April 28: Psalms About Righteousness and Wickedness

(POSTED FOR JOHN LANUZA)

APRIL 28, 2012

Psalms About Righteousness and Wickedness

 

So much to take from today's readings.  Where to begin?

How about with our insignificance...which makes the fact God loves us all the more incomprehensibly amazing?  Psalm 90 and 76 speak so much of that.  He has "been our dwelling place throughout all generations"; he turns men "back to dust" and "a thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night."  We cannot stand before Him - "We are consumed by Your anger and terrified by your indignation".  At His rebuke "both horse and chariot lie still.  You alone are to be feared.  Who can stand before You when You are so angry?"  And He is right to be angry...for He has "set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence." 

And yet we are able to cry out to Him, to His "unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days."  They say the opposite of love isn't hatred, because you have to care about someone in order to get riled up to the level of hatred.  No, the opposite of love is indifference, and we are often indifferent to those we deem insignificant.  This psalm hints at our insignificance before God...yet not only does He pay us attention, He loves us.  How amazingly incomprehensible is that?

There's more...we read about the futility of wickedness in Psalm 82, where we hear of those who "know nothing, they understand nothing.  They walk about in darkness", how they will "die like mere me; you will fall like every other ruler" and how "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked", we read of the wages of wickedness in Psalm 92, where we see "that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will forever be destroyed."  And Psalm 115 just goes through a litany of the futility of an idolater's existence. 

But it gets better - for despite our sinfulness, we can cry out to Him..."he is their help and shield...the Lord remembers us and will bless us." He has "exalted my horn like that of a wild ox, fine oils have been poured upon me" and "mine eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries."  We can "flourish like a palm tree...grow like a cedar of Lebanon, planted in the house of the Lord..."

When I read all the blessings that come to the man who fears the Lord and finds great delight in His commands that are listed in Psalm 112, I do not understand why I am so stubborn as to insist on my ways, on the world's ways and the world's wickedness.  Wouldn't it be great to "have no fear of bad news; [because] his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord"?  To keep my heart secure, and have no fear, and in the end look on triumph upon my foes."? And yet we struggle to reciprocate the love He gives those who, next to Him, are insignificant. 

Dear Lord, as we struggle to live a life that has You as both goal and guide, please continue to show us the mercy we do not deserve when, inevitably we fall into the wickedness that rightfully has no place with You.  Grant us the ability to recognize You for who You are, and the desire to live our lives according to that recognition. 

 

A few questions:

1.  What are the persistent idols in my life?  What are the things we aspire to that take us off the path God has chosen?  That distract us from His blessing?  Money - either wealth, or even something as innocuous and innocent-sounding as "sufficiency"?  Respect, admiration, acceptance?

2.  When do these idols manifest themselves?  When do we find they affect our decisions, or perhaps even unconsciously guide our actions? 

3.  What do we really believe is worth aspiring to?  What is our treasure...and how do we remind ourselves of that constantly, that we might stay on track to attain it?