Yesterday I reported
for jury duty. I’d received the summons
a while ago with mixed feelings. Does anyone,
ever, really get excited when they get the summons? I doubt it.
Part of me was thinking, “I SO don’t
want to do this”, and part of me was remembering the last time I served. I actually got on a jury that time and for
three days enjoyed the entire process. I
was able to have a firsthand part in how our justice system worked. And as we jurors debated the merits of the case, I felt
my opinion really mattered. So that part
of me was excited to maybe sit on another case.
My instructions
were to check on line the night before to see whether I was needed. I’m thinking they access how many jurors they
need for whatever is on their case docket and then they dismiss any they don’t
think they’ll need. So on Monday night I pulled up the website and saw that
jurors numbered from 1-121 were not needed.
I could not believe it! I was
number 122!
While I was
moaning and groaning about this twist of fate, faith kicked in. I thought that maybe the Lord had something
in mind for me and that’s why my number was still included in the list of
potential jurors.
While sitting
in the jury room with about 100 other people, I did see a friend from church
and we chatted together at various times during the day. While that was fun, I didn't think that's why I was there. I had a brief conversation with the lady
sitting next to me but then she was called almost immediately to a courtroom
for jury selection. I finally did get called
into a courtroom for jury selection, but then when the jury had been selected and I wasn't included, I was
dismissed again to return to the jury room. What WAS I doing there!
So basically
I sat in the jury room from 8 AM – 4 PM and did not get called for a jury. I wondered why in the world I had to do that
yesterday. I had no conversations of a spiritual
nature directly with anyone, except with my church friend. I supposed that could have been overheard and
might have had some impact.
But then this
morning I began thinking more about it. I don’t believe that the Lord always
fills us in on His purposes. Sometimes we
just go about our daily lives and He reveals something of what He’s doing, and
sometimes He doesn’t give us a clue, and He doesn’t have to, He’s God. Maybe what we are meant to do however is to be
aware of the people around us, of our surroundings, and to be alert to “give a reason for the hope that is in us”
whenever we have the opportunity. I think
though that the Lord did something yesterday that I might have missed
altogether if I had not been wondering why I was there.
I knew that
if I was not going to be slotted to sit on a jury that I was going to spend a
lot of time yesterday just sitting around waiting. I could have chosen to sit in the larger of
the two jury rooms and watched movies all day, but I’m not a big TV
watcher. However, I am a reader, so
armed with two books, my Bible and my devotional notebook, I was prepared to
spend a delightful day catching up on my reading.
Whenever I’m
in a spiritually dry time, as I have been recently, I like to “live” in the
Psalms. The Psalms are so full of
reasons to praise God, so encouraging, so expressive of emotions I’m feeling
myself, that they lift my spirit up to worship the Lord, which is what I need
to take me from spiritual dryness to the “tree
planted by streams of water” described in Psalm 1.
It happened
that yesterday I read Psalm 9. The psalm
begins with the encouragement to praise the Lord:
I will praise you, O LORD with all my
heart;
I will tell of all your wonders.
I will be glad and rejoice in you.
I will sing praise to your name, O Most
High.
I love it
that it’s possible to sit in a room full of people, with the noise of a TV in
the background and yet when our hearts and minds are focused on the Lord, we
are transported to the throne room of heaven where the Most High sits, getting
lost in the worship of the Triune God. Praise was a wonderful
occupation to be engaged in while waiting.
What struck
me though as I sat in a building known for administering justice were these words:
Verse 7-10:
The LORD reigns forever; He has
established His throne for judgment. He
will judge the world in righteousness; He will govern the peoples with
justice. The Lord is a refuge for the
oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never
forsaken those who seek you.
And then
there is verse 16:
The LORD is known by His justice; the
wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
I began
thinking about all the cases coming up before a judge and jury, all the mothers
I saw with their young children seeking child support, people injured in car
accidents, doctors accused of malpractice – and a host of other things of which
I was not aware that were going on in the courts yesterday – and I began to
pray.
I prayed for
the oppressed who were seeking to be treated justly and with righteousness and I
asked the Lord, who is a refuge for the oppressed to see that they were judged
rightly and fairly.
I thanked
the Lord that while human lawyers, judges, witnesses and defendants were flawed
and sinful and weren’t always truthful, that justice didn’t always reign here
on earth – HE is just and will always judge rightly – and thankfully with mercy
as well.
I was
grateful that those who know the Lord by name could trust in Him because they
would NEVER be forsaken by HIM – even if a flawed earthly system did.
I prayed
that in all the circumstances coming up yesterday God’s righteous justice would
prevail.
I didn’t get
selected to serve on a jury yesterday. At
4 PM I was dismissed and will not be scheduled for jury duty again for another
3 years. Given that I am also a flawed, sinful person who doesn’t always judge
rightly, maybe my task for the day was simply to pray that the One who always
does, would prevail.
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