Subscribe to Ailbe Newsletters
Sign up to receive our email newsletters and read columns about revival, renewal, and awakening built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification.
The Story:To have been made “upright” (Heb.: yashar) means to have been made precisely according to the divine plan. This is a very important idea in Old Testament theology, which Jesus dramatically capitalized on by healing the woman bent over for 18 years (Lk. 13.10-13). God made men to be one way, but, by our many schemes, men have turned away from God and away from the contentment and wellbeing hinted at in verse 14, the beginning of this section. Certainly Solomon saw the truth of this in his own life, and he tried to warn his son against making the same mistake. God has a “scheme” – a divine plan, or, economy – that He intends us to search out and know as fully as we may (v. 25). But when men prefer their own schemes and economies to the worldview God makes known in His Word, only misery and disappointment can result. Uprightness is forsaken, and a cruel and crippling stoop becomes the way of life “under the sun.”
The Structure:In Psalm 45.5, 6 the Lord Jesus is envisioned on His throne. He holds in His hand the “scepter of uprightness” (yashar) which symbolizes the purpose of His rule. Jesus has, by His work, Word, and Spirit, brought near the Kingdom of God to men. That Kingdom is progressing on earth as it is in heaven, bringing righteousness, peace, and joy to the world, and, thus, restoring a measure of the uprightness God intends. As sin has pervaded and corrupted every aspect of life in the world, so righteousness, through Jesus Christ, is making all things new. The Christian worldview – life “under the heavens” – is able to bring the Truth and power of God to bear on every aspect of life, so that in all things, even down to the most mundane daily realities, God is glorified (1 Cor. 10.31) and the world achieves a measure of being turned rightside-up (Acts 17.1-9).
In what ways have you experienced the power of the Gospel to make your life upright before the Lord?
Each week’s studies in our Scriptorium column are available in a free PDF form, suitable for personal or group use. For this week’s study, “Telling it Slant (2),” simply click here.
T. M. Moore
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.