God, the Just Weigher of Your Actions
Introduction
3) Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
-I Samuel 2:3 (KJV)
This is the third verse in what is known as Hannah’s Prayer or more commonly, Hannah’s Song. It’s a Hebrew lyrical poem that proclaims God’s victory, sovereignty, and strength.
Hannah’s song is also known for being the model for Mary’s song, The Magnificat (the two share some fascinating parallels). Additionally, its similar to David’s song (2 Sam. 22) and could have been based on Moses’ song (Deut. 32).
The song also gives thankful praise to God for answering Hannah’s petition (prayer) to have a child (1 Sam. 1:11, 20) when she was unable to.
That child was Samuel, and he was a transitional figure in Israel’s history in the Old Testament. Samuel was Israel’s last judge before the era of kings began with Samuel’s anointing of Saul as king. For historical context, this was about 1,000 years before Jesus.
“Hannah’s prayer is filled with rich theology and it teaches us much about God and his attributes. It’s a real gift for us to admire and learn from.”
Hannah sung her prayer when she gave three-year-old Samuel over to Eli in Shiloh to begin his life as a priest (Nazirite). From then on, Samuel was to live a life fully consecrated for God’s service, which is what Hannah had promised to God should he bless her with a son.
Hannah’s prayer is filled with rich theology and it teaches us much about God and his attributes. It’s a real gift for us to admire and learn from.
Moreover, verse 3 in particular is quite stirring. In it we learn that God weighs our actions.
This has tremendous implications for each and every person. In the rest of this lesson, we’re going to look at the meaning of this attribute of God.
In partcular, we’re going to learn what it means for God to weigh every action, how that corresponds to his justice, and what his justice means for us. We’ll also answer one of the most common questions about God…is he fair?
A Justice That Knows All
Hannah’s prayer tells us about God weighing every action immediately after we learn that he disdains arrogance and pride. That’s no coincidence.
Hannah was no stranger to pride’s terrible effects, her husband’s second wife Peninnah often ridiculed her for not being able to have child, which was also arrogance against God.
“God sees into man’s very heart. He sees and knows our intentions, motivations, secret and hidden sins and the sins we think aren’t even sins!”
We also see that the Lord is a God of knowledge. He knows everything about each of us, the good…and the bad. So then, who are we to be prideful and arrogant? God knows who we are deep down.
In fact, God sees into man’s very heart. He sees and knows our intentions, motivations, secret and hidden sins and the sins we think aren’t even sins! (Ps. 19:12-13, 1 Kings 8:39, Prov. 16:2, 21:2).
God’s knows us better than we know ourselves. That’s pretty scary, and it should scare us a bit. And God doesn’t just know, he sees all that we do, his “eyes…are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Prov. 15:3).
God doesn’t just know everything about us, he also knows true right and wrong. God knows what we do wrong, and he knows why the wrong things we do are wrong.
This applies to all of us; notice Hannah’s word “actions” is in the plural (“by him actions are weighed”).
Therefore, God can and does weigh every action and judges them perfectly according to his infinite and all-knowing knowledge.
However, while God knows and judges all of our actions, what does that mean for us?
Is God’s Justice Really Just? Is God Fair?
The truth that God weighs our actions and judges us has to do with justice, and the fact that God is a just God (Deut. 32:4).
Weigh then in this case is a legal term. In fact in Hebrew, the word weigh (ta.khan, H8505) in this verse and context means “to measure.”
Specifically, it means to test and prove and to be made even or right, and adjusted to the standard (which is God himself). Additionally, in English, weigh can also mean “to dispense or administer (justice) impartially” (The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, 1975).
Therefore, God weighs our actions, and the ultimate and final manifestation of this justice comes after death.
“God can and does weigh every action and judges them perfectly according to his infinite and all-knowing knowledge.”
When we die God mete’s out justice, in a discriminating and impartial manner, by sending those who have broken his law to hell for eternity (Rom. 6:23, Heb. 9:27, Rev. 20:15).
This is part of the just nature of God. In fact, there are several dimensions to God’s justice. The Dutch Reformed theologian Louis Berkhof, refers to God’s punishment of sin (Rom. 1:32, 2:9, 12:19, 2 Thess. 1:8) as retributive justice (Systematic Theology, p. 75).
God’s justice isn’t a particularly popular topic today. Many today don’t like to spend much time teaching about God’s justice, wrath and punishment of sinners.
And I get it, it’s not good news, and God knows that too. Nevertheless, God’s justice and hell are both real and are essential to biblical Christian theology.
“God’s justice and hell are both real and essential to biblical Christian theology.”
And it’s not just unpopular because its scary, it’s also unpopular because it goes against our natural desire to rebel against God (Ps. 58:3).
None of us naturally like God’s justice, and more pointedly what we really have a problem with when it comes to God’s justice is with his authority. Specifically, the fact that he alone has the authority to punish sinners for breaking his law—that just doesn’t seem fair to us.
So, we can’t help but ask, as Adam and Eve did, “by what authority can God do this?” And what we’re really saying is, “by what authority do you (God) have to tell me what I can and cannot do, or to punish me for what you think is right and wrong?”
Nevertheless, is God fair? While it might offend us, God and his justice are in fact fair.
As apologist Greg Koukl has pointed out on occasion, no one is sent to hell for not hearing God’s message of salvation, we are sent to hell for breaking God’s law.
“God does not need any other authority than himself to pronounce judgement. He is I Am.”
Moreover, justice demands that God not send anyone to hell who is innocent. Yet, without Jesus none of us are innocent (more on that later!).
Put another way, none of us measure up to God’s standards, we’ve all sinned and fallen short of his glory (Rom. 3:23). By birth we’re all destined for an eternity apart from him. That’s harsh, but it is true and we need to know this; it’s the diagnosis of our soul.
Again, is God fair? Yes, he is.
God does not need any other authority than himself to pronounce judgement. He is I Am (Ex. 3:14, Jn. 8:58, Heb.13:8, Acts 4:12, Matt. 28:18).
God is all powerful, sovereign and is in control. In her song, Hannah praises God with the famous line, “the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he has set the world upon them” (1 Sam. 2:8).
While he is not willing that any should perish (2 Pet. 3:9), God’s justice is part of his plan, he has to be just in order to be the good God that he is.
“While he is not willing that any should perish, God’s justice is part of his plan, he has to be just in order to be the good God that he is. “
God is good, and his justice is perfect (Deut. 32:4). He’s also holy, and perfect morally. So are his laws, they are good and holy (Rom. 7:12), but sin causes us to break them (Rom. 7:9-11).
In fact, God cannot even look at sin, and sin cannot exist in heaven and in the new earth (Hab. 1:13, Rev. 21:27).
However, if we’re all sinners, and if sin cannot exist with God, and yet we were made by him and for him, what can we do?
The answer: nothing…on our own that is.
Justice and Justification
Earlier I mentioned how God’s justice and wrath aren’t popular topics today. That’s because God’s justice and punishment of sinners…isn’t good news. In fact, it’s not even all of the news.
God’s plan is incomplete if it only mentions his justice toward sinners who break his laws.
For instance, by itself the law condemns us (Rom. 7:5), does not justify us (Rom. 3:20) and kills us (2 Cor. 3:6). The law only tells us we’re sinners and are separated enemies of God because of that (Rom. 7:7).
“Our very helplessness is evidence that we have to look beyond ourselves for help and for standards of right and wrong.”
However, the law is only half of the story.
It’s true that we are all born sinners, that none of us will ever measure up to God’s standards on our own, and that no good deed can get us into heaven (Eph. 2:8-9). Moreover its vital that we know this.
Nevertheless, all of that is true in light of our own power, or what we can (and in this case cannot) do. The law, plus our humanity, equals hopelessness.
When people ask me what the best evidence is that God is real and true, I sometimes tell them we are!
Now don’t take what I’m saying the wrong way. I’m not saying we’re God, and I’m not talking about (the theologically correct) truth that we are God’s image bearers.
My point is that we’re so helpless we have nowhere else to look but to God for help. Our pain points us to him. Said another way…we need help! Our very helplessness is evidence that we have to look beyond ourselves for help and for standards of right and wrong.
None of us are righteous, and as such we can’t look to ourselves or any other person, religion, philosophy or invention for salvation from our sins (Acts 4:12). To echo Koukl again, either we pay for our sins, or God does!
The problem is most people don’t want to admit they’re sinners in need of a savior. Its tough to do that, it takes faith to believe in God, and it means leaving sinful living behind. However, recognizing you’re a sinner in need of a savior is critical to turning one’s life around.
“When you really consider it, it’s a very good thing that God sees our hearts, that he is just, that he knows us, because he truly knows what we need…salvation from sin, rescue, redemption, and he uses his word and law to make us realize that, just as a kind doctor does giving a diagnosis.”
That’s why God tells us over and over again in his word that we need him (Lk. 19:10, Jn. 15:5, Lk. 5:32).
Earlier we learned that its scary that God knows all about us, but when you really consider it, it’s a very good thing that God sees our hearts, that he is just, that he knows us, because he truly knows what we need…salvation from sin, rescue, redemption, and he uses his word and law to make us realize that, just as a kind doctor does giving a diagnosis.
But contrary to any earthly doctor, God is our great physician, he doesn’t just know what we need, he lovingly can and does give us what we need to cure us of our sin problem.
This is where the bad news of God’s justice and law gets replaced and completed with the “good news” of God’s grace!
In Christianity this is called the gospel message, which means “good news” and the good news is Jesus Christ himself.
Jesus Christ is the only solution to your sin problem, your guilty conscience, and your separation from God.
“Jesus Christ is the only solution to your sin problem, your guilty conscience, and your separation from God.”
God loves you so much, that he sent his son Jesus Christ to die in your place, and to take the punishment you deserved for your specific sins, so you don’t have to (2 Cor. 5:21). Moreover, Jesus came to deliver you from the law and from death through sin (Rom. 7:6).
Salvation is simple. To be saved you simply accept (believe) that Jesus died for you, place your faith in him to save you from your sins, and confess him as your Lord and savior (Rom. 10:9-10).
When we are saved, we are no longer enemies of God under his divine justice. Rather, we become justified, declared righteous by Jesus, delivered from the law and spiritually born again to walk in newness of life. That’s salvation, and it’s a gift from God by his grace alone (Eph. 2:8-9).
God is just, his justice is fair, and we can be justified by Jesus. Hallelujah, what a Savior!
J.R. Waller, MBA is a Christian lay-teacher, author, and Founder of Every Reason to Believe. He holds an MBA from Rollins College, B.S. in Psychology from The University of Central Florida, Certificate in Christian Apologetics from Biola University, and Bible Knowledge Certificate from The Master’s Seminary Institute for Church Leadership. He is also a two-time Fellow (UCF, The James Madison Institute).
Image Credit: The Garden of the Tuileries on a Winter Afternoon by Camille Pissarro (French, 1899). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 66.36.