Ho! Wicked!

Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21

A pastor I worked with several years ago once asked me how I explain the judgment of God to teenagers. I honestly had no answer. It never occurred to me that God was judgmental. I actually still don't think God judges people, but, it's a theme found in the bible and as such it's a theme that needs to be dealt with at some point.

Many times we hear through the Psalms that God is great -  "merciful and compassionate,
very patient, and full of faithful love." We also hear how judgmental God can be, as in the 20th verse of today's Psalm where God destroys all wicked person.

Wicked. Such a vastly defined, and subjectively defined, word. What is wicked, what constitutes a wicked person?

The Hebrew word translated into wicked is rasha' which actually means someone who is guilty of a crime. And according to the laws of the Hebrew people, as well as all civilized nations of that time and this, people were not considered guilty without a fair process which included the ability to prove their innocence.

In other words, one is considered good until and unless they are proven beyond a doubt to be bad. Even then, one who is thought to be bad can always become good. That is how civilized peoples treat one another, and is how God will treat you.

God is not quick to convict. God gives us every chance to do what is right. If we continue to make the same mistakes over and over, however, bad things are going to happen, but, and I believe this deeply, it is not God who condemns. The "judgment" which happens to us is a result of our decisions and our actions. God does all God can to show us the right path, it's up to us to travel it.