"Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:
Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:
Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners:
The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous:
The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down."
Psalms 146:5-9
What I find interesting in this set of verses are the places where it seems different than what we might see as the ideal. We expect the judgement for the oppressed and the food for the hungry, but is freeing prisoners a good idea? And helping the blind and the bowed down is awesome, but why are we preserving strangers?
For me, those things that seem to clash with normal life are probably where we can learn the most about how God's ways differ from our own. God's ideal is a lot more merciful than we typically are. I'm not saying we should just open up all the prisons, but I do think that God is about helping people change / rehabilitate rather than focusing on incarceration and punishment... and he is more inclusive than we typically are as well, inviting strangers to become brothers rather than excluding or ostracizing them.
Today, let's make sure we are upholding God's ideals and learning more about his perspective so that we can continue to support the ideas that we agree with, but also learn about the ideas that we might not agree with yet. God blesses our acts of kindness and goodness whatever they are, but expanding our own ability to love and serve others will not only help others, but greatly bless us, our souls, and our potential to become more like God as we walk in his ways.
Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:
Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners:
The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous:
The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down."
Psalms 146:5-9
What I find interesting in this set of verses are the places where it seems different than what we might see as the ideal. We expect the judgement for the oppressed and the food for the hungry, but is freeing prisoners a good idea? And helping the blind and the bowed down is awesome, but why are we preserving strangers?
For me, those things that seem to clash with normal life are probably where we can learn the most about how God's ways differ from our own. God's ideal is a lot more merciful than we typically are. I'm not saying we should just open up all the prisons, but I do think that God is about helping people change / rehabilitate rather than focusing on incarceration and punishment... and he is more inclusive than we typically are as well, inviting strangers to become brothers rather than excluding or ostracizing them.
Today, let's make sure we are upholding God's ideals and learning more about his perspective so that we can continue to support the ideas that we agree with, but also learn about the ideas that we might not agree with yet. God blesses our acts of kindness and goodness whatever they are, but expanding our own ability to love and serve others will not only help others, but greatly bless us, our souls, and our potential to become more like God as we walk in his ways.
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