched your life for sin and found none unconfessed. You have dealt with your forefathers' iniquities. You have cleansed your home. You have broken every curse you could identify. You have forgiven everyone. You have fasted and prayed and had others pray. You have obeyed at real cost.
And you are still defeated. Completely. In every direction at once.
That is exactly where one ministry couple found themselves — bankrupt, homeless except for a trailer, betrayed by leaders who had promised support, stranded in a distant city for a speaking engagement that turned out never to have existed, with no money to get home and a decision to make within two weeks about abandoning ministry entirely.
They had rebuked Satan. They had commanded every possible curse broken. All of it to no avail.
The Word That Came
Through a chain of circumstances neither of them arranged, one of them was put on the phone with a stranger — someone who did not know them and had nothing to say.
Finally the stranger said this:
"I really don't have anything to say to you except this. For some reason the Lord is laying on my heart that you need to realize that occasionally we come to a point in our lives where we need to make use of the fact that God the Father is our heavenly Father — but He is also the Judge of the Universe. Sometimes we have to go into His courtroom and ask Him to judge our case."
That was all. The call ended.
The idea was not welcome. Their experience of courtrooms had been years of unjust proceedings and false accusations. The initial reaction was: "I don't need God to judge me. I need His mercy. Forget it."
But the Holy Spirit kept returning to it.
The Biblical Ground
This is not a novel idea. Scripture is saturated with it.
God is explicitly the Judge. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25). "God is a just judge" (Psalm 7:11). "For the LORD will judge His people and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their power is gone" (Deuteronomy 32:36).
There is an adversary who brings cases. "The accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night" (Revelation 12:10). He appears in Job. He stands to oppose the high priest in Zechariah 3.
Judgment is rendered in favor of the saints. "I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom." (Daniel 7:21–22)
Read that last passage again. The enemy was prevailing — until a judgment was rendered.
Point to Ponder
You have a Father. You also have a Judge. Sometimes what you need is a hearing.
Verse to Remember
"The same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High." — Daniel 7:21–22
Question to Consider
Have I been asking for mercy when what I actually need is a ruling?
Today's Practice
Read Daniel 7:9–14 and 7:21–27 today. Sit with the picture: thrones set in place, the Ancient of Days seated, the books opened, and judgment rendered in favor of the saints.
Then read Zechariah 3:1–5, where the accuser stands to oppose a man in filthy garments and the Lord rebukes him and re-clothes the man.
Notice in both passages that the believer does not win the argument. The Judge rules.
Then ask yourself whether your situation is one that needs a hearing — where you have genuinely dealt with everything you know of, and something is still prevailing against you that should not be.
The next lesson will show you how to prepare and present that case.
Prayer
Father, You are my Father, and I come to You as a child. But You are also the Judge of all the earth, and You always do right.
I have been in this defeat a long time. I have searched my life. I have dealt with everything You have shown me. And still something is prevailing against me.
Show me whether I need to bring this before You as Judge. I am not afraid of Your judgment — You are perfectly just, and I come only under the blood of Your Son, with none of my own righteousness.
Teach me what Daniel saw: that the enemy prevails only until the Ancient of Days is seated and judgment is rendered.
I am asking for that moment, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen.
"Prevailing against them — until the Ancient of Days came."