Addressing the Almighty in prayer, David confesses God's righteousness. In David's time, as probably in...
Addressing the Almighty in prayer, David confesses God's righteousness. In David's time, as probably in every age, people justified their unbelief by claiming that God is indifferent to human affairs. Supposedly, He does not care what we do, and so it is better to be a scoundrel, since that is at least profitable. Addressing God as his King, David glorifies the fact that God is not indifferent to what happens in the world. As in other psalms, David both states his experience and asks for it. He says that righteousness finds blessing in God's sight and that wickedness awaits destruction, while at the same time asking that this truly be so in real life. This distinction between good and evil matters because it leads a person into the House of God, into His mysterious presence, where alone life is possible.
Let us note the logic underlying David's prayer. Instead of doubtfully assuming the worst about God, he chooses the path of trust, on which the experience of each step becomes support for the next. Such faith is not afraid of doubt, because it rests on the real experience of communion with God. Nor does it wait for signs, because it is founded on a person's good will.
