"In a World of Violence and Cruelty" [Psalm 54]
“In a world of violence and cruelty, it is hard to be confident that God will make it right. This psalm invites each reader to affirm its words and to share in the confidence of the one praying. The psalm opens with cries lifted to God’s character—the power of God’s name and the belief that God will judge the world and make it right. The psalm ends with more confidence that God will do exactly as God has done in the past. The last line, which may be unsettling, reminds us of God’s care of the least of the world and how Jesus promises to lift the lowly and humble the haughty. There are many powers in this world that try to thwart the purposes of God’s kingdom of justice, and those same powers have taught Christians to be docile and polite because Jesus loved his enemies. Yet Christians throughout the centuries have risen up against those powers for the very sake of God’s kingdom. Justice may be delayed, but justice is the end result. Those who live to harm others will eventually have to face up to how they have chosen to live their lives.”