Hobart Herd Devotional – Psalms 82
This passage starts out with an interesting play on words. In verses 1, we have a word picture of the Triune God(‘Elohiym) standing in judgment on the gods, rulers, leaders(‘alohiym). This is a strong reminder that God’s leaders will give and account and be judged by Him for the justice and righteousness that we use in our lives. In a day and age where it seems that justice and rightness in our love and care for each other is no where to be found; we can always look to our God to bring true justice and righteousness into the world. There can really be no justice or peace without God ruling and reigning over our lives, and we will only see this in our world as we turn to God’s truths, principles, and laws from His word for our guidance in living justly and rightly in our lives. We are warned about judging unjustly and showing partiality to the wicked, as God will not put up with that for long.(vs. 2)
The cry that God hears is found in Psalms 82:3-4, 3 Vindicate the weak and
fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and needy; deliver {them} out of the hand of the wicked.(NAS) He truly is our Rescue, a Father to the fatherless, and He cares for the weak, afflicted, and destitute. This is revealed clearly in the ministry of His Son, Jesus Christ on this earth. He continually ministered miraculously to those who were without hope, and forsaken by the people and leaders of His day. We should be humbled by the words of verses 6-7 as we are called to account as “gods”, and reminded that we will fill a six foot hole in the ground just like everyone else. We call out to God to arise and judge the earth knowing that He will bring the true justice and peace that we all long for.(vs. 8) Never doubt Who the real God of the earth is, and know that we will be called to give an account of the way we treat His people.
Father, forgive me for forgetting that only You are God, and I am called to lead according to Your standards. I recognize that I fail to love and care for those that You put in my life the way You want me to. Help me to depend on You to rule and reign in my life so that I can let Your love, justice and peace reach out to those around me. May I never forget that You are God alone! In Jesus Name, Amen! Pastor Rob