Reading Psalm 14 it’s verse 4 that caught my attention and specifically The Message rendering of it. The NIV says:

“Do all these evil doers know nothing? They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on the Lord”

I have to admit that I would have glossed over the verse reading it like that, but The Message puts it like this:

“Don’t they know anything, all these imposters? Don’t they know they can’t get away with this – Treating people like a fast-food meal over which they’re too busy to pray?”

I think Eugene Peterson has captured the intent well. In this Psalm the protagonists are devaluing other people; treating them as nothing but a quick fix for their own hunger and not a worthwhile bit of food at that – just some quick bread, or in The Message, some fast food.

In Psalm 14 again the sense of there being an injustice is followed up by a view of God that will see things made right for the victims but I want to sit with Psalm 14 a bit because it challenges me. I wonder how often I treat people like a fast food meal devoured in the rush of life?

In a culture where we’re often chasing the next thing and running to ‘succeed’ how often do we pass people by with little to no thought, or worse, engage them only with the intent of using them to serve our gain… approaching interactions with other human beings with the unwritten, subconscious question of ‘what’s in it for me?’

Now, I don’t think many of us are like that all the time but it’s worth being challenged on so we can check ourselves and our interactions. It doesn’t take much to pause and give someone something meaningful even if it’s only a moment and nothing more than a smile. What we’re being challenged towards is to treat human beings as human beings. The person at the checkout isn’t simply an extension of the till and the eftpos machine – the deserve to be acknowledged, as does the customer. The waiter/waitress isn’t simply an extension of the tray that brings our food in a cafe/restaurant, they deserve to be thanked. No matter how awkward they make us feel, the homeless person we pass in the street begging for money isn’t just an extension of the street rubbish – that thing we ask not to be put in our fast food and causes us to scrunch our noses up when we get a taste of it because some fool put it in there. Our spouses aren’t simply an extension of the pay-cheque, the vacuum cleaner, the television remote or the bed, they’re our chosen life mate… and the list goes on extending to every person we encounter and all those who play a part in our lives, seen and unseen.

May we be people who treat others as human beings rather than as fast-food meals that simply exist at our convenience to be devoured in our rush through life. May we be people who pause, see and acknowledge those around us. May their lives be enriched by their interaction with us.

Read more of my reflections on the Psalms.

Here’s why I’m walking this journey through the Psalms.