Context No. 3155 of 4322 · Psalms

Psalms 94:1-16: in context

1LORD, you God to whom vengeance belongs, you God to whom vengeance belongs, shine out. 2Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve. 3LORD, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph? 4They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast. 5They break your people in pieces, LORD, and afflict your heritage. 6They kill the widow and the alien, and murder the fatherless. 7They say, “The LORD will not see, neither will Jacob’s God consider.” 8Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you be wise? 9He who implanted the ear, won’t he hear? He who formed the eye, won’t he see? 10He who disciplines the nations, won’t he punish? He who teaches man knows. 11The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile. 12Blessed is the man whom you discipline, LORD, and teach out of your law, 13that you may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked. 14For the LORD won’t reject his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. 15For judgment will return to righteousness. All the upright in heart shall follow it. 16Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?

This is a cry for justice. O LORD, God of vengeance, rise up; how long will the wicked exult? They crush your people, kill the widow and the foreigner, murder the fatherless, and say, the LORD does not see. And the psalm answers their lie with unanswerable logic: he who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?

The wicked in this psalm justify their cruelty with a simple lie: the LORD does not see. And the psalm demolishes it. The God who made the ear surely hears; the God who made the eye surely sees. The Maker of our senses is not blind or deaf to injustice, and the oppressor who imagines God does not notice is a fool. So the afflicted are told to wait: the LORD will not forsake his people, and judgment will return to the righteous. When it seems the wicked act with impunity, unseen, the psalm insists that the God who made sight and hearing sees and hears it all.

When injustice seems to go unnoticed, do I remember that the God who made the eye and the ear sees and hears everything, and will not abandon his people?

Sources

Psalm 94:9: "He who implanted the ear, won't he hear? He who formed the eye, won't he see?"
Psalm 94:14: "For the LORD won't reject his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance."
Romans 12:19: "Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord."