Psalm Meditation 1018
Fourth Sunday of Advent
December 22, 2019

Psalm 82
1 God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk around in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I say, “You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.”
8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you!
(NRSV)

We like to believe that we are loyal to the God of the Bible, however this psalm asks us to question who and what it is we worship. In the midst of the gods, the God of the children of Abraham addresses the others with a call to justice, impartiality, preference to the weak and the orphan, maintaining the rights of the lowly and destitute, and rescue of the weak and needy from the wicked. If we hear a call to do other than that, we have chosen a different god to follow than the one we profess.

The comforting thing, I guess, is that people have been attempting to tame and domesticate God for a long time. As long as people believe that it is the job of God to uphold the nation, the empire, we are in danger of moving away from the God of the Bible. When God wants me to be rich at your expense, we are in danger. When God supports the government over and against the people being governed, we are in danger. When God agrees with everything we believe, we are in danger. Through psalms and prophets God calls us back to concern for those whose voices cannot be heard over the cries for more power.

If you are like me you have already gone through your list of those who need to reassess their loyalty to the God of the Bible. And, for some reason, my own name is not at the top of the list. Copy and paste your own name to the top of the list, and then delete the rest of the names on that list, and I will do the same. It is so much easier to see how to fix all those ‘other’ people, since it takes so little effort to come up with everything that needs to changed, and list the steps to take to accomplish those changes. When we look to our own need for change, we can’t stop with the list, we have to add energy and activity to make the needed changes. “Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you!”

December 16, 2019
LCM