"Many are the afflictions of the righteous."

As I was driving into work the other day I made a point of checking out the quote on the road sign in front of the prefabricated metal Baptist Church that I have to pass every morning. It read, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous." One can only assume that the warning is continued for opposing traffic. I guess I could make a point of checking it out, but I'm fairly sure of what it says on the other side. These people are eminently predictable. The quote is from Psalm 34:19. It reads:

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all."

First of all, I'm not a real big fan of philosophical and/or spiritual soundbytes. Any idea winnowed down enough to be represented by a series of interchangeable plastic letters is probably too generalized to be of much use. The second thing that bothers me about this is the assumed authority of the source. Just because a group of people believe that their god dictated these words, does not make them special to anyone else. Yet they are being thrust into our consciousness- along with the ubiquitous pleas to consume, the political brainwashing, and a multitude of other control mechanisms disguised as helpful information.

But I struggle to get past these initial objections- just so I can objectively parse this specific message. What meaning lies behind these words? If I restrict my examination to just what I've seen, without assuming the quote's completion... the interpretation is easier. The "righteous" are afflicted. I can agree with that. People who revel in their own beliefs, considering themselves and their opinions unassailable, suffer under the weight of their own ego. How do I know this? I have sometimes lapsed into a condition of self-righteousness, and in the process I have shamed myself.

But I know there are others with a more virulent case than mine. There are some that don't even know that they are afflicted. Instead of realizing their hubris for what it is, they walk through life mistaking a disease for empowerment. They feel vested by a higher authority to have things their own way. And it's not enough to contain their beliefs to themselves, but they feel compelled to impose them on everybody else. Other symptoms too may arise from being "righteous". Those suffering from this malady have used it to justify their greed, violence, selfishness, condemnation, intolerance, and repression. Given this formidable list- it may actually be an understatement to say that the righteous suffer many afflictions. Are they therefore to be pitied? Well... not exactly.

Surely some among the righteous can take heart if they consider the entirety of Psalm 34. Because despite the pain and suffering the righteous may visit upon others, "the Lord" is said to be available to deliver them from their afflictions (or from the consequences of their afflictions?). This seems like a pretty good deal. Under those conditions,who wouldn't want to be among the "righteous"? Of course, this is all predicated upon the assumption that "the Lord" is planning to deliver the righteous to a nice place, like... for instance... heaven. There they will find streets paved with gold (and evidently more road signs with cool messages), and angels flying around. The rub is that the righteous will cease to be "righteous", because they will have no one there to look down upon anymore. They'll have to peer back at us mere Earth-dwellers. No matter... at least there will be more prefab metal available here on Earth..