Read Psalms 82-84
Yesterday, we prayerfully
pondered communal laments. Today, Psalm
82 reminds us that our human imaginations and incarnations are not the same as
God’s justice. I love how Psalm 82 is a
lesson of living Micah 6:8 to do justice, embody love/kindness, and walk humbly
with God. Read Psalm 82 slowly, letting
it sing to your soul and guide your decisions (where you go, how you go, and
with whom you go) these days. As you do
that, hold the truth of Psalm 83, that just because we commit our hearts toward
justice doesn’t mean that everything will be immediately and instantly
better. It feels to me like the Hebrew
hymn writer got up, prayed Psalm 82, went out to be God’s love in the world to
the least, lonely, left out, and left behind.
In the midst of experiencing the rough edges of our humanness, that was
like sandpaper to the soul of the singer.
After seeing the brokenness, the Hebrew Hymnwriter comes back and writes
Psalm 83. The summary of this Psalm is,
“Um God, I am doing the best I can, and it doesn’t feel like enough. A little help here. Let me tell You, God, what I would like You
to do…I have some ideas to take care of those people.” I view Psalms 82-83 as lessons we need today. There is the Jewish wisdom from Pirke Avot:
“It is not up to you to finish the task, but you are not free to avoid
it.” Or the wisdom of the brick layers
who began great cathedrals in Europe they never saw completed. Or the work of justice, which is ongoing and
unfolding. To be sure, this can be
discouraging. We love moving things from
the to-do list to the to-done list. We
love checking and crossing something off, even if we add three more things
right away. But when it comes to our
core values (worship, welcome, belonging, caring, justice, and faithfulness),
these take more than our lifetimes because these words never stop expanding and
evolving. And, these words feed and fuel
us so that we can sing out with Psalm 84.
You see, we commit to the work of justice not out of obligation but as
holy joy with God. We don’t need to be
sober; we can be joy-filled. We can sing
with God, who has a hammer and nails, building a place for all people; we are
not alone. Let this truth simmer and
sing to your soul, and let's keep talking about how justice doesn’t wear a
frownie face all the time or a dour, sour tone, but can sing out for a world
God is dreaming and designing, calling us to part-take with the Creator. Amen.
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