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Hear me, Lord, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer\u2014it does not rise from deceitful lips. Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right.

As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. (Psalm 17:1-2,15)

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These are the first and last verses of the Psalm.\xa0 They recognize that though we might seek to live the best life we can in this world there are some things that are simply out of our control.\xa0 The psalmist still had enemies.\xa0 Even though the writer remained honest, it didn\u2019t mean that others did.

There is evil, hurt, and hardship in this world that we cannot protect ourselves from, nor escape.\xa0 The rash of shootings in the States remind us of this all over again.\xa0 The cry for justice and vindication for the innocent against evil enemies is a real thread that runs through our world and our prayers.

But it also hits home sometimes.\xa0 Our trust can be so betrayed by someone we love or trusted that this prayer for vindication finds its way to our lips.\xa0 Even doing everything right\u2014still we find ourselves blindsided by some evil that wreaks of injustice, lovelessness, or betrayal.\xa0

Or, perhaps it happens to someone we know.\xa0 A friend\u2019s marriage is blown apart by addiction, or an affair perhaps.\xa0 Whatever the case: we feel powerless, or feel the powerlessness and vulnerability of the one we love.\xa0 They did nothing wrong, and yet still their life is blown apart.

The psalmist, in that place of powerlessness finds that they are never completely powerless though.\xa0 There is a God who sees what\u2019s right.\xa0 A God who judges.\xa0 A God who will make things right, even when we cannot.\xa0 That\u2019s a profoundly good thing.\xa0

As Christians, we now know who that God is: Jesus Christ\u2014the innocent one who himself was betrayed unto death.\xa0 On this Ascension Day (yes, that\u2019s today), we remember that he is the same one who has ascended to the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from which he will come to judge the living and the dead\u2014including the stuff in our own lives.\xa0

But as we wait for his return, prayers like these in Psalm 17 continue to give us a language for expressing and acting against the injustice we see and feel in a faithful way\u2014a way that continues to keep us from falling into despair or the sin of retaliation ourselves, even when we are otherwise powerless to act.\xa0

And, as we entrust our case to God, we also receive a promise.\xa0 At the beginning of the psalm we find ourselves praying to the God who sees.\xa0 But in the end, we take comfort and hope in the fact that this is the God that we ourselves will see\u2014face to face\u2014even as he vindicates us and welcomes us into his home of shalom where justice, peace, and belonging assure us that all will be well from now on.

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