THE Book of Psalms in the Bible is a collection of
prayers. It is not only prayed by the Jews but also by Christians for hundreds
of years now. Being the Word of God, it is always “living and effective,
sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit,
joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.”
(Hebrews 4:12 New American Bible)
While praying this psalm one day I noticed how
appropriately it mirrors our time.
1 LORD, avenging God, avenging God, shine forth!
It calls on God to act, to set right, to avenge his
persecuted people.
2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth;
give the proud what they deserve!
3 How long, LORD,
shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked glory?
4 How long will
they mouth haughty speeches, go on boasting, all these evildoers?
The enemy is described as the proud, the wicked, mouthing
haughty speeches, always boasting. It does not take much imagination to think
of Duterte and his cohorts here.
5 They crush your
people, LORD, torment your very own.
6 They kill the
widow and alien; the orphan they murder.
Oh how they kill, and they kill the helpless! In those
times the helpless were the widows, the strangers and the orphans. Now they are
the pedicab drivers, the teen-aged youth, the tambays, the lumads. These are
the people who cannot fight back. They are the very people that Jesus
identified with, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least
brothers of mine, you did for me,” (Matthew 25:40 NAB) when he taught the
parable on the Last Judgment.
7 They say,
"The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob takes no notice."
Why they do they continue to do these injustices? Because
they believe that God does not care. They have no fear of God anymore. Just
because they can continue doing these things does not mean that God will not
act, that He does not know. The psalm continues
8 Understand, you
stupid people! You fools, when will you be wise?
9 Does the one who
shaped the ear not hear? The one who formed the eye not see? (Psalm 94:1-9 NAB)
God sees. He knows. And he will act. So the call: Rise
up, O judge of the earth; give the proud what they deserve! [Psalm 94:2]
14 For the LORD will not forsake his people, nor abandon
his inheritance.
15 Judgment shall
again be just, and all the upright of heart will follow it.
(Psalm 94:14-15
NAB)
In front of these abuses and oppression, we continue to
hope. God will not forsake his people. Judgment shall again be just. In fact
this psalm ends:
23 Who [God] will turn back their evil upon them and
destroy them for their wickedness. Surely the LORD our God will destroy them!
(Psalm 94:23 NAB)
How appropriate this psalm is for our time. It truly
describes what is happening to us in the Duterte administration these days. But
in front of this evil we do not lose hope. We heed the call of Scriptures: “Beloved,
do not look for revenge but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance
is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’" (Romans 12:19 NAB) So we do not
allow ourselves to be conquered by evil but we conquer evil with good. (cf. Romans
12:21) We do not lie, we do not curse, we do not threaten, as they do. We pray
and speak the truth. We use the words of Jesus:
“You belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your
father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in
truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in
character, because he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44 NAB).
Tamaan na ang tamaan!
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