Psalm 82.

God addresses the ruling council:

"'How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?

"'Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.'

The wicked rule the earth:
"They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk around in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken."  Psalm 82:2-5 (NRSV)

This recalls the prophets.

The world-view in which the innocent masses are dominated by the wicked seems still to be true today!

Powerful men and women are no longer permitted to enslave and kill others by law. That is the only difference.

But:

"'You are gods,
children of the Most High, all of you.'"  Psalm 82:6 (NRSV)

Even the wicked are children of God.

These powerful men and women are fearful.
The conventions of society are institutionalized fears.

Perhaps rather than seeing them as the enemy we could almost feel sorry for them.  So racked are they by fear: fear of poverty, fear of failure....

Financial conventions are petrified fears made law.

Pray for captains of industry.
Challenge the conventions.


(Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.)

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