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Day 9 - Monday, December 8, 2025
Give the King Your judgments, O God, And Your righteousness to the king’s son.
He will judge Your people with righteousness. And Your poor with justice.
The mountains will bring justice to the poor of the people;
He will save the children of the needy, And will break in pieces the oppressor. Psalm 72:1-4
King Solomon is said to have written the 72nd Psalm that calls for the King, guided by God, to protect the poor, the needy, and the marginalized. This reflects a biblical ideal where leadership is measured by its compassion for the vulnerable. As Christians we are called to lessen the plight of the vulnerable among us: the poor, the homeless, the undocumented, the sick, the hungry, the handicapped, the uninsured, the widow, the abused, the shunned and the despised. Today’s reality of “the vulnerable” is all too stark. Every day, we are made aware of the human suffering and injustice of our times, just as in Solomon’s day.
Masked Ice Agents roughly arrest the marginalized and haul them away without due process. Avelo Airlines carries the undocumented (and others) to detention in other states or other countries. Support for students with disabilities is greatly weakened by the closing of the US Department of Education. Veteran’s services are curtailed by layoffs of federal employees and budget cuts. Supplemental nutritional SNAP programs are eliminated, and millions go hungry; US AID programs are not funded and people die. College students of color and those from foreign countries are at risk of expulsion or of losing their protected Visa status. Federal Emergency Management Funds FEMA are cut and we are vulnerable to floods, hurricanes, fires, earthquakes and other natural disasters----while budget slashes to the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the National Weather service (NOAA) make us vulnerable to the next tornado or the next Covid.
Current times test the Christian soul and cause us to wonder if God via the King “will save the children of the needy.” Will “the mountains bring justice to the poor of the people?” It is my fervent prayer that justice will prevail, as the Bible records over time. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)
I very much don’t like the reality that suffering is a part of the human condition. For me and my house, I am praying and protesting. During the recent No Kings Rally I carried a sign citing Leviticus 19:33-34: Do not mistreat foreigners living in your country but treat them just as you treat your own citizens. Love foreigners as you love yourselves, because you were foreigners one time in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
Our condition is as old as Leviticus. Prayer and protest are helping me get through the night to see the joy of daybreak. Some nights are long and sleepless. But I am standing on the promises of God, and confident that joy will come in the morning. Justice will prevail and we “will break in pieces the oppressor”.
Prayer: Lord grant me faith like King Solomon’s and the courage of his father, King David, to strengthen my prayers and protests for justice to prevail across the earth. AMEN.
Submitted by Carol Psaros
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