Psalm Meditation 835
Proper 7
June 19, 2016

Psalm 99
1 The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
2 The LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he!
4 Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Extol the LORD our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the LORD, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.
8 O LORD our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
9 Extol the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the LORD our God is holy.
(NRSV)

Years ago I heard, ‘we are not punished for our sin so much as we are punished by our sin.’ When it is about someone else I wish justice were more swift and decisive than it is. When it comes to me and the folks I love and care for I am grateful for God’s patience about sin and evil. It can take forever for the rest of the world to find out who did what when something happens, however the person or group responsible knows immediately. They may revel and celebrate in the moment but the gravity of sin weighs on them as it does on us no matter what.

The wonderful thing about free will is that God does not force decisions and choices on us. The bad thing is that when we have choices we can, and do, make some stupid, dangerous and evil choices. Sometimes the evil is intentional, when we do our best to make someone else miserable. Sometimes the evil is inadvertent, when we mean to do the right thing and it goes very wrong. Sometimes the evil is an unintended consequence of an otherwise good choice. And sometimes we simply get it wrong with the best of intentions by mistaking our selfishness for the mind and will of God.

God loves justice. At the same time, God loves us even when our actions, inactions and reactions lead to injustice for ourselves or someone else. It is a good idea to keep ears and minds open to the will of God even when it is at the expense of something precious to us. The love of God is perplexingly patient with us and with others. That patience with us, in hopes that we will find a way toward justice by our own choosing, is a part of the holiness of God.

June 14, 2016
LCM