Psalm 119:91 – Servants
By your ruling they stand firm today,
For all things are your servants.
I’m using “ruling” for the Hebrew word mishpat which I usually render “judgment” because I believe what is in view here is the determination, the result of the judgment, not the process of judgment. God faithfulness/truth and God’s word stand firm because that is God’s will.
Law here is a reflection of God’s character, who God is. Psalm 119 is not just a long ode to law and order, as it is sometimes seen, but rather it is a song of praise to God’s self-revelation in law, in creation, and in care for God’s people.
Often we try to absolve God of the problems that we observe in the universe. One of our key methods for doing this is free will. “God wouldn’t have wanted that, but what can God do? Free will!” I’m a believer in free will. But to whatever extent we do have free will, that freedom is also a gift, a ruling if you will, of God. If you make a decision, God sovereignly decided to let you do it.
I form light and create darkness.
Isaiah 45:7 (my translation)
I make wholeness (shalom) and create evil.
I, YHWH do all these things.
Now there are a variety of translations, particularly of the second line. Shalom can rightfully be translated in a number of ways, but in general we should see it as reflecting God’s ideal, and that which is not. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls reads tov here, generally translated “good.” That would match the tree from which Adam and Eve are not to eat, the tree of the knowledge of good (tov) and evil (ra).
It seems clear to me that God is taking responsibility for everything in the created universe, as the one who created it. Everything is God’s servant, whether it wants to be or not.
Within all that, we are still called to choose. Knowing that God is sovereign does not excuse us from action. We are to do good and resist evil.
In what way are you God’s servant?
(Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)
