March 23, 2017: Day 82 – Psalm 82

It is always a bit disconcerting when you read about God taking his place among the other gods.  It almost sounds like it gives credence to the fact that there are other gods.  Remember where Israel found itself as a people and as a nation.  We do not live in a culture where on every street corner there is a figurine or a statue that is thought to have power because it is somehow a god who oversees and protects.  That was the reality of the psalmist, he lived in the midst of people who had their own family gods.  Remember Laban who pursued Jacob because Rachel had stolen the household gods? 

We also see earlier on in Genesis 6:2 a verse that I have never understood.  Is a pastor supposed to point out verses they don’t understand?  Anyway, this whole reference to me serves as reminder that there are people out there who believe so radically different than we do.  The terminology that we use: salvation, grace, redemption, sacrifice, etc. is so comfortable and familiar to us that we often forget that when people step into the church it almost sounds like a different language to them with its own vocabulary.  

But what people will recognize and appreciate is the fact that the God that we serve, and I will maintain that He is the one and only true God, is concerned and cares about the weak, and the orphan, the lowly, and the destitute.  As long as we share the same concern as our God, then people should be able to see the light of Christ in us.