A prayer of David.
I
Hear, Lord, my plea for justice;
pay heed to my cry;
Listen to my prayer
from lips without guile.
From you let my vindication come;
your eyes see what is right.
You have tested my heart,
searched it in the night.
You have tried me by fire,
but find no malice in me.
My mouth has not transgressed
as others often do.
As your lips have instructed me,
I have kept from the way of the lawless.
My steps have kept to your paths;
my feet have not faltered.
II
I call upon you; answer me, O God.
Turn your ear to me; hear my speech.
Show your wonderful mercy,
you who deliver with your right arm
those who seek refuge from their foes.
Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings
from the wicked who despoil me.
III
My ravenous enemies press upon me;
they close their hearts,
they fill their mouths with proud roaring.
Their steps even now encircle me;
they watch closely, keeping low to the ground,
Like lions eager for prey,
like a young lion lurking in ambush.
Rise, O Lord, confront and cast them down;
rescue my soul from the wicked.
Slay them with your sword;
with your hand, Lord, slay them;
snatch them from the world in their prime.
Their bellies are being filled with your friends;
their children are satisfied too,
for they share what is left with their young.
I am just – let me see your face;
when I awake, let me be filled with your presence.
Psalms 17:1-15
Over these last few weeks, so far 17 days, to be exact, I see several recurring themes in the Psalms. This is not surprising, really, but I find it striking how relevant these themes are in modern times. I suppose that is to be expected when we read divinely inspired words of Sacred Scripture.
The theme today is, once again, around justice. Ancient people spent a lot of time begging God to enact justice against their enemies. Do we make similar requests of God?
Certainly, justice is a major theme in public discourse these days. Of course, there is a lot of debate about what decisions and actions are actually the implementation of justice and which are not. I’m sure you won’t be surprised that this is sending me back to Mirriam-Webster for some clarification:
Definition of justice
1. the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments; the administration of law
2. the quality of being just, impartial, or fair; the principle or ideal of just dealing or right action; the quality of conforming to law
3. conformity to truth, fact, or reason; correctness
(fuller definition found here)
Curiosity also sent me to find this definition:
Definition of social justice
a state or doctrine of egalitarianism
(found here)
When I read a plea for justice in the psalms, it usually sounds like it is going for the part of the definition related to “the assignment of merited rewards or punishments.” I also think that’s the part of the definition that most of us mean when we talk about justice.
That might be the reason that so many people on both sides (all sides?) of the abortion arguments have been upset over the last couple weeks. There has been a lot going on. The annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. was on January 18th, and a few days later, on the anniversary of the legalization of abortion, the governor of New York (who happens to be Catholic) signed a law that essentially allows abortion in that state up to the actual day of natural delivery of the baby.
It’s a lot to take in. Does that ensure the assignment of merited rewards or punishments for the aborted child? …what about the mother?Unfortunately, this issue jumps back and forth between conforming to law and conforming to truth, fact, or reason, which don’t seem to be the same quite often.
It is so easy to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of this issue. I definitely get to the point of feeling helpless. It makes me want to just ignore the whole thing.
But maybe this psalm is the way to deal with such issues that weigh heavily on our hearts. As with so many things in our lives, when all seems desperately lost, we need to learn to turn it over to God. He will guide us down the right path, if we let him.
Whatever part of the definition of justice that I want at any given moment, it may be that God is the only one who can possibly deliver it. So I pray this psalm today for all the many issues that stress our society, and ultimately ask God, “let me see your face!”