You Shall Not Pervert Justice Due the Stranger

You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow's garment as a pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing. (Deuteronomy 24:17-18)

Several weeks ago we began learning Chinese because we want to be able to communicate with Josiah once he becomes our son. We are learning as a family and collectively we are ready to begin lesson five, however Brian has been practicing on his own and he is somewhere around lesson 15. In order to practice the Chinese we have learned we decided to go to a Chinese restaurant and while we were there we met some very nice Chinese waitresses. For some reason after that first visit my dad kept wanting to take us there for dinner. We understand now that it was all a part of God's plan for us and for one of the waitresses that works there.

We began to form a friendship with this waitress who unfortunately speaks very little English, but somehow with our limited Chinese and her limited English we have been able to communicate fairly effectively. She told us her sons are going to be coming in February and she is hoping that we will be able to help them learn English. We told her that not only would we try to help them but that we would help her too if she wanted.

Her and her husband, who is a cook at the restaurant, have been living in America for 13 years and unfortunately have never met anyone or had enough time to learn very much English. They both work six days a week and have been trying to learn English out of a book. Not real helpful since you really have to be able to hear it. They said they have had some nice customers over the years who have helped them with a few words here and there, but they have had many more customers who have become angry with their limited English and have asked to speak to the manager to complain. What makes me even more angry is that over the years, while they have set up many different restaurants, they have been cheated out of their money and repeatedly exposed because of their lack of English. People saw their weakness and pounced. It saddens me to think that in the 13 years that they have been here they have not made any friends who were able to really take the time to help them with their English so that they would not be cheated.

We recently invited them over for dinner, although only Maggie was able to make it and she reciprocated the offer and invited us the next week to her house for dinner. They made us the most beautiful authentic Chinese Food for dinner. They had so very little in their apartment, which also happened to be in a very dangerous neighborhood, and yet they treated us like kings. Their home in China was by the sea, so our whole dinner was all seafood; crab, shrimp, two or three kinds of squid or maybe one was octopus, and it was all cooked in a soup at our table over a gas burner they set in the middle of the table. The soup had in it all kinds of vegetable I had never seen or heard of and these things called fish balls, where were about the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. They also made us chinese dumplings with pork and veggies in them which were also very delicious. They had so much food for us you would think they were feeding 12 people.

While we were there God showed us our purpose for being there. Maggie's husband asked Brian if he would be his translator as they were planning on opening a restaurant and they were afraid of being cheated. "Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight." (Proverbs 11:1) God had sent us to tip the scales in their favor and bring justice to the stranger in the land. I have to say the most amazing thing about this though is that God does not do things by halves. God could have sent anyone who knew Chinese and English to help translate, but he sent the best possible help for them. Brian has a bachelor's degree in accounting, and a master's in business. Could anyone doubt God's love for those who are oppressed; the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow?

I read an article by Kerry Hasenbalg and in it she said, "God 'does not dwell in houses made with hands;' He dwells in those who believe." God's dwells in us so His love also dwells in us and we are to be His ambassadors, His hands and feet, to love those who are oppressed on His behalf. Jesus will one day say, "'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'" (Matthew 25:34-40)

I think there are a couple of things that are significant about the verses from Matthew that I hadn't noticed before. The first thing is that the people that Jesus identifies with, calling them His brethren, are those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick and in prison. The second thing is that "the righteous" are serving those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick and in prison without even realizing that they are serving God. Now that they have the love of God poured out in their hearts, they are reaching out to others based on a real love that they have for them, and not based on an obligation to do what God says or to somehow impress God with what they have done. I say this because we didn't realize that we were serving God in this situation until the very next day after our dinner with Maggie and her husband. We formed a friendship with them, found out about their story, they asked us to help and we said yes. The next morning the Lord opened my eyes and told me, "these are strangers in your land," and "I hate unjust scales," and "you have seen Jesus in them, you are serving Him." I melted into tears thanking God and praising Him for giving us this opportunity to serve Him.