Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

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Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

Psalm 89 with John Chrysostom – Patience for Sinners and Strictness for the Godly Indeed, God is good to everyone, but he shows his patient endurance especially to those who sin. And if you want to hear a paradoxical statement—paradoxical because it is not normal, but true for the great faithfulness it reveals— listen. God seems to be severe to the righteous but good to sinners, and quick to forgive. He restores the one who sinned and tells him: “Return to me . . . and I will return to you” (Zech 1:3). Elsewhere he promises that salvation is available with repentance: “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live” (Ezek 33:11). To the righteous he says: “If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die” (Ezek 18:24). O such strictness toward the righteous! O such abundant forgiveness toward the sinner! He finds so many different means, without himself changing, to keep the righteous in check and forgive the sinner, by usefully distributing his rich goodness. And listen how: if he frightens the sinner who persists in sins, he brings him to desperation and to the exhaustion of hope. If he blesses the righteous, he weakens the intensity of his virtue and makes him neglect his zeal, since he considers himself already blessed. For this reason, he is merciful to the sinner and he frightens the righteous. For he is more awesome than all who surround Him (v. 7). And who are they but the saints? In the council of the holy ones, God is greatly feared (v. 7). If God sees someone who has fallen,