Justice is often imagined as something sharp and demanding, a virtue that draws lines, names wrongs, and insists on truth. But in the spiritual life, justice is also a widening of the heart. It is the virtue that clears space within us so God can dwell more freely.
Psalm 11 gives us this image with striking clarity:
“God’s business is putting things right;
he loves getting the lines straight…
Once we’re standing tall, we can look him straight in the eye.”
Justice is not merely about correcting what is broken outside of us. It is about allowing God to “get the lines straight” within us, our motives, our desires, our relationships, our choices. When we seek justice, we are really seeking alignment with God’s own heart.
And that alignment creates open space.
When we refuse to run from the world’s disorder or from our own, when we stand still in God’s presence and let Him examine us “inside and out,” something shifts. The clutter of fear, resentment, and self‑protection begins to fall away. We become more transparent, more grounded, more available to grace.
Justice, then, is not a tightening but a freeing. Not a burden but a clearing, not a demand but an invitation. It is the virtue that lets God’s presence breathe in us.
As we practice justice, in our speech, our decisions, our compassion, our courage, we become people who can “look God straight in the eye,” not because we are perfect, but because we are honest, aligned, and open.
May the God who loves to set things right
set us right from within, and make our lives spacious enough for His presence to rest and remain.
Smitten With Goodness 