Language changes constantly. Every language does this, words are coined, borrowed, transformed, to fit the need of the moment. Old words take on new meanings, sometimes at odds with how they were once used. Some words fall into disuse and disappear from the cultural consciousness, other words rise into the zeitgeist for their own fifteen minutes of fame.
Woke is having a cultural moment. During the 2022 and 2024 election cycles you will hear the term woke used a lot, a whole lot, by pundits and politicians, usually as an insult, a Scarlet 'A' akin to calling someone a Commie back before the Berlin Wall fell. {Not that smearing one's opponent as a Communist or Socialist has fallen out of favor entirely}. How the word 'woke' is being used now, especially as an insult, goes far beyond what the word meant just a few short years ago.
- past of wake1.
- alert to injustice in society, especially racism."we need to stay angry, and stay woke"
As Professor Andy Smith taught me back in the day when I was trying (and sort of succeeding) to learn Biblical Greek: "Word usage determines word meaning". 'Woke' doesn't technically mean anymore what the dictionary (in this case Oxford) says, at least not only that, because it isn't be used that way primarily anymore. A 2nd definition now exists after the first, "an insult synonymous with calling someone a 'liberal'".
But what of the question in the post title? Is God 'woke' by the dictionary definition? Is God alert to injustice in society, especially racism? Let us let the Word of God speak, and then we will ask the crucial question: Does God's attitude on these issues matter to us?
Leviticus 19:15 (NIV) “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly."
Deuteronomy 10:18 (NIV) He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.
Deuteronomy 27:19 (NIV) “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.” Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
Psalm 82:3 (NIV) Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
Psalm 140:12 (NIV) I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.
Proverbs 21:3 (NIV) To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Proverbs 24:24-25 (NIV) Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent,” will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations. 25 But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come on them.
Proverbs 29:7 (NIV) The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.
Isaiah 1:17 (NIV) Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
Jeremiah 22:3 (NIV) This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
Amos 5:10-12 (NIV) There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. 11 You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. 12 For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
Micah 6:8 (NIV) He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Luke 11:42 (NIV) “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
James 1:27 (NIV) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 2:14-17 (NIV) What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
There are more, a lot more, verses and passages of holy scripture that both declare God's concern for the poor, the fatherless, the widow, and the foreigner, AND reprimand God's people, in no uncertain terms, for failing to maintain justice. Of the things that caused God to send Judah into exile (which included idolatry), how the poor and powerless were treated was a primary cause of God's anger. In addition, Jesus himself famously (and controversially at least with the Pharisees and priestly class) sought out those in 1st century Judea who were forgotten, belittled, and oppressed: tax collectors, prostitutes, 'sinners', Samaritans, etc. Few things angered Jesus' critics more than his willingness to point out to them that they were failing to 'do justice' because they had slammed the proverbial door in the face of those in need.
There is no way to read the Word of God, or study the history of Israel or the Church, without concluding that God is very much alert to injustice in society, that God cares a great deal about how society treats the 'least of these', and that God will absolutely judge, indeed he will pour out his wrath, upon those who oppress others and deny justice.
If you think that racism is somehow an exception to this call for Justice, as if its pains and sorrow, injustices and griefs, are somehow lesser in God's sight, I pity you. God is the Creator is all mankind, his Imago Dei is equally stamped upon every person, neither race nor nationality make any single person more or less the image of God than any other person. Racism denies God's role as Creator, it spits in the face of God's common grace, of Jesus' commands to take the Gospel to all nations. Racism is injustice in the eyes of God no less than sexism or classism, all of which immorally place human beings in categories of greater than, less than.
God is not less aware of injustice than we are, God is more aware, perfectly aware. Afterall, God knows the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts, and is not fooled by our pretenses and the lies we tell ourselves. As the Judge of the living and the dead, God will avenge those who have been the victims of injustice.
God knows the flaws (and strengths) of America, American culture, and the system of justice in America, with perfect depth and full clarity.
God is more 'woke' than anyone, he has been from the beginning.
God cares about injustice, therefore lack of care about injustice on our part is a sin, period. On the flip side, putting effort and passion into overcoming injustice is an act of righteousness because it reflects the mind and will of God. God honoring Christians can, and will, disagree about whether or not this particular example is injustice at work. God honoring Christians can, and will, disagree about how to best remedy injustice in a free society. But God honoring Christians cannot disagree about the importance of justice and the sinfulness of injustice, God has taken that option off the table.
Do you still think that 'alert to injustice in society, especially racism' is a fitting insult?
For further reading:
The Prophet Amos: What provokes God's wrath? - Injustice and False Worship
Taking the name of the LORD in vain: PragerU's "Social Justice Isn't Justice"
Systemic Racism: The casual racism of the phrase "Black on Black crime"
Josh McDowell's folly in addition to racism: Claiming that the Bible only talks about individuals
When the shameful past of Racism hits close to home
Mitigating racism can't wait: Why Pastor Robert Jeffress is wrong
The danger of defining 'real' Americans vs. the necessity of categorizing 'real' Christians
Thank you for this lesson!
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