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I like this psalm, because it’s a departure from those other psalms that just depict the world as being against the psalmist… which it was!  Don’t get me wrong, the world was indeed waiting at the psalmist’s door to destroy him, and the psalmist was ideed praying for God’s justice, and God’s justice was surely going to result in harsh judgement of those surrounding godless nations.  But, you see the psalmist’s true heart for his surrounding God-less neigbors… that instead of living lives of destruction, that they live lives of faith in their creator.  I know it’s what I want for them.

I want justice.  Where murderers murder, I want them executed.  Where rapers rape, well I want them executed as well.  …

Do you worry?

Do you see injustice around you?

Does it ever look like the patients have taken over the asylum?

The Psalmist would have you not worry.  But this encouragement is not the kind that people generally look for.  To summarize:
 15 Judgment will again be founded on righteousness,
       and all the upright in heart will follow it.
Do you see why we are to take heart?

It is not because no one will get hurt.

It is not because everything is going to be fine.

It is because, whatever happens, God’s justice will prevail.  He appears absent for a time, letting mankind have his way with his own destiny, and that doesn’t generally work out well.  Give a man access to another man’s wealth, tell him …

 14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
       love and faithfulness go before you.

 15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
       who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.

 16 They rejoice in your name all day long;
       they exult in your righteousness.
This is another Psalm that talks of God’s great works, and as we see in so many other places in the OT, those works include violence, killing of the enemies of God’s anointed, and punishment of God’s people for their lack of faithfulness.  Yet, God Himself is only attributed to have positive attributes.  To an atheist, this paints of a picture of a God with split personalities.  …

There were many times in Israel ancient history when Israel was not in God’s will.  There were also many times when they were.  It is similar to how our lives go today.  As Christians, we know God, and know we are supposed to live in faith toward God, but we often do not.  Well, before there were Christians, there was Israel! And this Psalm gives an excellent example of a prayer for realignment with the Lord.
 1 You showed favor to your land, O LORD;
       you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

 2 You forgave the iniquity of your people
       and covered all their sins.
       Selah
 3 You set aside all your wrath
       and turned from your fierce …

Based on Psalm 71 from last time, here is a summary of the qualities of God that the word “righteousness” should make us think of:

He listens to the prayers of the righteous (those who believe and obey Him)
He saves the righteous from the unrighteous
His justice is immeasurable
He is genuinely deserving of praise and thanksgiving
He is unique

An immeasurable source of righteousness
The greatest source of justice
The only one deserving of praise

In light of this, let us now turn to Psalm 72.
 1 Endow the king with your justice, O God,
       the royal son with your righteousness.

 2 He will [a] judge your people in righteousness,
       your afflicted ones with justice.

 3 The mountains will bring prosperity …

As I wrote yesterday, I have yet to see a definition of God’s righteousness.  Our righteousness is defined quite clearly.  Believe in God and it will be accounted to us as righteousness; obey God and it is our righteousness.  So, believing God is like earning a deposit of righteousness from Him to place in our bank account… obeying God is like spending it.  Yet, because all righteousness comes from God, it still begs the question of what it means for God Himself to be righteousness, and what the true meaning of righteousness is, such that belief and obedience are the ways for us to manifest it. 

Yesterday I suggested (and not for the first time) that if God’s quality is righteous, then His associated actions bring justice.  In other words, where God is righteous, …

Psalm 65:5 You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness
An observations I’ve made before is that God’s righteousness is not actually defined in the scriptures we’ve reviewed so far.  However, it appears equated with justice in several places.  So, when I have a verse, like the one above, I will and try and extract its meaningfulness by replacing the word righteousness with justice.  Of course, they aren’t precisely the same thing.  “Righteous” describes God;  ”just” describes God’s actions.

So, if God answers our prayers with awesome deeds of righteousness, it means He answers us with justice.  And what does that tell us about what we can expect from God when we pray?

It does not mean I will get what I want, because I don’t always …

 45:4 In your majesty ride forth victoriously
       in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness;
       let your right hand display awesome deeds.

48:10 Like your name, O God,
       your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;
       your right hand is filled with righteousness.
I like how these two verses, though from different psalms, complement each other.  Psalm 45 is about the king who is God.  Psalm 48 is about the praiseworthy God.  We see therefore that God our King is praiseworthy and that his right hand, which is filled with righteousness, will display awesome deeds. This leads us to Psalm 50…
 1 The Mighty One, God, the LORD,
       speaks and summons the earth
       from the rising of …

The writer of Psalm of 40 is living a dichotomous life.  Most of us live our lives as if one season is a trial, another a blessing, when in reality all seasons are both trial and blessing.  It is we who are alternately blind to one or the other.
 1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
       he turned to me and heard my cry.

…yet later…

 11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD;
       may your love and your truth always protect me.
 …a request for mercy, love, and truth, from God who has already turned toward him, and heard His cry.  In fact, look on to verse 2, to see what God has done already, yet the …

God led me to some scripture that I hope will be encouraging to Christians who are in a tough position with a debt this year.  At the very least, I believe that many people need to hear it.  As with all things, pray about what you do, and what God’s message is to you personally.  But for many, I think this will ring true:

Psalm 37:21-23
 23 The wicked borrow and do not repay,
       but the righteous give generously;

 22 those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,
       but those he curses will be cut off.

 23 If the LORD delights in a man’s way,
       he makes his steps firm;
What does this mean?  In my humble opinion, it …