A Brave Prayer

Today's Reading:
AM - Psalm 119:97-120
PM - Psalm 81 and 82
Gospel - John 8:12-20

For reflection: Why does everything hinge on who Jesus really is and who sent Him?

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In Psalm 82, the Psalmist prays a brave prayer: “Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you.”  On the surface, it seems a brazen prayer—who would pray for God to come and judge?  Don’t we usually pray for God to forgive?  Then I look back at verse 3 of the same Psalm and notice what God’s judgment is: “Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and destitute.  Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”  God’s judgment is that the world ought to be a little more fair.  The people at the very bottom of society’s barrel, those with the fewest resources and the smallest amount of power ought to have someone advocate for them.  The orphans, the poor, and the weak have already been dealt an unfair hand—it’s wrong to make their situation worse.

It seems the judgment the Psalmist is asking for is not a fire and brimstone kind of judgment.  The Psalm is not looking for a final pronouncement.  Rather, it asks God to step in and do something about the abuse of the powerless.  We see this kind of abuse today in a thousand different ways.  In response, we can pray with the Psalmist for God to rise up and do something about it.   And we know that at least part of God’s response to us is to tell us to use what resources we have to “give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and destitute.”

- Tera Harmon