A Psalm of Fairness

I wanted to follow up Monday’s post about not leaning on your own understanding of fairness with one more word on the subject from Psalms. You know, Psalm 1 is a funny chapter. Look at the first verse of the first chapter of Psalms: “Blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.” Verse 3 says “whatever that person does prospers.” The rest of the chapter is about how the wicked won’t do well. Wait a minute! That’s not how life works. That would be great if the righteous always prospered and the wicked didn’t. But we all can name good people that never seem to get ahead. And just as easily, we can probably all name bad people that get all the breaks.

Now look at Psalm 150. The last several chapters begin with the instructions to “praise the Lord.” The book closes with “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord” (150:6).

That doesn’t seem right. Chapter 1 starts with a statement that never seems to work out from our perspective, that the people of God will prosper while the wicked suffer. It’s hard to see that. So how can I “praise the Lord” when life seems so unfair?

When I was in college, a professor pointed out the issue with the two ends of Psalms and said that the key to the dilemma of praising God when things don’t seem fair was in chapter 73. Look at verses 3-13: “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to humanity…this is what the wicked are like—always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure.”

Sound familiar? Have you ever had moments thinking those very same thoughts? Asaph gives the answer in verse 16: “When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me until I entered the sanctuary of God.” It just doesn’t make sense to us when we see things from a worldly perspective. It’s only when we understand our circumstances from God’s perspective that we can understand how “the one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked” can be blessed. And that understand is why we can “praise the Lord.”

Psalm 73 closes this way: “But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.”

It doesn’t matter what seems fair or unfair according to the standards of our world. What matters is that we stay near God, that we make Him our refuge, and that we tell of His deeds. Don’t think about excuses for unfairness or reasons why people do the things that they do. Instead, accept that God is the only thing that really matters. And because He is, give Him praise.