Psalm Meditation 830
Pentecost
May 15, 2016

Psalm 75
1 We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks; your name is near. People tell of your wondrous deeds.
2 At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity.
3 When the earth totters, with all its inhabitants, it is I who keep its pillars steady .Selah
4 I say to the boastful, “Do not boast,” and to the wicked, “Do not lift up your horn;
5 do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with insolent neck.”
6 For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up;
7 but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.
8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed;
he will pour a draught from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.
9 But I will rejoice forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
(NRSV)

In some areas we judge ourselves much more harshly than we do those around us and in other areas we are more brutal with those around us than with ourselves. Whether we are easy on ourselves and ruthless with those around us or the other way around, it has to do with the information available to us. We know our own motivation and we hear the voices in our own heads in a way that we cannot know for those around us. Depending on motives vs. results is never going to give us a fair reading of how we stack up against those with whom we compare ourselves.

While we may see ourselves and those around us as sinners we may give ourselves the benefit of the doubt because our intentions were good in a particular situation. Everyone else is guilty of sin because we see their actions without knowing what they may have intended the outcome to be. On one side of the equation we know too much and on the other side we know too little. In the event that the categories are reversed, that we are more cruel to ourselves than to others, it is still a matter of knowing too much about ourselves and not enough about the others.

It is good that the psalmist reminds us that it is God who executes judgment. We will continue to judge each other as to our actions, motivations and results. We will continue to give too much credit to one side or the other due to faulty and incomplete information. The final word comes from God who sees the whole picture of action, motive and result for each one of us. Despite our best efforts, our judgments do not sway the heart of God. Fortunately for us, the judgment of God is swayed more by love than by our ideas of who is good and who is not.

May 9, 2016
LCM