… who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; - Psalm 15:4b

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 12, 2016): Psalm 15 & 16

During the Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan a number of promises were made. But one of the more important questions was on the issue of priorities. We all know that the politicians are for things like good education for our children and fixing the infrastructure so that clean water can be safely delivered to the citizens of the nation. But the question of what comes first is important. It is the “first hundred days” question. What are you willing to commit to doing in “the first hundred days?” And the cynical question is this – is the answer to that question dependent on who it is that might be asking it. Two poignant moments at the Flint Debate centered around the questions of the Flint water crisis and the state of Education in Michigan. But again, the question is not whether or not the issues are important, it is which are the most important. And if everything is important, then the reality really is that nothing is important. As we listen to politicians make promises, we need to listen beyond the specific promises to the number of promises that the candidate is making because the reality is that with a proliferation of promises, some have to fall by the side. It is the politician’s common mistake. The more promises that are made, the less likely it is that you will be able to be seen as a person of integrity.

David tries to define a righteous person. And one of the elements is that a righteous person is one who keeps his promises even when it hurts and does not change his mind. And the intent of the Davidic psalm is not that we are to be fixed on a certain course even when we find out that it is wrong. This is the flexibility issue that has arisen out of the current political debates. If something we think is right we later find out to be wrong, then changing our mind is fine. What is not fine is changing our mind just because keeping our promises is no longer expedient or important to us. Promising to fix the water in Flint and other places and then not doing it because the promise is no longer of benefit to us is simply wrong. And when we make a lot of promises, we often make some of those promises impossible to keep, but what is maybe worse, we often don’t care about those broken promises for no other reason than that the promises we made are no longer important to us. And if that is us, then we will never be righteous.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 24