THIS IS GOD!
Opening Prayer
As I read your Word today, Lord God, open my eyes and heart to see and embrace what you have for me. Change me; make me more and more like Jesus.
Read PSALM 82
Psalm 82
A psalm of Asaph.
1 God presides in the great assembly;
he renders judgment among the “gods”:
2 “How long will you[a] defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked?[b]
3 Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5 “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing.
They walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 “I said, ‘You are “gods”;
you are all sons of the Most High.’
7 But you will die like mere mortals;
you will fall like every other ruler.”
8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
for all the nations are your inheritance.
Footnotes
- Psalm 82:2 The Hebrew is plural.
- Psalm 82:2 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Do you ever wonder what you would do, what decisions you would make, if you were ‘in charge’? What would you change? What wrongs would you right?Who do you think are the ‘gods’ that Asaph rails against in this psalm? Pagan idols? The ‘rulers’ and ‘authorities’ Paul described in Ephesians 6:12? Human rulers with authority?
To me the clue is in verse 1, that talks about God presiding over the ‘great assembly.’ The word is used throughout Exodus and Numbers to describe the whole people of Israel. That means the ‘gods’ (vv. 1, 5, 6), the ‘sons of the Most High’ (v. 6), are all God’s people, called and set apart to be different, to behave differently from the world. There is no escape for us from verses 2 to 4. All God’s people are required to bring God’s rule and justice to the world. All God’s people must have the same heart, the same concerns as God for the ‘weak and the fatherless,’ the ‘poor and the oppressed,’ and the ‘needy’ (vv. 3, 4).
God will one day bring the perfect justice his people are supposed to bring—the question is, on which side of God’s justice will we be standing? And what are we doing about it here and now?
Apply
Do you share God’s heart for justice? Or is your faith more about believing the right things? Both are vital, but most of us are stronger in one more than the other. Ask God to help you keep the right balance between them in your faith.
Closing prayer
Heavenly Father, it is your wisdom that I seek. Help me to relate to the world around me in ways that please you and bring honor to your name.
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