Friday, December 12: Psalm 101- God defender of the needy.

This Psalm hit me square in the face, God is the defender of the needy. Humanity is capable of oppression and violence, putting oneself first at the expense and hurt of others, and even wanton violence. Despots reign through terror, moguls through the sheer power of their resources. Bullies push their weight around. Every culture, every continent, every era has seen violence and oppression of this group of humans by another simply because they could or can.

Humanity has plenty of examples of the ‘wicked man’ in verses 2-11.

It struck me that the psalmist reached out to the Lord, not the king, as the defender of the weak and oppressed. And this becomes an even more powerful thought if the Psalmist is King David, which is a possibility if the footnote to the Psalm (see below) is correct.

I don’t need the footnote to ponder this prayer. The psalmist cries out to the Lord to Arise and do something…

It hit me that too often I expect some human agency –the government, military, corporate or church leader –to do something about an injustice I see. The psalmist cries out to God. God’s answer will likely come as God prompts some person(s) to do something, but what I am realizing is that I, too often, turn to human agents rather than the Lord Himself.

This Psalm reminds me I have direct access to the Lord of Heaven and Earth, who is the defender of the weak. It makes sense then to turn to the Lord first and let Him move to prompt someone who then can take on the injustice in God’s power rather than his or her own power.

Hmmm. I have more pondering to do here…

Lord, arise and defend the weak and powerless…

Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out (12, 15).

Through Jesus, I pray. Amen

 

¹Psalm 10 appears to be unnamed, unless we follow NIV marginal footnote which reads, “Psalm 9 and 10 may originally have been a single acrostic poem in which alternating lings began with the successive letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. In the Septuagint they constitute one psalm”