1 O LORD, who may abide in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy hill?2 Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right,
and speak the truth from their heart;
3 who do not slander with their tongue,
and do no evil to their friends,
nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;
4 in whose eyes the wicked are despised,
but who honor those who fear the LORD;
who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
5 who do not lend money at interest,
and do not take a bribe against the innocent.
Those who do these things shall never be moved.
I am back reading some fiction in the evening. One of the authors on my list at the moment is Tom Kratman, who is describing the descent of our society in anarchism as the bonds of trust fall apart. The other writers on the bedside is Lilth SaintCrow, who is writing Victorian steampunk. (I did not say that the novels are good). They are escapist, and in their own way nostalgic. They look back to a time where there was trust, honour and duty.
The Psalmist today reminds us that trust requires that our word is bond. We keep our oaths, we uphold our contracts. We do not walk away, and become morally bankrupt.
In my nation, this is at present on the table. We have lost 5 troops to the Taliban in two weeks: from one base. (Remember, there are only 4 million kiwis, and we have but one regiment). We are part of the western alliance in Afghanistan: we intend to stay there until next year. But the greens want us out now, and Labour (the main opposition party) want us to go early
But the Psalmist is correct We need to keep our word. Because our allies need to be able to trust us, and we need to be able to trust each other
Despite the fact that families are grieving. Despite the cost — which per head of population, is now getting up to the US rate. And despite the fact we have outdated equipment — we bought Humvees and LAVs just as they were being made obsolete by IEDs.
More widely, it is a sense of trust and honour that binds us into relationships and makes us secure in them. When that breaks down, hearts fall apart and .people seek security where it is not,