Our steps are made firm by the LORD,
when he delights in our way;
though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong,
for the LORD holds us by the hand.
I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
They are ever giving liberally and lending,
and their children become a blessing.
Depart from evil, and do good;
so you shall abide forever.
For the LORD loves justice;
he will not forsake his faithful ones.
The righteous shall be kept safe forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit the land,
and live in it forever.
The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,
and their tongues speak justice.
The law of their God is in their hearts;
their steps do not slip.
The wicked watch for the righteous,
and seek to kill them.
The LORD will not abandon them to their power,
or let them be condemned when they are brought to trial.
Wait for the LORD, and keep to his way,
and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
you will look on the destruction of the wicked.
I have seen the wicked oppressing,
and towering like a cedar of Lebanon.
Again I passed by, and they were no more;
though I sought them, they could not be found.
Mark the blameless, and behold the upright,
for there is posterity for the peaceable.
But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
the posterity of the wicked shall be cut off.
The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;
he is their refuge in the time of trouble.
The LORD helps them and rescues them;
he rescues them from the wicked, and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
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"I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.... The righteous shall be kept safe forever..." Yeah right. That's not true. We know that from experience. Evil falls on good people all the time.
ReplyDeleteActually, Israel knew this wasn't true, strictly speaking. Just look at the time of the Judges. Look at the kings of Israel - successful people who drove Israel into ruin.
The book of psalms are nothing more and nothing less than songs of worship. And what this psalm is convinced of - absolutely convinced of - is that the Lord loves justice, and the Lord will not abandon the righteous.
And in the poetic license of music, this Psalm pictures the world as we wish it to be - the world as God wishes it to be. And indeed whenever we see righteousness, faithfulness, and justice, we see glimpses of God's will interrupting our world - our psalm might not come true all the time, but it comes true often enough.
And now we are invited to become partners in God's grand project of making the world right. The work took a decisive turn in Jesus' death and resurrection - which we have been joined to in Baptism.
This day, may you find ways to make things right and show God's faithfulness to those who need it - and when you are in doubt about what that means, may this psalm give you new vision.