Joel M Bradshaw

“…16The LORD is king forever and ever…”–Psalm 10

The person who wrote this psalm really struggled with the world. He saw society as full of people who treated others badly. The poor were taken advantage of by the powerful. The wicked people afflict others with injustice and do so as a means of renouncing God.

And for the psalm writer, the struggle is where God was at with all this. Did God care? Was he too busy? Maybe asleep? Why were all those bad things happening and what was God going to do about it?

That is a moment that most people have with God. On one side, the person sees the injustices of this world and sees them as evidence that God either is unreal or that he doesn’t care (the uncaring being worse). Or on the other side, a person sees this world and uses it as an opportunity to call upon God to act, to deliver, to judge, and to provide. To rise up and deal with evil. To give hope for the hopeless and struggling.

On Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem like a king. By that Friday, he was betrayed, convicted in a sham trial, mercilessly punished to appease a mob, and dead while hanging on a cross. If Jesus’ story was like every other influential leader, it would have ended there. It was good while it lasted. Some helpful things were said and done, but everyone would just have to wait until the end of the story much later. Until then, the world would continue just as it had. Some people would succeed and others would not. Some people would hurt and oppress and others would feel hurt and oppressed. Nothing really would have changed.

But Jesus rose from the grave. He broke that category. What was normal was no longer normal. He was not only king, but a king who couldn’t be limited by death. The hope he proclaimed all of a sudden had teeth. Jesus not remaining dead proclaimed and still proclaims that he is God. He was and is eternal. He is not only King, but a forever King. All who trust in him can do so forever. When he spoke of eternal life, he meant it and could provide it.

So when we see the injustices of the world, we remember the Forever King who is alive and able to provide. He is on a forever throne and is forever reigning. He has a forever plan, and is forever God.

Easter Sunday provides that perspective. By the end of the psalm, he writer landed there. The Forever God and his forever kingdom. Do we trust God or do we not? Happy Easter, my friends.–JMB