Psalms 72; Psalms 73; Romans 9:1-15

1 Give the gift of wise rule to the king, O God, the gift of just rule to the crown prince.

2 May he judge your people rightly, be honorable to your meek and lowly.

3 Let the mountains give exuberant witness; shape the hills with the contours of right living.

4 Please stand up for the poor, help the children of the needy, come down hard on the cruel tyrants.

5 Outlast the sun, outlive the moon - age after age after age.

6 Be rainfall on cut grass, earth-refreshing rain showers.

7 Let righteousness burst into blossom and peace abound until the moon fades to nothing.

8 Rule from sea to sea, from the River to the Rim.

9 Foes will fall on their knees before God, his enemies lick the dust.

10 Kings remote and legendary will pay homage, kings rich and resplendent will turn over their wealth.

11 All kings will fall down and worship, and godless nations sign up to serve him,

12 Because he rescues the poor at the first sign of need, the destitute who have run out of luck.

13 He opens a place in his heart for the down-and-out, he restores the wretched of the earth.

14 He frees them from tyranny and torture - when they bleed, he bleeds; when they die, he dies.

15 And live! Oh, let him live! Deck him out in Sheba gold. Offer prayers unceasing to him, bless him from morning to night.

16 Fields of golden grain in the land, cresting the mountains in wild exuberance, Cornucopias of praise, praises springing from the city like grass from the earth.

17 May he never be forgotten, his fame shine on like sunshine. May all godless people enter his circle of blessing and bless the One who blessed them.

18 Blessed God, Israel's God, the one and only wonder-working God!

19 Blessed always his blazing glory! All earth brims with his glory.

20 Yes and Yes and Yes.

1 No doubt about it! God is good - good to good people, good to the good-hearted.

2 But I nearly missed it, missed seeing his goodness.

3 I was looking the other way, looking up to the people

4 At the top, envying the wicked who have it made,

5 Who have nothing to worry about, not a care in the whole wide world.

6 Pretentious with arrogance, they wear the latest fashions in violence,

7 Pampered and overfed, decked out in silk bows of silliness.

8 They jeer, using words to kill; they bully their way with words.

9 They're full of hot air, loudmouths disturbing the peace.

10 People actually listen to them - can you believe it? Like thirsty puppies, they lap up their words.

11 What's going on here? Is God out to lunch? Nobody's tending the store.

12 The wicked get by with everything; they have it made, piling up riches

13 I've been stupid to play by the rules; what has it gotten me?

14 A long run of bad luck, that's what - a slap in the face every time I walk out the door.

15 If I'd have given in and talked like this, I would have betrayed your dear children.

16 Still, when I tried to figure it out, all I got was a splitting headache . . .

17 Until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I saw the whole picture:

18 The slippery road you've put them on, with a final crash in a ditch of delusions.

19 In the blink of an eye, disaster! A blind curve in the dark, and - nightmare!

20 We wake up and rub our eyes. . . . Nothing. There's nothing to them. And there never was.

21 When I was beleaguered and bitter, totally consumed by envy,

22 I was totally ignorant, a dumb ox in your very presence.

23 I'm still in your presence, but you've taken my hand.

24 You wisely and tenderly lead me, and then you bless me.

25 You're all I want in heaven! You're all I want on earth!

26 When my skin sags and my bones get brittle, God is rock-firm and faithful.

27 Look! Those who left you are falling apart! Deserters, they'll never be heard from again.

28 But I'm in the very presence of God - oh, how refreshing it is! I've made Lord God my home. God, I'm telling the world what you do!

1 At the same time, you need to know that I carry with me at all times a huge sorrow.

2 It's an enormous pain deep within me, and I'm never free of it. I'm not exaggerating - Christ and the Holy Spirit are my witnesses. It's the Israelites . . .

3 If there were any way I could be cursed by the Messiah so they could be blessed by him, I'd do it in a minute. They're my family.

4 I grew up with them. They had everything going for them - family, glory, covenants, revelation, worship, promises,

5 to say nothing of being the race that produced the Messiah, the Christ, who is God over everything, always. Oh, yes!

6 Don't suppose for a moment, though, that God's Word has malfunctioned in some way or other. The problem goes back a long way. From the outset, not all Israelites of the flesh were Israelites of the spirit.

7 It wasn't Abraham's sperm that gave identity here, but God's promise. Remember how it was put: "Your family will be defined by Isaac"?

8 That means that Israelite identity was never racially determined by sexual transmission, but it was God-determined by promise.

9 Remember that promise, "When I come back next year at this time, Sarah will have a son"?

10 And that's not the only time. To Rebecca, also, a promise was made that took priority over genetics. When she became pregnant by our one-of-a-kind ancestor, Isaac,

11 and her babies were still innocent in the womb - incapable of good or bad - she received a special assurance from God. What God did in this case made it perfectly plain that his purpose is not a hit-or-miss thing dependent on what we do or don't do, but a sure thing determined by his decision, flowing steadily from his initiative.

12 God told Rebecca, "The firstborn of your twins will take second place."

13 Later that was turned into a stark epigram: "I loved Jacob; I hated Esau."

14 Is that grounds for complaining that God is unfair? Not so fast, please.

15 God told Moses, "I'm in charge of mercy. I'm in charge of compassion."