Psalm Meditation 577
Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 10, 2011

Psalm 10
1 Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor-- let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.
3 For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart, those greedy for gain curse and renounce the LORD.
4 In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, "God will not seek it out"; all their thoughts are, "There is no God."
5 Their ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of their sight; as for their foes, they scoff at them.
6 They think in their heart, "We shall not be moved; throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity."
7 Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under their tongues are mischief and iniquity.
8 They sit in ambush in the villages; in hiding places they murder the innocent. Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9 they lurk in secret like a lion in its covert; they lurk that they may seize the poor; they seize the poor and drag them off in their net.
10 They stoop, they crouch, and the helpless fall by their might.
11 They think in their heart, "God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it."
12 Rise up, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; do not forget the oppressed.
13 Why do the wicked renounce God, and say in their hearts, "You will not call us to account"?
14 But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief, that you may take it into your hands; the helpless commit themselves to you; you have been the helper of the orphan.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers; seek out their wickedness until you find none.
16 The LORD is king forever and ever; the nations shall perish from his land.
17 O LORD, you will hear the desire of the meek; you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
18 to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed, so that those from earth may strike terror no more.
(NRSV)

It is good to be reminded from time to time that many of us are not as downtrodden and oppressed as we see ourselves. Some of us can even be counted among the folks who look for ways to get things that are not ours in ways that do not stand up to the tests of faith and practice to which we hold everyone else. And, some of us who are not actively ‘wicked’ are complicit in the activities of those who are. We are willing to accept the convenience of and deny responsibility for practices and policies that take advantage of others for our direct benefit.

We may be asked to account for the choices we have made that put our concerns for inexpensive and cheap goods and services above the concerns of the folks who earn low wages so that we can pay cheap prices. There are ways to justify our choices and many folks who spend time and energy coming up with those rationales. Good people of good conscience are going to disagree on policies and practices. The difficulty may arise when I disagree with your policies but go along for the sake of convenience over my own sense of justice.

The good thing is that God deals with us with a heart for both justice and mercy. Yes, there is wickedness here; how do we root it out in such a way that a whole person stands in the place of what was once a wickedly conflicted one. God does hear the cries of the meek and does justice for the oppressed. I am also convinced that God seeks out the meekness in the overbearing and the desire for justice in each one of us so that there be no more terror on the earth.

July 4, 2011