I was reading Psalm 146 this morning and a verse jumped out at me--146:7 reads:
He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free,
I guess what grabbed hold of me is what it doesn't say. This is what many of us expect this verse to say:
He upholds the cause of those who are being oppressed for their righteousness
And gives food to those who can't work and purchase their own
The Lord sets free those who are unjustly held captive
Hmmm...this is my paraphrase
He upholds the cause of the oppressed whether I agree with why they are being oppressed or not!
And gives food to everyone who is hungry, whether or not I think they are just being lazy or irresponsible!
The Lord sets prisoners, even those being imprisoned for good reason, free!
This is some tough stuff to chew on. And I suppose some of my friends will point to verse 9 where it reads "he frustrates the wicked" as they thump their chest and gesture skyward. But it does say God will frustrate the wicked--not us. We have one job and that job is to love. To love the oppressed, to love the hungry, to love the prisoner, to love the childless, to love the widow, to love the alien (even if they are in this country illegally), and to love ___________ (fill in the blank with whoever you are finding difficult to love this morning).
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