Psalm 17: don’t get hung up on riches
An innocent man asks for God’s help in this psalm. There are common elements with other psalms here, but what is uncommon is found in verses 13-15: “… Yahweh, from mortals, by your hand, from mortals whose part in life is in this world. You fill their bellies from your store, their children will have all they desire, and leave their surplus to their children. But I in my uprightness will see your face, and when I awake I shall be filled with the vision of you.” This is from the NJB. I should say that the KJV translation is very confusing in this psalm. I had a hard time understanding it, and only the NJB made any sense. I also wanted to mention that these same psalms I’ve been writing about in my blog are also to be found in the Dignoscentia Bible Podcast, so if you’d like, you can listen to the psalm being read, then read about it in the blog, or vice versa.
Did you catch the meaning of the verses? If you’ve ever wondered why other people, evil, lying ones - you name it, they probably do it - are doing better than you are, all while you try hard to be a good Christian and obey God, here you have the answer. I’m not saying Christians are meant to be paupers, but let’s face it, not very many of us are very rich. You see, to get rich, you will have to bend the rules at some point. You’re sorely tempted to step over some of your morals, and when you do, you cross the line and it becomes harder and harder to choose what’s right over your riches. So, the people who seem to have it all in this world are probably lost, and that’s especially true if you know they’ve committed evil things. The point is to know it and move on, not get hung up on it. Just know they and their riches are transitory, while those of us who choose to follow God and always do the right thing may not be rich here on earth, but we’ll get to go to heaven. Which one would you rather have?
