Key Thought: The ideas in Psalms and Proverbs are that God does notice and intervene to protect those often ignored or exploited. We need to show mercy and justice as well.

July 27, 2019

1. Have a volunteer read Psalm 82.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. How does God defend the poor and fatherless and do justice to the needy and afflicted? What is significant about the fact Elijah was sent to only one widow lady to help her when there were many widows in the time of famine?
3. Personal Application: How do we balance mercy and justice in our interactions with others? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states: “How do you deal with people who are evil in heart and mind, preying on their neighbors and society with theft, crime, and drugs and yet claim that they are the poor and oppressed?” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Psalm 101.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What does it mean not to set any wicked thing before your eyes?
3. Personal Application: In what ways would you consider yourself a leader or in a position of influence? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “How can we be agents of justice in the world of sin and evil? Is it in political activism? Is it in community involvement and advocacy? Or is it in how we live our lives at home and in the community?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Psalm 146:5-9.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. Why are the principles of justice and fairness so important in building a strong society?
3. Personal Application: Have you had an experience where you felt closer to God in helping someone else? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states, “How can we help those in need in the culture and social structure we have in our situation? Are there some measures we can take?” How would you reply to your neighbor?

4. Have a volunteer read Proverbs 10:4-6.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. Why do innocent people suffer at the hands of evil people? When will the oppression and violence ever end? What answers does God give us for these questions?
3. Personal Application: How does God see and deal with the lazy, indolent, and violent people? Do we see the results now, or are they in the future? How had the government endorsed or rejected God’s counsel? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

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Read Ps. 82:1-8. What is the message here to us?

Despite the ordering and rules of society that God gave to them, at various times in their history the Israelite nation failed to live up to this plan. They too easily became like the nations around them, living by a pattern of injustice and oppression.

Help!

Leaders and judges looked after only themselves, and their favor could be purchased with bribes. Without courts to protect them, ordinary people, and the poor especially, were subject to exploitation.

Psalm 82 is a response to such a situation. It describes God’s role as Supreme Judge, and it depicts a scene in which He judges the leaders and even the judges of the people. This psalm emphasizes that those who fill such roles in society “are appointed to act as judges under Him”. – Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 198. They hold their position and conduct their work as representatives and subordinates of God. In the psalmist’s view, the justice of God is a model for how earthly justice should function, and it also provides the measure against which such justice or injustice—and those who dispense it—will be judged.

The psalm concludes with a specific call for God to act (Ps. 82:8), to intervene and to stop the injustice that is so prevalent in the nation. Like many of the psalms, this one gives a voice to the voiceless and to the oppressed, those whose voices have been silenced by the unjust systems in which they live and work.

Psalm 82 makes an appeal to God in His position of Supreme Judge and Sovereign Ruler of the universe and of all the nations. There is no higher court or authority to which such an appeal could be made. The assurance comes that when earthly courts do not hear or uphold the cries of the poor and oppressed, which is so often the case here, there is still an undeniable opportunity to call for help.

At different times in our lives we might find ourselves as victims of injustice, but at other times we might be the one committing or profiting from injustice. In passages such as Psalm 82, we can find insight and wisdom, whether we are the oppressed or the oppressor. God is concerned for the unjust judges, too, describing them as His children and wanting them to choose to live better (see Ps. 82:6). Thus, there’s hope even for those on the wrong side of oppression, if they will allow themselves to be changed.

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As we have already noted, God sees and hears people who are in distress and trouble. Most often in the Psalms we hear those cries from people who have trusted in God but are not seeing justice done. The affirmations of the goodness, justice, and power of God can seem overwhelmed by the injustice and oppression that the voices in these songs experience or observe.

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Yet, these are the songs of those who are still singing. Neither their life nor their faith has been quenched. There is still hope; and the urgency is for God to act before it is too late, before evil triumphs, before the oppressed are destroyed by the weight of the evil brought against them. In this way, the writers of the Psalms try to bridge the gap between the affirmations of their faith and the trials and tragedies of life.

Read Psalm 9:7-9, Ps. 9:13-20. Can you imagine the circumstances David—the writer of the Psalm—was in? Can you feel the tension between his faith in God’s goodness and his present experience? How have you dealt with the struggle of faith in God amid times of severe trial?

Throughout the Psalms, the repeated answer to this tension is the hope and promise of God’s good and just judgment. Evil and injustice may seem triumphant for now, but God will judge the evildoers and the unjust. They will be punished while those they have hurt and oppressed will be restored and renewed.

In Reflections on the Psalms, C. S. Lewis describes his initial surprise at the excitement and longing for God’s judgment as expressed repeatedly in the Psalms. Observing that many Bible readers today consider judgment something to be feared, he considers the original Jewish perspective and writes, “thousands of people who have been stripped of all they possess and who have the right entirely on their side will at last be heard. Of course they are not afraid of judgment. They know their case is unanswerable—if only it could be heard. When God comes to judge, at last it will”. – C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1958), p. 11.

In the Psalms, we see hope for the oppressed, even now, even amid their present sufferings and disappointments.

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Read for This Week’s Study: Ps. 9:7-9, Ps. 9:13-20; Ps. 82:1-8; Ps. 101:1-8; Ps. 146:1-10; Prov. 10:4; Prov. 13:23, Prov. 13:25; Prov. 30:7-9.

Memory Text: “Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:3-4, NKJV).

Psalms and Proverbs depict the experience of living with God in the common things of life, not just in times of worship or in other religious activities. While the book of Proverbs offers a range of practical wisdom—from relationships and families to business and government—the Psalms are a collection of songs that cover a variety of emotions and spiritual experiences from laments to exultant praise and to everything in between. It is easy to see that our faith should make a difference in every aspect and experience of our lives, because God cares about every aspect of our lives.

Meanwhile, any reflection on life in this fallen world could hardly ignore the injustice that so permeates the human condition. In fact, injustice is repeatedly described as something that our Lord cares about and seeks to relieve. It is He who is the hope of the hopeless.

Though we can only touch on what these books say about this topic, perhaps this lesson might inspire you to be more proactive in ministering to the needs of the poor, the oppressed, and the forgotten who exist all around us and whom we are obligated to help.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 27.

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By Wilson Measapogu

Sundar Rao, a 27-year-old farm worker, was intrigued when a white man showed up at his Indian village and read about a Creator God from a black book on Saturdays.

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Sundar was attracted to U.S. missionary Theodore R. Flaiz’s Bible stories and decided to follow his God.

Sundar’s employer was furious when he didn’t go to the field the first Sabbath. His anger grew as Sundar kept missing Saturday work.

At home, Sundar angered his relatives by no longer participating in family religious festivals, including the worship of Naga, a snake god.

After some time, Sundar sought peace by building a house just beyond the brook that marked the village’s border. Soon he got married and had a daughter.

One day when Sundar was 29, the employer asked him to work on a Saturday. “After your worship ends on Saturday, come and help count bales of hay”, he demanded.

Sundar reluctantly obeyed. He arrived at the field after sunset but before darkness had set in. With help from others, he counted the bales. Noticing a small bale off to one side, he kicked it toward a larger bale. In a split second, a young cobra sprang from the bale, struck him on the leg, and fled.

No medical help was available, and Sundar knew he would die soon.

The villagers had no doubt that Naga was punishing him.

“Naga is very angry at you”, one said.

“It’s because you disobeyed all the village gods”, said another.

Sundar started to sweat. Formerly estranged family members gathered around him and wept. The village waited for him to close his eyes and die.

But nothing happened. An hour passed. Two hours. A snakebite specialist was summoned to check his leg. The specialist was astounded with what he found. He declared that the cobra had struck Sundar with the top of his mouth, not with the poisonous fangs, and had fled in fright without bothering to bite a second time.

The next day, the villagers were amazed to see that Sundar was healthy and happy.

“The protection of the white man’s God has saved him from the cobra bite”, they said.

From that moment, in 1957, many villagers joined Sundar in keeping the Sabbath.

Five years after the snakebite, I was born to Sundar.

Today, Gudem Madhavaram is an Adventist village. It has produced 40 pastors and Bible workers, and many educators and health professionals. On Saturdays, the whole village stops to worship the Creator God. This is the power of the God who turned a snakebite into a blessing.

Wilson Measapogu is executive secretary of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Southern Asia Division, whose territory includes India. His father died in August 2017 at the age of 77.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

All Rights Reserved. No part of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide may be edited, altered, modified, adapted, translated, reproduced, or published by any person or entity without prior written authorization from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

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