“The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.” Psalm 146:9
I just love our Father’s heart! He cares so much for the ones who are most vulnerable. The ones who can easily slip through the cracks of society, the ones who go through life not being seen by others. Those are the very ones surrounded by His love and care. There are three groups of people mentioned in this verse: the alien, the fatherless, and the widow. Why do you suppose those three were chose? In that time, the alien could never be a full and complete member of society. Their society revolved around their religion. There was no such thing as separation of church and state. They were a nation specifically because of their religion. To be a full and functioning part of society included being a part of the corporate worship of God. So an alien would have not been just another nationality, but another religion. Therefore, they would never have been able to fully enter into the most important parts of society, those practices that bound the people together. In that patriarchal society, the fatherless and the widow would have been extremely vulnerable. Even today, single mothers tend to live at a lower socio-economic level than families with two parents. Back then, women couldn’t work at all, leaving them and their children poor and defenseless. Those are the ones God watches over.
The psalmist goes on to say that the Lord is opposed to the ways of the wicked. I’ve always assumed this meant that He will stop the wicked from doing their wicked deeds. This obviously doesn’t happen, though. Wickedness and evil continue to be prevalent in our society. In fact, at times it seems to be getting worse, not better. So what does this mean? The word translated “frustrates” means to make crooked or to twist. If the Psalmist had meant to say that the Lord would stop or overthrow the wicked, a different word would have been used. But there are two things that became clear to me. First, He doesn’t stop them. And second, He frustrates the ways of the wicked, not the wicked themselves. Let me explain. I’ve said that God defends the defenseless. That doesn’t mean He doesn’t also love the wicked. He does. He loves everyone and doesn’t want anyone to perish. But while He doesn’t destroy the person, He does go to work on their wicked ways. Another way to word it would be to say that He makes their path, or their journey, crooked or twisted. They may think they’re the ones in control of their destiny, that when they take advantage of the defenseless, they’re helping themselves. But God will make sure that their life’s journey will take twists and turns they never expected, all to bring them to Him.
There are three broad categories of people: the defenseless, the wicked, and those who are neither. I would suspect that most of us fall into that last category most of the time. Let me speak first to the defenseless. There is hope. God is for you. I know it can seem like you’re constantly beaten down but take heart! God sees and He hears. And He’s acting on your behalf. If you find yourself in the category of the wicked, praise God that you see that! Go to God, repent and ask His help to change your ways. He’s ready and waiting to receive you into His loving arms. What about those of us who are usually in the middle-of-the-road category? Let’s ask ourselves if we have a heart like God’s. Do we see the broken, the down-trodden, the hurting, the weak? When we do see them, what do we do to help them? Are we joining God in His work of sustaining them? Or are we looking the other way, hoping the “problem” will somehow go away on its own? I’m asking God to open my eyes to the hurt and pain in the world around me and praying He’ll give me His heart for others.