The Psalms and Morality

Recently on one of my trips to Africa I was talking to my roommate who was (and is) a terrific guy, but who does not confess to be a Christian. We were talking about morality, though I don’t think we ever used that term. Ever since Jerry Falwell launched the Moral Majority, non-Christians tend to get a little antsy about talking “morals” with Christians. None-the-less, we were talking about morals because we were talking about right and wrong. We were talking about how we as humans decide what it means to actually say something is right or wrong, and he offered his opinion that “wrong” actions can be defined as those that in some way harm another person.

I certainly did not disagree…I think that’s a pretty good benchmark for calling something bad… if it hurts another person. It is the social aspect to morality, and it helps us have good relationships with those around us. Indeed without it, there would be mayhem….which was my roommate’s explanation of why people do kind deeds and treat one another well. Yet, as CS Lewis reminds us in his writings, true morality does not allow us to stop there, at least not those of us who call ourselves Christians. As Christians there at least two more aspects or facets to our moral code we think are very important. In addition to “social” morality (how we treat others) there is an internal aspect to morality (how we deal with ourselves) as well as an eternal aspect (how we deal with God).

The Psalms are concerned with all three. The Psalms help us navigate the sea of life by offering wisdom, advice, encouragement and prayer for us to guide our ships. Some teach us how to keep our ships from ramming into others (social). Others tell us to tidy up inside our ships (internal) and others remind us that the life we live is not some random voyage in which we are carried by the wind…but that God built our ships, knows our course and cares where we end up (eternal).

It is interesting that most people in our culture are quite happy to leave the whole morality discussion at the social level. “As long as what I am doing does not hurt anyone, then it’s ok,” they say. Yet we believe that God is concerned about what goes on inside our ships, not because he is a busybody who likes to peek in our windows, but because he built the human machine, and he knows if we do whatever we want, our steering mechanisms will eventually get into such disrepair that we will hurt others and ourselves. He also longs for us to get on course and sail to the destination he desires. Today we look at how the Psalms can shape our morality.

Mark