“No justice, no peace.” Our headlines have been filled with slogans like these even as the streets of America’s largest cities have been filled with those protesting the death of suspects at the hands of policemen. But what concrete steps can our states and municipalities, let alone individual Americans take that will truly lead to greater justice? What can we do to help America become a place where there is truly liberty and justice for all?

Well, in Proverbs 28:5, Solomon points us in one direction that has been sadly missing from much of our public discourse: “Evil men do not understand justice, But those who seek the Lord understand all things.” In short, if we really want to know what is truly just, we must start not with a closer analysis of the problems in society but instead with a careful study of God’s Word. Only God can help us sort out what is truly right from wrong.

So of course today’s passage encourages us to keep God’s perfect law of love. But Proverbs 28:7 points out an interesting contrast: “He who keeps the law is a discerning son, But he who is a companion of gluttons humiliates his father.” It turns out that the opposite of love is not hate but simply self-focus, wasting one’s time, talent and treasure on pleasure instead of using it to bless others. What does this say about our priorities as individuals, let alone as a nation?

And just as Scripture condemns those who use their wealth to take advantage of the poor, its solution may not be what we expect: “He who increases his wealth by interest and usury, Gathers it for him who is gracious to the poor” (Proverbs 28:8). Could it be that the answer to generational poverty is not more government regulation or redistribution but simply individuals being gracious to one another?

But this isn’t just something that rich folks need to do. For let’s think again about the real effects that all this rioting and looting will have on the neighborhoods where so many poor people live: “A poor man who oppresses the lowly Is like a driving rain which leaves no food” (Proverbs 28:3). How many of the businesses that have been destroyed will realistically choose to start up again in the same locations? Could it be that those who are urging poor people to burn and steal are actually leaving them in worse shape than when they started?

No, it turns out that anger and envy are no better foundations for a just society than are greed and callous complacency. So even though lots of people are praying for peace and justice throughout our land, unless we begin with an honest effort to put God’s law of self-sacrificial love into practice, why should we imagine that God will hear us? “He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination” (Proverbs 28:9).

Proverbs 28:3-9 (NASB)

3 A poor man who oppresses the lowly Is like a driving rain which leaves no food.
4 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, But those who keep the law strive with them.
5 Evil men do not understand justice, But those who seek the LORD understand all things.
6 Better is the poor who walks in his integrity, Than he who is crooked though he be rich.
7 He who keeps the law is a discerning son, But he who is a companion of gluttons humiliates his father.
8 He who increases his wealth by interest and usury, Gathers it for him who is gracious to the poor.
9 He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.