This prayer is a blessing for the king and his successor. It is sometimes attributed to Solomon who had himself, asked God for the gift of wisdom. Now the psalm asks that the king be blessed with justice and righteousness.
As I read this psalm, I thought of our leaders, most of whom are not kings, but have the same responsibilities of ensuring justice for all the people, and helping to bring a sense of peace and security to them.
Of course, the one who will bring justice is the Messiah, Jesus. The responsibility for continuing to help bring about justice is also ours.
How many times do people worry about how helping others will cost them money!
I had a chance to visit a former slave plantation on vacation with my daughter. Our guide was wonderful and I learned quite a bit. He emphasized that the main cause of slavery was greed.
Both the owners of slaves and those who had sold their own people into slavery were motivated by greed. Sometimes, those who were sold were people from different tribes that had been captured, but others were from their own people who had the skills that the slave traders were willing to pay for. The owners could get years of work out of the slaves for much less money than if they had paid local workers.
But, there are forms of slavery that exist today under different names. There are those who will take girls or boys and get them addicted to drugs so that they can turn them into prostitutes. Still others would not think they were engaging in slavery.
These include those businesses who prey upon the poor by paying them "under the table." They receive no benefits and are trapped because they need the money.
Other seemingly upright companies will not give their employees enough hours to receive benefits.
People will complain about the government having to support the poor, but they will fight a move for businesses to pay a living wage.
Where do we stand?
