God will bring justice to the earth
Psalm 94
1 O Lord, you God of vengeance, you God of vengeance, shine forth!
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth; give to the proud what they deserve!
3 O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?
4 They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.
5 They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage.
6 They kill the widow and the stranger, they murder the orphan,
7 and they say, ‘The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.’
8 Understand, O dullest of the people; fools, when will you be wise?
9 He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
10 He who disciplines the nations,
he who teaches knowledge to humankind,
does he not chastise?
11 The Lord knows our thoughts, that they are but an empty breath.
12 Happy are those whom you discipline, O Lord,
and whom you teach out of your law,
13 giving them respite from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage;
15 for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16 Who rises up for me against the wicked?
Who stands up for me against evildoers?
17 If the Lord had not been my help,
my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
18 When I thought, ‘My foot is slipping’, your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
19 When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.
20 Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who contrive mischief by statute?
21 They band together against the life of the righteous,
and condemn the innocent to death.
22 But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.
23 He will repay them for their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the Lord our God will wipe them out.
The psalm opens with a blunt assessment of the state of the world. The forces of destruction, the wicked, are killing, are harming, the widow, the stranger (the immigrant), and the orphan. A consistent message of the Old Testament is that God has a special concern for the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. God passed the same concern on to his people. Therefore, God’s people have a special concern for the widow, the orphan, and the stranger.
The wicked are also arrogant, and God has an aversion to arrogant pride. Humility and lowliness are the paths to godliness. Human arrogance before God is especially ridiculous, for God made human beings. Without God we would not exist. Yet human beings choose to go against God’s pattern of life for human beings.
In response to the actions of the wicked, the psalm writer wants God to bring vengeance against the perpetrators of this wrongdoing. The writer feels the heavy burden of what is taking place in the world. The writer had started to lose their footing – an image often used to say the person was sliding from the narrow path of following God. “When the cares of my hearts are many” – in that moment God offers hope and consolation. God can be trusted, God will act, but on God’s timing, not ours.
We can identify with this psalm as our hearts break over what is happening to the defenseless and the powerless. Our hearts are heavily burdened, our faith may even be shaken. In those moments we pray that God would uphold us and strengthen us, giving us the confidence and peace that God can be trusted to bring justice.
PRAYER:
O Lord, bring justice. We are burdened by the evil and destruction we see in the world, and we begin to wonder if your justice will ever come. Bring justice for the widow, the stranger, and the orphan. Bring justice for the downtrodden, the overlooked, the voiceless. Bring justice for the abused and the hurt. O Lord, teach us trust that we might look with confidence towards your coming kingdom of peace and justice. In Jesus’ name. Amen.