God has Appointed a Day for Justice

April 16, 2023 Download: Audio

Psalm 75

Some psalms are easy to gloss over, especially when they don’t seem to have been written to address a familiar context. Psalm 75 is one of those psalms. But when you find yourself staring in the face of similar cultural moment, they shout from the rooftops. I think this is one of those psalms. It is a hymn that celebrates and gives thanks for God in his role as judge.
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So, when do you give thanks for a judge? Most days you probably don’t. The only time you feel the need to give thanks for a judge is when you find yourself facing injustice. Thursday I felt that need when I got a call from Rhonda to find out she had been hit on Fry road by a driver who didn’t stop. She followed him to get his information, thinking that he perhaps didn’t realize it. But when she told him, he got angry, denied it, said it was her fault, and walked away without giving her any of his information. That’s enough to get you worked up and look for justice. More than that, however, we see injustices happening more and more in the world today. We saw it with Andrew Brunson, one of our EPC missionaries who was accused of being a terrorist, arrested and imprisoned for two years. We saw it throughout the pandemic in a variety of ways and we see this growing bias against our values and our faith throughout the Western world. It seems that we are headed toward more and more cases of injustice on a grand scale. It is certainly enough to get your attention. So our time in history has brought this psalm into greater view.
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How does it speak? The last verses capture its great significance:​

All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up. (Psalm 75:10)

In view of this, we can give thanks and sigh a great sigh of relief. That’s where the psalmist begins as he enters worship.

We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds. (Psalm 75:1)

He shows us that coming into the house of worship where “his name is near”, and recounting the wondrous deeds of the Lord, is to remember the evidence that reminds us that God’s justice is something we can rest soundly at night upon.