Psalm 72:2

Psalm 72:2

Righteousness and justice

By the time many of you read this, the full extent of Putin’s assault on Ukraine will be known. As I write it has been just 5 days and it is abundantly clear that righteousness and justice do not feature very heavily in his ambitions! In fact, it is very hard to survey history and find national and global leaders who were intent in pursuing these qualities. The Bible doesn’t mention many of them either, although our writer clearly had righteousness and justice high on his list of prerequisites for government. 

A righteous judge is one who is able to discern, with clarity, the rights and wrongs of every matter. He considers all of the evidence and carefully weighs up every fact and every account. He listens to the witnesses and rejects those who are prejudiced and speaking subjectively. He understands the circumstances of the accuser and the victim and then he carefully applies the detailed letter of the law and makes his decisions. 

When this Psalm was written, it was often the role of the king to be the final arbiter in state and civil matters. Great wisdom was required, especially when the downtrodden, the poor and those who were unable to defend themselves, were brought to trial. Hence, it was a heart cry from those who loved the Lord God, that they should act in line with His perfect qualities of justice and righteousness. May we do the same, as sons of the living God, be it in the public domain or in our everyday interaction with family, friends, fellow believers, colleagues and anyone else who crosses our path. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psalm 4:1 Smear campaigns

Psalm 4:1    Smear campaigns   The background to this Psalm is so familiar; David is being slandered and maligned by his detractors.  It seems that some calamity has befallen the nation and the king is getting the blame! Lies are being told, a smear campaign has begun, and the reputation of the Sovereign is under threat.  As usual, if something goes wrong, culpability is laid at the feet of the one in charge.  David, quite rightly, turns to the Lord his God and prays for relief and for mercy. The Satan is a master of such campaigns and his emissaries gleefully turn on Christians in leadership positions although the whispering campaign can affect all of us. The whispering starts in our own heads, but it can also come from the lips of our detractors. It goes something like this: - You’re the reason it went wrong You messed up again You should have seen it coming Surely you know better You are not worthy You don’t know what you’re doing Someone else ought to be in c
Read more
Psalm4:8        I will lie down and sleep                Th ere are times, in the life of all believers, when we no longer have control of situations. We can do nothing more. We have given our all, we have tried every possible solution and now it is out of our hands. As someone has wisely said, “It is time to let go and let God.” If we truly trust Him, if our faith will allow us, we can turn our backs on our enemies. We can block our ears to the threats. We can ignore the lies and the deceit and say,  “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone Lord, make me dwell in safety.” I should imagine that the devil, having sent a hurricane our way is not amused, when we settle in our beds in the midst of it all and drift off into a peaceful sleep! But that is our right and privilege once we let the Lord God Almighty take control. These spiritual attacks are like whirlwinds, they blow with terrifying intensity and threaten to turn us upside down; the disciples witnessed one of thes
Read more

Psalm 74:16

Psalm 74:16 God established the sun and the moon “ In  the beginning   God created   the heavens   and the earth.   2  Now the earth was formless   and empty,   darkness was over the surface of the deep,   and the Spirit of God   was hovering over the waters. 3  And God said,   “Let there be light,” and there was light.   4  God saw that the light was good,   and he separated the light from the darkness.   5  God called   the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”   And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” These, so familiar, words from Genesis 1 remind us of who is in charge! There would be no light without God. There would be no day or night without God. There would be no earth without God. And there would have been no living things unless God had created order out of chaos. The sun, moon and stars would not be fixed in their orbits without God and you and I would not exist unless He ordered our conception. It is because we see God as glorious, righteous
Read more