Injustice (3 of 10)
Series: Anatomy of the Soul
Dave Gustavsen
Psalm 37:1-9
We are taking this summer to walk through the book of Psalms, which is the longest book of the Bible, the book most quoted by Jesus, and it’s the book that served as the original song book of Israel. So just like any good music lyrics, the Psalms talk about human emotions. They help us to put words to what we’re feeling. But they don’t stop there. They teach us how our emotions can actually be the gateway to deeper spiritual maturity. So when you read the Psalms, if you’re paying attention, and if you open yourself up to the Holy Spirit, you’ll find yourself a little wiser, and a little more amazed with God than when you started.
So today, we come to Psalm 37, and the emotion it addresses is injustice.
In C.S. Lewis’ famous book Mere Christianity, he says if you listen to people arguing, you can learn something important. Because they say things like, ‘‘How would you like it if anyone did the same thing to you?’’ or ‘‘That’s my seat-I was there first,’’ or ‘‘Give me a piece of your orange-I gave you a piece of mine.’’ People say things like that all the time, right? And the person who says that isn’t just saying he doesn’t happen to like what the other person is doing. He’s actually appealing to some kind of standard of behavior that he expects the other person to know about. And the other person rarely says, ‘‘That’s a ridiculous standard.’’ Instead, he explains why the thing he did doesn’t really go against the standard. But everyone agrees there is a standard. And starting from there, Lewis makes a case that there is a universal law that we all know we should follow, even though we don’t consistently follow it. It’s a brilliant chapter in a brilliant book-you should read it if you haven’t.
But the point is, there’s a standard. Different cultures might quibble about some of the finer points of ethics, but in general, there’s a standard of fairness. You shouldn’t cut in ...
Series: Anatomy of the Soul
Dave Gustavsen
Psalm 37:1-9
We are taking this summer to walk through the book of Psalms, which is the longest book of the Bible, the book most quoted by Jesus, and it’s the book that served as the original song book of Israel. So just like any good music lyrics, the Psalms talk about human emotions. They help us to put words to what we’re feeling. But they don’t stop there. They teach us how our emotions can actually be the gateway to deeper spiritual maturity. So when you read the Psalms, if you’re paying attention, and if you open yourself up to the Holy Spirit, you’ll find yourself a little wiser, and a little more amazed with God than when you started.
So today, we come to Psalm 37, and the emotion it addresses is injustice.
In C.S. Lewis’ famous book Mere Christianity, he says if you listen to people arguing, you can learn something important. Because they say things like, ‘‘How would you like it if anyone did the same thing to you?’’ or ‘‘That’s my seat-I was there first,’’ or ‘‘Give me a piece of your orange-I gave you a piece of mine.’’ People say things like that all the time, right? And the person who says that isn’t just saying he doesn’t happen to like what the other person is doing. He’s actually appealing to some kind of standard of behavior that he expects the other person to know about. And the other person rarely says, ‘‘That’s a ridiculous standard.’’ Instead, he explains why the thing he did doesn’t really go against the standard. But everyone agrees there is a standard. And starting from there, Lewis makes a case that there is a universal law that we all know we should follow, even though we don’t consistently follow it. It’s a brilliant chapter in a brilliant book-you should read it if you haven’t.
But the point is, there’s a standard. Different cultures might quibble about some of the finer points of ethics, but in general, there’s a standard of fairness. You shouldn’t cut in ...
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