(upbeat music)
- I want to welcome you to Psalm 94
in daily drive time devotions.
It's a Psalm that addresses the question,
what do we do in an unjust world?
How do we pray when you or someone else
are the victim of another's unjust treatment?
And maybe you don't have the opportunity
or the power to respond as is so often true in this world.
So think of an injustice right now,
starting with yourself if one comes to mind.
I know it may not be as horrible
as what some others are facing,
but it is what you are facing.
But it's also good to keep in mind the great injustices
that are being done against the poor
and the vulnerable across our world.
And maybe there's something
that has been hitting your heart recently.
Or maybe right now God's bringing something to mind.
We're gonna take some time
to take the invitation of this Psalm today
to deal with this injustice, to pray our way through it,
to have faith through it, to trust God through it.
I love the four things that Warren Wiersbie points out
this Psalm tells us to do about injustice.
And we're gonna look at the Psalm
in light of those four things today.
So number one, pray for God to show his justice.
Pray for God to avenge.
Verses one to seven.
Oh Lord, the God who avenges,
oh God who avenges, shine forth.
Rise up, oh judge of the earth.
Pay back to the proud what they deserve.
How long will the wicked, oh Lord,
how long will the wicked be jubilant?
They pour out arrogant words.
All the evildoers are full of boasting.
They crush your people, oh Lord.
They oppress your inheritance.
They slay the widow and the alien.
They murder the fatherless.
They say the Lord does not see.
The God of Jacob pays no heed.
I love this prayer to God.
In the midst of all the injustice,
these words shine forth.
Let your light be seen in the midst of this injustice.
Rise up.
God, you rise up in power and do something about this.
When you pray, shine forth.
When you pray, rise up.
You're praying with faith.
You're praying with faith that God does see what happens.
They say the Lord does not see.
The Lord does see what happens.
He knows what is happening in this world.
He knows everything that is happening.
The hair is on our head.
Every bird and what's happening with every bird.
His eyes are on the sparrow.
His eyes are on every circumstance.
And when you pray, shine forth,
you're also recognizing that God cares about what happens.
The God of Jacob pays no heed, the evil doer says.
That is not true.
God cares.
His heart is hurting more than our heart over the injustice.
He may allow it for a time in order to give more time
for more people to come to faith in him,
but that does not mean he's not hurting.
He does see what is happening.
He does care about what is happening.
And rise up.
God, do something about this.
God will one day obviously do away with all injustice.
So we're praying towards that day,
but we're also praying for today.
Rise up, God.
Do something even in this day.
And as we come towards the end of this Psalm,
we're gonna see more about how God rises up.
So you pray for God to show his justice, number one.
This Psalm number two reminds us to warn the wicked,
to warn those who are not just.
Verses eight to 11, take heed,
you senseless ones among the people, you fools.
When will you become wise?
Does he who implanted the ear not hear?
Does he who formed the eye not see?
Does he who disciplines nations not punish?
Does he who teaches man lack knowledge?
The Lord knows the thoughts of man.
He knows that they are futile.
As we talk about warning the wicked,
it's good to start by admitting
that I have to face the injustice that's in my own heart
as I pray against injustice.
My actions may not have been as evil
as so much of what we see in this world,
but apart from Christ, I have a prideful heart.
And that prideful heart can lead to the worst of evil.
The truth is, the hard truth to face is,
if I had grown up in their circumstances
without the love of Christ
and I had been given the power to do evil,
I might be doing the same evil that they are doing.
I know that's hard to admit,
but that's the evil of the human heart.
So I have to face the injustice that's in my own heart.
And facing that gives me a heart to pray
for the repentance of the evil doer.
We're to bless those who persecute us
and we're to overcome evil with good.
So if I am somehow in contact
with the one doing the injustice,
these verses call upon us to warn those
who are on a path to destruction.
Now, I found that it's not effective
for most of us to try to be Old Testament prophets,
waving our stick at people, repent or be destroyed.
The truth is, we have God's spirit in our lives right now.
We are followers of Jesus.
And he told us to be salt and light in this world,
a testimony of how you're living your life.
When you live with hope, when you live with grace,
when you're able to say to someone,
I have a hope that's greater than the desperation
that I'm seeing in your life right now,
we see the desperation in people's lives
through the injustices they commit against other people.
When we say to people, I fear the judgment of God
more than other people's opinions of me.
When people can see that in your life,
they see there's a different way to live life.
So many people are committing injustice
just because they are afraid of the people
that are around us and what they might think of them.
It's gang injustice.
Followers of Christ are needed in this world.
And we, by following Christ, even in our following of him,
we are a warning against the injustice in this world.
It's the third truth that we see in this psalm.
And the truth is, one of the ways that I face injustice
is by accepting God's discipline.
In verses 12 to 15, blessed is the man you discipline,
O Lord, the man you teach from your law.
You grant him relief from days of trouble
till a pit is dug for the wicked.
For the Lord will not reject his people.
He will never forsake his inheritance.
Judgment will again be founded on righteousness.
And all the upright in heart will follow it.
Injustice is ultimately only bad news for the wicked.
They're digging a pit for themselves, he says here.
And the momentary power that they feel like they have
over others makes them feel high and mighty,
but they're actually digging a pit deeper and deeper.
But for the righteous, even injustice
is used by God to discipline us.
Even the trials of this life are used by God
to teach us to trust, to have faith,
whatever happens to us.
Now, sometimes as Christians, we talk with faults
and sugary, sweet words about this.
As if the eternal blessings that God gives,
even in the midst of the injustice,
make the injustice somehow good or okay.
It is not good, it is not okay.
It is pure evil, and it is evil that God will one day judge.
But God is greater than that evil.
And God is able to work in your life,
not through that evil, but through his love
in the midst of the evil.
He's able to use even that evil to turn my heart to him,
to cause me to trust him in evil days.
Because God is greater, we continue to be led
and blessed by his love, even through evil days.
Now, we know what will happen in eternity,
that God will give his blessings.
But these verses also talk about the blessings
that God gives, even as we face injustice in this world.
Relief from days of trouble.
Pray that God would give relief
to those who are facing injustice.
God will not reject his people.
Pray that people would know that they are loved,
whatever injustice they are facing,
that you will know you are loved,
whatever injustice you have faced.
Judgment will again be founded on righteousness.
Pray that people will know that the way
that it is happening right now
is not the way that it will happen eternally.
That in the end, judgment will be founded
on God's righteousness.
We can trust in that.
So as we face the injustice in this world,
I'm to pray for God to show his justice.
I am to warn the wicked.
I am to accept God's discipline.
But then number four, this psalm encourages
you and I to work for justice.
It might be easy to think that since one day God
will judge the wicked, and he's using injustice
to work, to grow us even through the injustice,
that maybe some of that means we should just sort of
put up with it until we get to heaven.
Just wait till we get to heaven for God
to sort everything out.
Well, we are children of our father who is in heaven,
and he fights against injustice all the way into eternity,
but even in this world.
He has chosen to use us as his followers
to fight against injustice as well.
And there are three truths in this passage
for those who battle against injustice.
This passage reminds us to rise up against the wicked.
In the beginning, we're praying for God to rise up,
but then look what happens in verse 16.
Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?
Unless the Lord had given me help,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.
Be careful when you ask God to rise up,
because pretty soon he's gonna be asking you to rise up.
Who will rise up for me?
God rises up against injustice through his people.
So who's gonna be the one who will answer the call,
who will rise up for me in this circumstance?
How does God want to use you in your prayers,
in your actions, in your words,
in your bringing light to the circumstance,
in your caring for those who are facing the circumstance,
the injustice?
How does God want to use you?
You may not be able to totally solve everything
about the problem,
but you can do something about the injustice today, today.
So you rise up against the injustice.
And secondly, he reminds us as we face injustice
to be supported by God's love.
In verse 18, when I said my foot is slipping,
your love, oh Lord, supported me.
Where are you gonna find strength for the battle?
You find it in God's love.
Many people have tried to face injustice
only to find themselves slipping into despair or into doubt.
How do you find the strength
to face the injustice in this world?
Anger is not enough to sustain you.
Sympathy is not enough to sustain you.
You'll find eventually that your foot is slipping.
God's love is the rock that you need to stand on.
But the Lord has become my fortress
and my God the rock in whom I take refuge,
he says in verse 22.
And then the third thing for those of us
who battle injustice is ask God
to give consolation to your soul.
In verse 19, when anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought joy to my soul.
Joy to your soul.
God needs us to battle joyfully.
How can you battle joyfully
in the face of horrible injustice?
Joy is not happiness.
God is always joyful, but God is not always happy.
Of course, God is never happy with the injustices
that we do against each other.
Joy is not happiness.
It is a settled security that God is in control,
that his judgment will prevail in the end,
and that he wants to make a difference through you
to overcome evil in this world with good.
So right now, let's talk to the God of the universe
about the injustices of this world.
Father, as these words of this Psalm remind us,
we ask you right now to shine forth, to rise up.
And we recognize that your word tells us
that you shine forth through us as a light.
You rise up through us as this Psalm has reminded us.
God, where can we battle injustice?
First in our own hearts,
and then in our own lives
by trusting you through the injustice.
But then throughout this world,
God, give us a heart for those who are hurting.
Give us a heart for the vulnerable,
for the poor, for the prisoner.
And God, show us how you want to use us today
to make a difference.
Plant the seed in my heart right now
for how you want me to battle
against the injustices of this world,
to be your child in this world of injustice.
I trust you, Father.
Thank you that you are trustworthy.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, join us tomorrow.
We're gonna look together at Psalm 95.
(upbeat music)