Psalm 72 - a Prayer for our Leaders

South Africa waited for the ANC to make a decision at the national conference last weekend.  The contest was between Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa.  Ramaphosa won by a hair's breadth.  As I was reading Psalm 72 in preparation for Christmas season preaching I thought it was a fitting word of prayer for anyone in power.  So here is my reflection from my prayers this morning.  In the form of an open letter to the president.
Dear ANC President Ramaphosa,
This is my prayer for you, a reflection on Psalm 72 a song sung when Kings were crowned in the time before Christ.  Some of the verses of Psalm 72 are good words for a President in our time.  The prayer of verse 1:
1 Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness.
The Psalmist prays that the king would want the sort of justice that God wants.  The kind of righteousness that God wants.  The God of the Hebrews, the God of Christians is a God whose primary characteristic is to lead people out of slavery and into freedom.  To lead the people into ‘Shalom’, into peace.  This peace is not platitude, but real peace - born out of justice and righteousness.  Sometimes the word ‘shalom’ is translated as ‘prosperity’. South Africa needs to be led into justice with grace and peace.  This is the will of God.  
This is a difficult direction to lead in, inequality in our land is positively mountainous - but my prayer is that you will be ‘endowed’ with justice and righteousness; the heart of the love of God for all of God’s people.  So that you will be able to lead us all into ‘prosperity.’  Prosperity is not having an overly big house and stupidly powerful cars and more than enough money.  Prosperity is having your daily bread, security, the leisure to rest, the freedom to live a dignified life and to share with others.
This prosperity - this Shalom - is the product of justice and righteousness.
2 He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice.
As the Psalmist leads us in prayer for the King it is interesting that he speaks to God in this way - he could say: “He will judge ‘his’ people…”  But instead the Psalmist says: “He will judge your people…”  All people everywhere are created in God’s image.  All people are sacred, wonderful, fearfully made.  If the King is endowed with God’s justice, then the King will lead God’s people in God’s way.  
The Psalmist realises God’s special concern for the afflicted ones.  Those who live in dire poverty, those who are sick, those who are mentally ill… all of these people are God’s people.  It will be your task to lead us into justice; especially for the weakest, the most downtrodden, the most easily abused.  The poor, the elderly, the mentally ill and the orphan are the most neglected in our land - with God’s heart, lead them (and all of us) with justice.  
It is the King’s task to ‘judge’ God’s people.  To judge is to see what is wrong and implement a process that will redress those wrongs.  As the King judges - the King restores justice.  I pray that you will have the courage to lead South Africa into justice.  
3 The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness.
Sadly the mountains of our land, especially the highveld mountains with their rich deposits of ore have been pillaged.  The wealth did not bring prosperity to the people - instead they brought slavery to some and an overabundance of wealth to others; much of that prosperity has left our shores.  But, there is still enough in our land to ensure that each and every citizen has what they need.  The nations of the world recognize the wealth of Africa; they take advantage of our economic and social tensions to drive us into debt - Africa has enough; Africa has more than all the other nations of the world.  Yet our people live in dire poverty.
It seems that the promise of verse 3 is dependent on the realisation of verses 1 and 2 - the need for justice; especially for the afflicted.  The hills, says the Psalmist will yield the ‘fruit of righteousness’ - these ‘fruits of righteousness’ refer to character - fruit of the Holy Spirit according to Christians: generosity, gentleness, kindness, joy, peace, self control, patience, peacefulness etc. But they are also literal fruits to feed the hungry.
How economists manage the circumstances that lead to the most beneficial extraction of minerals and production of food is such a complicated matter that I don’t fully understand how it all works.  The tensions of mine ownership, land ownership and risk / benefit / cost are for economists to debate.  But I know that if we find the right balance we will be able to create an economy in which there is economic security for all people.
4 - He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor.
Someone has said that a truly just society is one where anyone would be happy to be born to any family, race, or place because every child would always have all the opportunities they need to determine their own future.  This is not the case in South Africa.  Children are the victims of our unjust past; especially in terms of the education that they are destined to receive.  A good King ‘saves the children of the needy’ - sets up a decent future for these children.  To save our children we need to make sure that no matter where you were born you will have the resources and the help needed to become who you were meant to be.
Free education for all depends on a healthy economy and a healthy economy depends on good quality education for all.  This is the nuclear power plant that we need.  And the true beginning of radical (roots based) economic transformation.  Solid investment in education.  Especially in education for those who are born into the most dire situations of poverty.
The second part of verse 4 - ‘he will crush the oppressor’ is also a tough one.  Who is the oppressor that needs crushing?  The problem of politics in South Africa is a lack of debate which stems from identifying everyone other than us as the ‘oppressor’.  People are more united by what they are against, than by what they are for.  Bell Pottinger recognised that you could justify a lot of bad decisions by identifying an enemy named White Minority Capital and then inciting anger and violence against this ‘oppressor’ as a rallying cause to protect people who were corrupt and engaged in oppressive activities themselves.
Perhaps the best way to ‘crush’ oppressors is to name them honestly.  To educate and inform each other about how our attitudes become tools of oppression.  To liberate oppressors from being oppressors by showing them - and leading them - into a better way.  
Instead of creating a world where we each try to out oppress each other - through honest engagement perhaps we can reach a place where oppression is identified and rooted out - and thus crushed in a way that does not lead to more oppression.  This will take bold leadership - and sometimes will lead to uncomfortable conversations.  But we need you to lead us and inspire us into this direction.
5-7 He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations.  He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth.  In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more.
At this point the Psalmist starts to point towards a more Divine King (God) than an earthly one.  But this is the hope of the people - that truly anointed kings.  Kings endowed with God’s justice and righteousness as verse 1 prayed - will rule with God’s heart.  It is not the person in power, but in terms of the Psalm, God’s Holy Spirit endowing the King with Godly wisdom that is in power.
As we read the Old Testament we discover only a few good kings.  Power has a tendency to make even the best kings go bad.  See Saul, David, Solomon all the Kings of Israel.  They get it right sometimes but only when they place their heads hands and hearts firmly into the head, hand and heart of God who guides them.  Psalm 146:3 reminds us:
“You can’t depend on anyone, not even a great leader.  Once they die and are buried, that will be the end of all their plans.”
- Psalm 146:3
Even great leaders will die.  The majority of religions believe that each of us will have to answer to the creator for the decisions we made in our life times.  As a president - the decisions you make will have a lot more consequence than most people’s decisions.  And so I pray that you would have the integrity to lead us into justice with grace.
8-11  His kingdom will reach from sea to sea, from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.  The peoples of the desert will bow down before him; his enemies will throw themselves to the ground.  The kings of Spain and of the islands will offer him gifts; the kings of Sheba and Seba will bring him offerings.  All kings will bow down before him; all nations will serve him.
Again - the Psalmist is praising a Divine King.  At Christmas time we are reminded of the sages who came to lay their gifts at Jesus’ feet.  A fulfillment of these words about Godly Kings.  For a while the world looked to South Africa as a model of reconciliation and restoration.  The most powerful rulers looked to us for advice and help in matters of diplomacy.  Do the difficult task of leading us into justice - and the world will look to us.  We will see foreign investment, we will wield influence without using force and violence.  South African can show the world a better way.
12-14 He rescues the poor who call to him, and those who are needy and neglected.  He has pity on the weak and poor; he saves the lives of those in need.  He rescues them from oppression and violence; their lives are precious to him.
The Psalmist keeps coming back to this theme.  It is almost the primary task of the King to see that the poor, needy, weak, neglected, oppressed and violated are rescued.  One area in which we need to see real radical transformation is in the cause of justice for the poorest and weakest.  In the Western Cape we see too few police in the poorest areas and lots in the richest.  It is this kind of distribution of resources that reveals our priorities.  Crime in the suburbs and against the rich seems to garner all of the media’s attention.  But what about the poor?  
As a person in power it might be tempting to see the rich investors as your most precious citizens.  But a godly King will lead those rich investors in such a way that the poor, needy, weak, neglected, violated and oppressed are rescued.  Because all people are precious to God.
15-17 Long live the king!  May he be given gold from Sheba; may prayers be said for him at all times; may God’s blessings be on him always!  May there be plenty of corn in the land; may the hills be covered with crops, as fruitful as those of Lebanon.  May the cities be filled with people, like fields full of grass.  May the king’s name never be forgotten; may his fame last as long as the sun.  May all nations ask God to bless them as he has blessed the king.
With South Africa’s divided politics whoever is in power is guaranteed to have a lot of enemies.  You became president of the ANC with a very narrow margin of victory.  It looks like the next national elections will further erode the ANC’s power.  This is not always a bad thing.  Democratically elected officials need to remember that they in some way also represent the people who didn’t vote for them.
As citizens we have a responsibility to pray for good leaders.  To support them with our prayers, deeds and taxes.  Even if we didn’t vote for them.
18-20 Praise the LORD, the God of Israel!  He alone does these wonderful things.  Praise his glorious name for ever!  May his glory fill the whole world.
Amen! Amen!
This is the end of the prayers of David son of Jesse.
As the Psalm draws to a conclusion - David points firmly in God’s direction.  It is only in God’s power that a leader can lead in God’s way.  And so we pray that a new leader would lead in such a way that God’s glory would fill the whole world.
In the final verse, we read the comment: “This is the end of the prayers of David…”  As David writes this prayer we know that he doesn’t pray for himself; but rather for his son, Solomon, and for the legacy of Kings that will follow.
Your time of leadership will come to an end, just as David’s did.  You might not achieve all the goals you set out to achieve - but - when the time comes; hand over gracefully - with a prayer that bestows as much blessing and hope as this one does.
God bless, strengthen, guide you, and endow you with justice and righteousness to lead this nation into justice with grace and peace.
This is my prayer for those who lead our nation at this time.
God bless,
Rev Angus Kelly
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