Week 9 Psalm 51
David says something pretty definitive about the Lord: …you are justified when you judge.
I think that’s a good bible reader’s reminder. It’s (especially) handy when I’m reading some of the judgment-heavy stories of the OT. For instance I just read the story of Korah and Dathan & Abiram. It’s hard to read a terrible & frightening story like that without feeling bad for those guys.
On the other hand if I have it in mind that the Lord is ‘justified when he judges’ then I’m working with the idea that the consequences – bad as they were for KD&A – were legitimate. The outcome is pretty grim. But if I know in advance that the judgment is justified then I’ve got an important key to the story.
Two readers read a bible story.
Reader #1 reads the story > he responds / reacts to the story > then he makes his own personal judgment call about it.
Reader #2 reads the bible story > he responds & reacts to the story > then he mentally doubles-back to re-evaluate his reaction > then he checks what the bible says about its own story > then he makes his decision about the story.
Reader #1 really just has the one option. What he thinks.
Reader #2 has a choice of two. What he thinks or what he thinks + any related inputs.
Question is: a) do I just live with my own response? Or b) do I look for bible clues to tune-up my own thinking?
Note: quote from Psalm 51:4b (NIV)