This is God
Psalm 82
Rise up, O God.
Prepare
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?
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Explore
Who do you think are the ‘gods’ that Asaph rails against in this psalm? Pagan idols? The ‘rulers’ and ‘authorities’ Paul describes in Ephesians 6.12? Human rulers with authority?
To me the clue is in verse 1, which 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’ (vs 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’, the ‘needy’ (vs 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?
Respond
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 than the other. Ask God to help you keep the right balance between them in your faith.