The Lord weighs the righteous and the wicked and his soul hates the lover of violence. (NRSV Pslm 11: 5)
The Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. (KJV Ps 11:5)
He tests the good and bad alike; if anyone cheats, God’s outraged. (THE MESSAGE PS 11:5)
The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates. (NIV Ps 11:5)
The Lord watches over those who do what is right. But he hates sinful people and those who love to hurt others. (New International Reader’s Version Ps 11:5)
I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions, why punish myself like that! But I do attempt to set achievable goals. So, this year I am going to try and think more about God–who God is and what God might be thinking about. Today is Epiphany in the church’s calendar. For me it’s the 2nd anniversary of this blog. Happy Anniversary to me! For my country it is the second anniversary of the attempted insurrection at the Capital Building in Washington D.C. This would be the perfect day to hear an indictment for that incident, while we wait for true leadership to emerge in the House. Meanwhile, I am committed to continuing to blog about faith, spirituality, and political activism because I think it is important to voice my opinions as a Christian citizen and to empower others to do the same. Yet, I will continue to wonder what God thinks about Christian nationalism.
I am drawn to one of David’s Psalms, Psalm 11. Most commentators believe David’s friends were advicing him to run for the hills, but instead he chose to stay and trust God. This is classified as a Trust Psalm, because David chose to trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. David knew right from wrong according to the laws and precepts of his faith. David knew that God was ultimately in charge of his life. His trust pleased God. David’s trust was not passive, however. He would stay and fight and eventually build a nation with its capital in Jerusalem.
The Hebrew word yibhan in verse 5 is translated as weighs, tries, tests, examines and watches over to describe what God is doing or more accurately what David believes God is doing. Let’s do a little word study here. When the Lord weighs, this implies an active critical thinking process to determine the value of the actions of the people much like a judge or the scale of justice depicts. Tries, from a scientific viewpoint, would consider attempts like experiments to see what works the best for the desired outcome. It is almost as if human life is a game and God is trying different actions to see what our response will be. To test is more troubling. Like the academic test that suggests God is placing options in your path to see if you will choose faith and pass some divine test. In an examination, there is thorough exploration of the thing being examined to see all its aspects and properties—to know it inside-out. And to watch over implies some protection and safety in this whole process of weighing, trying, testing and examining of humanity. I think all these translations are a great start to understanding what God was up to in David’s life and what God is doing in our lives as well.
But none of them grasps the true intimacy David had with his God. In our 21st century world view our God is too small if we limit God’s response to just good or evil. Surely something good can become evil and vice versa. Does God really expect us to create a nation dedicated to one religion? That didn’t work out so well for Israel in the Bible. Isn’t that God’s job? No matter how we organize our community and political life, God’s promise is that Jesus returns to rule the earth. Until that time, we would better spend our lives walking humbly with God and taking better care of each other in our local, county, state, and national communities. On the second anniversary of my blog, I am waiting for the Republican party to find its soul and purpose again. God gave us the ability to create a democratic republic. Something not part of the Biblical worldview. It is up to us, watching over, examining, testing, trying, and weighing our actions to be sure it is a just and humane political system. The pandemic taught us that we truely are in this together. Our political system was always complex and messy. It is a goal to strive for based on rule of law and policy initiatives and not on personality cults. I remain committed to holding leadership accountable for falling short in empowering us to take care of each other until Jesus returns. I believe God doesn’t want us to give up on justice and equality. I also think God is probably going to do something beyond our comprehension or even our imagination whenever Jesus does return. After all, isn’t that so like God?
For your consideration:
1. Read Psalm 11. Does it help you trust more in God?
2. Which of the translations of Hebrew yibhan do you find more meaningful? Why?
3. Which of the translations of Hebrew yibhan do you not like at all? Why?
4. On a scale of 1—10, how strongly do you believe in the separation of church and state?
5. Would this be a better country if we declared Christianity the state religion? Why or why not?
6. What do you think Jesus would do if he were standing in the House of Representatives today?