Rebecca Inglis - November 3, 2019
Psalm 130
“It’s. Not. Fair!” I think I’ve heard those 3 words at least a million times in my parenting career. A child’s list of things that are ‘not fair’ is seemingly endless. Whether it’s who gets to press the buttons in a lift, who has the largest scoop of ice cream, who gets the first bedtime kiss, or who gets to use the precious purple cup, children demand precise equality that seems impossible to achieve most of the time. The desire to be treated fairly starts early in life. Researchers have found that children as young as 19 months seem to understand the concept of fairness, and appear surprised by scenes of blatant favouritism – such as when one toddler is given toys and another toddler goes without. Yes, we grow up, but we never really lose this standard that we have of fairness that we require of the universe. Imagine you’re about to park your car and someone comes in and steals the spot. “It’s not fair, I was here first!” More seriously, there are too many examples of ‘it’s not fair’ situations. The family who loses everything in a fire, the person who is promoted even though he is the work place bully, the child suffering with leukaemia, the people seeking asylum who deserve to be embraced but instead end up in horrific conditions in an off-shore processing facility. So often, life is just not fair. Most of the time, we desire fairness. But in Psalm 130, the Psalmist expresses his gratefulness that God is not fair. Out of the depths, he calls out to God, knowing that though we don’t always listen to God, that doesn’t mean God won’t listen to us. God doesn’t give the Psalmist, or us, what we ‘deserve’, but he treats us with mercy and unfailing love instead. We can praise God because God is unfair.
Scripture References: Psalms 130:1-8
From Series: "Happy Trails"
A four part series on the psalms of ascent, sometimes known as the pilgrim psalms. These were psalms sung by people on their way to the temple in Jerusalem for special feast days.
