Thursday, September 29, 2022

Psalms 9:18-20 -- On Letting the Lord Prevail

"For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.
Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.
Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah."
Psalms 9:18-20


Earlier in this chapter it mentions that "the Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth," which is an interesting idea. Abraham chose God because, at least initially, he saved him, and when Moses and the Children of Israel laft Egypt they were known by the ability the Lord had to protect and save his people. Society perhaps gets led astray at times because they don't have any more modern examples of the Lord's hand than that... it is easy to decieve ourselves into believing that there is no God when we observe evil prospering, however temporarily, and watch how badly the poor and the needy are treated. We might draw the erroneous conclusion that the Lord doesn't care, since he allows it to happen.

I think that is one reason why this verse is here... to remind us all that the world that we have made with what the Lord has given us is not a paradise, but is unfortunately deeply flawed. The Lord is trying to teach us as we go, and encourage us to make improvements, and hopefully we are making some, but until we have achieved what the City of Enoch did in Moses 7:18 (see also Deuteronomy 15:4-8), there remains work to be done... and what we don't do, the Lord assuredly will, for he will prevail in the end, whether we work with him or not, and make things right, whether we stand in his way or not. Today, let's work to do his will and stand on his side by helping the people around us and remembering that we are "but men," and the Lord's plan is a law and an unstoppable force, not just a really good ideal. :)

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