"God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. " Psalm 7:11 ESV

God is a different sort of judge.  He can actually make a decision in the healthy balance between truth and passion. It is always the right decision.

The idea of God as a judge must be processed through an understanding of courts and systems and what was in the minds of Paul and his readers. Then,  it must be unpacked and reassembled into a vision that stands in contrast with our understanding.

Are Paul's people  picturing a judge of ancient Israel who was more than an arbitrator, but a leader and moral force? Was he a Roman judge with a court that we might somehow recognize as such? He certainly was not the paper-shuffling, process-moving, elected bureaucrat of modern times whose job is to read long, boring edicts and declare, "Next case," with a yawn.

Human judges must filter their judgments through volumes of considerations, interests, and rules of procedure.

A divine Judge simply has to be right. God is always right.

Judges always have some legitimate doubt.

They also need to remain detached from their cases and compartmentalized in their lives. Good is never detached. He takes all of His work home with Him.

Righteousness walks hand in hand with reconciliation and restoration and is just without emotional ambiguity. However, that does not mean that God is dispassionate.

One who would be involved with and among us becomes indignant with indignities as we must.

We need the rules and procedures to keep us right and true. We need emotional engagement to keep us human, fashioned in the image of God.

When faced with the need to make decisions, we have a model to remind us to aim for righteousness and to be fully engaged.