Issue 170
How often do you shake your head in disbelief as you read about the latest corporate scandal? How on earth does someone hide 30 million of any currency? Devious ingenuity seems to know no boundaries and there seems to be no end to our ability to create schemes of fraud. Business pages are as full of corruption stories as they are of yearly results and the disease seems to spread throughout all sectors. Investigations into misuse of funds come to light from hospitals, schools, local authorities and public bodies as well as high street names. Exorbitant interest rates, inappropriate profits, directors over-paying themselves and nepotistic appointments, litter the headlines.
Such corruption spreads up and down the working ladder. Cowboy tradesmen rip off elderly house owners by charging ridiculous amounts to repair a chimney and cowboy politicians cream off food aid to line their pockets while their people starve.
When David wrote his psalms he had an increasing wealth of life experience, including the relatively junior job of shepherd through to soldier, commander, politician and king. He was a man who had been forced to achieve through conflict and he had enormous first hand experience of wicked behaviour. We would do well to remember that he was no theorist publishing research papers on the philosophy of ‘just wars’ or human evil. He had mud, blood and sweat on his hands as well as responsibilities on his shoulders.
So it is out of his breadth of experiences that he advises us to watch the fate of the corrupt. Appearing to go on as they are endlessly, they are definitely not infinite.”A little while” he says and “they will be no more”. He is advocating that we remember that corruption destroys the perpetrators and rather than look at them with envy, disdain or fury, we should be aware that they will disappear. “Though you look for them, they will not be found”. Sometimes when evil regimes or unfair managers hang around for what we consider a long time, it is well worth looking at the history of the corrupt. They feed on self-centredness, but in fact are eaten by their own evil.
In this whirlwind of behaviours you, as a person of God, are called to find the path between passivity and aggression which, according to David’s A-Z, will lead you to inherit the land and enjoy great peace. Somewhere between rage and silence lies meekness which is the hardest path of all. Today you would call it assertive, real and honourable behaviour. It is a path of challenge, but it results in peace. As far as David is concerned, it is also a way of seeing things – and this from a man who had seen it all.
Psalm 37
1 Do not fret because of those who are evil
or be envious of those who do wrong;
2 for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.
3 Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Take delight in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.
7 Be still before the LORD
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
9 For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
10 A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.
11 But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy peace and prosperity.
12 The wicked plot against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them;
13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he knows their day is coming.
14 The wicked draw the sword
and bend the bow
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose ways are upright.
15 But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.
16 Better the little that the righteous have
than the wealth of many wicked;
17 for the power of the wicked will be broken,
but the LORD upholds the righteous.
18 The blameless spend their days under the LORD’s care,
and their inheritance will endure forever.
19 In times of disaster they will not wither;
in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.
20 But the wicked will perish:
Though the LORD’s enemies are like the flowers of the field,
they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke.
21 The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously;
22 those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be destroyed.
23 The LORD makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him;
24 though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand.
25 I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
26 They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be a blessing.
27 Turn from evil and do good;
then you will dwell in the land forever.
28 For the LORD loves the just
and will not forsake his faithful ones.
Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed;
the offspring of the wicked will perish.
29 The righteous will inherit the land
and dwell in it forever.
30 The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,
and their tongues speak what is just.
31 The law of their God is in their hearts;
their feet do not slip.
32 The wicked lie in wait for the righteous,
intent on putting them to death;
33 but the LORD will not leave them in the power of the wicked
or let them be condemned when brought to trial.
34 Hope in the LORD
and keep his way.
He will exalt you to inherit the land;
when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it.
35 I have seen a wicked and ruthless man
flourishing like a luxuriant native tree,
36 but he soon passed away and was no more;
though I looked for him, he could not be found.
37 Consider the blameless, observe the upright;
a future awaits those who seek peace.
38 But all sinners will be destroyed;
there will be no future for the wicked.
39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
40 The LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
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Geoff Shattock
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