Hear me, Lord, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer—it does not rise from deceitful lips. Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right.

As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. (Psalm 17:1-2,15)

These are the first and last verses of the Psalm. They recognize that though we might seek to live the best life we can in this world there are some things that are simply out of our control. The psalmist still had enemies. Even though the writer remained honest, it didn’t mean that others did.

There is evil, hurt, and hardship in this world that we cannot protect ourselves from, nor escape. The rash of shootings in the States remind us of this all over again. The cry for justice and vindication for the innocent against evil enemies is a real thread that runs through our world and our prayers.

But it also hits home sometimes. Our trust can be so betrayed by someone we love or trusted that this prayer for vindication finds its way to our lips. Even doing everything right—still we find ourselves blindsided by some evil that wreaks of injustice, lovelessness, or betrayal.

Or, perhaps it happens to someone we know. A friend’s marriage is blown apart by addiction, or an affair perhaps. Whatever the case: we feel powerless, or feel the powerlessness and vulnerability of the one we love. They did nothing wrong, and yet still their life is blown apart.

The psalmist, in that place of powerlessness finds that they are never completely powerless though. There is a God who sees what’s right. A God who judges. A God who will make things right, even when we cannot. That’s a profoundly good thing.

As Christians, we now know who that God is: Jesus Christ—the innocent one who himself was betrayed unto death. On this Ascension Day (yes, that’s today), we remember that he is the same one who has ascended to the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from which he will come to judge the living and the dead—including the stuff in our own lives.

But as we wait for his return, prayers like these in Psalm 17 continue to give us a language for expressing and acting against the injustice we see and feel in a faithful way—a way that continues to keep us from falling into despair or the sin of retaliation ourselves, even when we are otherwise powerless to act.

And, as we entrust our case to God, we also receive a promise. At the beginning of the psalm we find ourselves praying to the God who sees. But in the end, we take comfort and hope in the fact that this is the God that we ourselves will see—face to face—even as he vindicates us and welcomes us into his home of shalom where justice, peace, and belonging assure us that all will be well from now on.