Unfailing love and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed! Truth springs up from the earth, and righteousness smiles down from heaven.
Psalm 85:10-11
I often hear that the God of the Old Testament is all rules and judgement, wrath and vengeance. No doubt there is plenty of warfare and intrigue to be found in scripture but too often one stumbles across verses like these. What intimacy! What imagery! Not only do we see the product of a great poet, one of great passion, but we find ourselves enlightened by the portrait painted for us.
We see a union of truth and love. We find a marriage of righteousness and peace. In either case, we are to understand that one does not exist without the other. These come in pairs.
Truth springs up from the earth speaks to me of human inquiry, scientific pursuits and mathematical precision. Truth comes before love. Honest examination of the evidence in creation yields the convincing result that humankind is nestled in a niche within the vast universe that is crafted custom to our needs. We are loved and not with a fickle love but one that has endured. Humankind has exploited the earth, its creatures and his fellows. Subduing the earth was our command but we strive for total annihilation. it would seem. Nevertheless, the human race continues. We quote statistics about how very probable life must be in the universe but I wonder how very probable it is that life on our planet should have survived as long as it has.
Further we hear that righteousness smiles down from heaven. We the people have often stated our pursuit of peace or declared peace. You may hear that the path to peace is tolerance. However, intolerance cannot be tolerated. What sort of world is this where everyone can believe in anything at all and yet somehow the multitude of beliefs are consistent such that none conflicts with the other? No, this line of thinking very quickly breaks down and it is understood that there but be right behavior. RIght behavior must have a standard that defines right. This absolute truth is God given (and certainly it must be). From righteousness comes peace, each person conforming to the nature of the Maker of the universe and finding themselves in union with one another by working within the parameters of inerrant standards of behavior.
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