The virtue of gratitude

The question of deservedness and undeservedness has two components: 

1. Establishing a correspondence between credit or blame and achievement or action, which is an allocation function; and 
2. Deciding how much of the credit or blame goes to the actor in the first place, which is an apportionment function. 

The allocation function is probably what scripture means by mishpat while the apportionment function is probably what scripture means by choq. Meritocracies focus on the mishpat but forget the importance of the choq. 

God's role in success or failure used to be called fortune. We often ascribe to God credit or blame for failure or misfortune but, especially in the modern world, we rarely ascribe to Him credit or blame for accomplishments. 

A society that appreciates providential gifts is a society that knows the virtue of gratitude. To be grateful is to give expression to the contentment that comes from the achievement of some sort of satisfaction. The achievement might be ours but the satisfaction comes from recognizing God's role in the endeavor. 

To thank is to acknowledge choq.