Shalom!

Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son! May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice! Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness! May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor! May they fear you while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations! May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth! In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more! (Psalm 72:1-7 ESV).

 

Our reading today (Psalm 72) is a hopeful prayer for the king who rules over God’s people. Shalom is a key word in the original text, often translated as “prosperity” and “peace” (vv. 3 and 7). Shalom carries the idea that something broken has been made whole. When you are restored to health and wholeness after battling an illness that has badly weakened you to the point of death, this is the word that would be used. Shalom could include being restored to a meal around a table with loved ones after being cut off from family and friends for a long time, or after enduring a period of great loneliness.

 

This psalm dares to hope and pray for shalom to be restored throughout the earth. This happens in the context of righteousness (or, being right with God) and justice (living in right relationships with people). Righteousness and justice go together like the two sides of a coin. The great hope and prayer is that God’s shalom comes on the earth through the right king.

 

We now have that King. Trusting in Christ as King, we can live with a heart of wisdom, identifying places and situations where things are broken, and seeking to make them right. This is a part of the “finishing” that God is working in our lives. This wholeness shows itself in the way we practice our daily lives.

 

I have often wondered why we seem to be so focused on our immediate circumstances. Regardless of how devastating or final they may appear, they are mere blink of the eye compared to the eternity God is preparing for each of His children. The effect of this misplaced focus is an overwhelming sense of loss and grief. We cannot experience wholeness (shalom) and restoration without believing in and trusting Christ as our King. Tomorrow we will look at how Jesus accomplishes this by being a fellow yoke-bearer. Today, trust Him and always doubt your doubts!