We encounter no issues with the beginning of this psalm, but the confident assertion of innocence that follows is unsettling. We tend to seek God’s mercy rather than invite his strict judgment. However, perhaps we have no reason to worry. A Christian can confidently claim they are ‘just’ because the righteousness belonging solely to God is genuinely and internally imparted to the Christian. In Christ Himself, God’s righteousness is revealed and made accessible to those who connect, through faith and baptism, to the power of Christ’s resurrection. This is the ‘justness’ we can celebrate when we sing this psalm: ‘Let those who boast, boast in the Lord.’
When we dream about a more just society, while deathly violence surrounds us, we can pray with this psalm, aware that justice will prevail, and in gratitude, we sing praises to the Lord.