Psalm Devotional
Any Hope for a Misgoverned World?
It was Lord Acton who, in 1887, famously wrote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” Injustice tends to start at the top.
This is the focus of Psalm 82. It applies to both church and state. To the former, Jesus says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites” (Matt. 23:14ff), and to the latter, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way” (Ps. 2:12). These warnings are universal, for if, as Peter says, judgment “begins with us [the church] first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17).
Psalm 82 envisages a court scene, in which human judges are arraigned before the bar of heaven and held accountable for their actions (vv. 1-7). This is followed by a prayer that God will establish His rule on the earth (v. 8).
