“O sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth . . .

Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the Lord, for the Lord  is coming,
 . . .  coming to judge the earth.
God  will judge the world with righteousness
and the peoples with God’s truth.” Psalm 96:1, 12b – 13

There are moments joy bursts out of us, when good news makes us want to shout to the world, to sing a new song, in celebration and gratitude for what God has done in our lives.

The psalmist has experienced the power of God’s presence, and sees in the created order the hand of God at work in our world . . . Envisioning a day when God will rule and govern the Earth with equity, fairness and justice. In that day, people will experience the righteousness and saving justice of God. Its measure of judgement will be God’s truth.

Dr. Henry Gustafson was one of my seminary professors. He talked about the “Saving Wrath” of God. God’s saving wrath was meant to turn our lives around, meant to draw us away from the dark corners we flee to, and the shadows we hide in. This is the wrath of a parent, who in discovering serious wrongdoing on the part of their child,  responds with wrathful anger. The parent doesn’t want to harm their child, but rather to protect their precious daughter or son from harsher consequences,  if they stay on their destructive path. The parent intends to save their child from future grief, heartache and pain.

The Jerusalem Bible uses the term, “Saving Justice,” in verse 13. In the same way God metes out saving justice, wanting what is best for each of us. God’s justice is saving because its intent is to turn a life around, a community around, or a nation around, whenever we are bent on self-destruction.

In God’s Saving Justice, wars end, all people have enough to sustain themselves in healthy ways. Nations of the world stop fighting each other and recognize the dangers of Climate Change, Rudderless AI, Drone Warfare and playing games with Nuclear threats, learning to combat them together. In God saving Justice, those with an abundance, are generous to those without. Greed and dishonesty, are replaced by integrity, goodness, and generosity. Strangers  are welcomed, the hungry  fed, and those who are homeless  find safe shelter . . . While God’s truth  loudly confronts purveyors of deceit, abuse and manipulation.

The psalmist yearns for the day when the world is ruled by the Just, Loving and Faithful Heart of God. Neither we nor the psalmist lives in that place of harmony. But we are called to press on, working for a just, world, led by people of integrity, compassion and the humility to know, they are not God.

The apostle Paul wrote to his dear friends these words of encouragement, “We are constantly praying for you, so God . . . will give you the power to accomplish every good intention and work of faith.” II Thessalonians 1:11