Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem's fall, how they said, "Tear it down! Tear it down! Down to its foundations!" O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock! (Psalm 137: 7-9)

The Hebrew scriptures develop a logic of unfaithful choices resulting in deserved punishment. This is in contrast to a concept of inescapable fate embraced by many cultures. From these teachings we derive our understanding of freedom with responsibility.

Choices surely have consequences. But does every consequence result from choice?

In each moment a universe of free creatures make an infinite number of choices. Can my own choice trump this deluge of reality? Injustice visits the innocent. Prosperity blesses the incompetent. We might trace each consequence to some vast collection of choices freely undertaken. But does the individual consequence always reflect the individual's choice?

In Psalm 144, also assigned for today's reading, we find, "Happy are the people whose God is the Lord." Another way of translating this is, "For those who follow the source of existence - past, present, and future - the way will continue forward."

Whatever happens we can choose to stay on the way of God.