If there is a spiritual gift for getting picked for jury duty, I would have it. This is my 3rd time. In the previous 2 times I was not selected to sit as a juror, but this time around I had the magic number.
It started off with about 50+ of us in a jury gathering room. As I was sitting there, I was thinking to myself that we were 50 out of millions of people in all of Washtenaw County. Then they told us that they would call out 25 people out of the 50+ to be potential jurors. I was dreading the whole process. If it was for some kind of sweepstakes then I might have had a different attitude and response.
When they called out my number, I tried very hard to convince myself that I had a civic duty to serve as a juror. Well… it didn’t take away the feeling of no wanting to be there.
After going through some instructions by the judge, we were told that they would pick 7 of us. After 3 people were released due to the attorney’s pre-emptive challenges to dismiss a juror, they called me to step forward. By this time I was convinced about the foreknowledge and the sovereign will of God… it was my destiny! 🙂
The judge already knew that I was a reverend (pretty freaky). I was thinking to myself – “surely the attorneys will ask me to sit out b/c I am a pastor.” But after the whole process, I was selected to sit in this jury to decide on the criminal case.
For some reason, as I was looking at the defendant, I was reminded of Ps 11:7, “For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.” In a world where there are bribes, corruption and injustice, I am wondering if a juror can be completely impartial. Maybe this is why God had to remind the Israelite people – “Do not pervert justice or show partiality… Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you” (Dt 16:19-20).
I praise God that Jesus met the requirements of God’s justice through the cross, therefore instead of judgment we now can receive mercy.