God’s Equity
As I was reading Psalms 67 today, I came across verse four. Because I was reading the English Standard Version of the Bible, it uses equity where I was expecting righteously. That got me thinking. Here’s the verse:
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
Psalms 67:4
If we look at the King James translation, we find:
O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.
Psalms 67:4
I peeked at Young’s Literal Translation, and it uses the word uprightly.
The Meaning of God’s Equity
So, I’ve got equity, righteously and uprightly. This led me to Strong’s Concordance. Strong’s Concordance translates the Hebrew word mî·šō·wr as level place, uprightness.
This Hebrew word is used in Psalms 27:11 as “lead me in a plain path” or “lead me in a level path.” Likewise, Psalms 143:10 uses this Hebrew word as “Spirit lead me on level ground” or “lead me into the land of uprightness.”
I know that’s a lot to take in, but we need to understand what we read in the Bible. As we’ve seen, all of the various uses of the Hebrew word mî·šō·wr share something in common. Level, plain (like Kansas being a plain), righteous, uprightness all communicate equity in God. All speak of an equal outcome or equal requirement instead of an equal opportunity.
God’s standard is holiness. God expects us to meet an equal outcome, and that is His righteous standard. He doesn’t say to one person, “It’s okay that you don’t love your neighbor,” or to another, “I don’t expect you to give to those that ask.” This is not our God; His standard is absolute and unchanging.
Good News
God’s expectation for each of His children is the same; He doesn’t grade on the curve. God’s equity is real and applied to every believer in Jesus. And this is Good News!
How horrible it would be if we never knew what God expected from us, if we went through life, never knowing how He would judge us, not knowing what was expected when we stand before Jesus and give an account for what we did in our life.
We should find great joy in knowing God’s expectation is not arbitrary. Instead, He is the unchanging God. None of us can indeed live a sinless life, but we have the Spirit of God in us urges us toward righteousness and good works.
Image by Paweł Englender from Pixabay
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