“They slay the widow and the alien;
They
murder the fatherless.
They
say, ‘The Lord does not see;
The
God of Jacob pays no heed.’”
Psalm
94: 6-7
Let’s
be honest… who would want to write about these two verses from Psalm 94? Not
me! Yet- here we are, and if you’re reading this, I apologize in advance for my
feeble attempts at addressing this passage.
In
Psalm 94, the author is giving voice to the oppressed with a plea to God to
avenge those who have committed injustices against them, His people. The
psalmist is crying out for God to punish those who “slay the widow and the
alien” and “murder the fatherless.” These evildoers claim that “the Lord does
not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”
In
our very secular culture and even in churches, God is portrayed as two very
distinct opposites- we have the “hippy” version of Jesus who is all about love
and peace. On the other end of the spectrum is the God who is watching and
judging our every thought and deed just waiting to pounce when we make one
wrong move. There are bits and pieces of truth to these depictions; however,
they do not come close to capturing the complete picture of our Great God (in
the best way our minuscule human minds can possibly comprehend). While the
Bible tells us that God is love and He commands us to love one another, it also
says that “God is the judge” (Psalm 75:7) and that “for those who are
self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and
anger” (Romans 2:8).
If
you’re anything like me, the passages of the Bible that describe God’s
punishment (a huge chunk of the Old Testament) or speak of His wrath for those
who sin against Him are often ignored. I skim those verses at best and skip
over them at worst. It’s not that I doubt them; rather, I have trouble
reconciling them with the God of love. I only want to read of God’s love and
grace. Unfortunately, in our fallen world, we cannot have one without the
other. There is Good and Evil. Our God is filled with mercy and love, but there
are conditions to His grace and mercy. He freely offers eternal life through
Jesus Christ, but we must accept that gift by believing in Jesus and
recognizing our utter sinfulness apart from Him. If we choose to ignore His
gift and continue living in sin, we will not receive the salvation He so longs
to give us.
Now
you understand why these two verses I was assigned for this Lenten blog are so
difficult for me. They remind me that God is the Judge of all. They remind me
that God does see and cares greatly about all we do, think, and say. It
instills within me a new fear of the Lord. Not a fear in the sense of doom or
dread or eternal damnation (as a believer I hold to the promise of John 3:16),
but a renewed understanding of how great and powerful He is and how all things
are in His control. Proverbs 9:10 says, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom.” Perhaps these verses can be the catalyst for us to grow in wisdom
as a nation, as a church, and as individuals. God does see evil in this world,
and He will avenge those who commit the atrocities of which the psalmist
describes. In a world where evil seems to triumph over good, we can find peace
in the knowledge that God is the Judge, and “He will bring every deed into
judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil”
(Ecclesiastes 12:14). In the meantime, may we hate what God hates and abide by
the religion that the Lord accepts as pure and faultless: “to look after
orphans and widows in their distress and keep [ourselves] from being polluted
by the world” (James 1:27).
Thank
God for the Cross,
Stacie
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