Psalm Meditation 480
Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 30, 2009

Psalm 67
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
2 that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
6 The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, has blessed us.
7 May God continue to bless us; let all the ends of the earth revere him.
(NRSV)

It strikes me as interesting that this psalm of praise is so short. The list of things God does with us and for us would wear us out with its length and breadth. The psalmist decides to limit the list to equitable judgment and guidance as reasons to give God praise. Those two alone could fill volumes if we were to list the specifics of how God does those two things among each of us as individuals. Rather than go into specifics let us leave is as a broad category for praise to and about God.

The interesting part is that when we decide to lament we go into great and gory detail about all the terrible things that are going on around us from which God simply must deliver us immediately. The psalms lament personal as well as national calamity in detail as if God could not possibly know how bad it is for us without our list of woes shoved into the face of God.

Or, perhaps the lists of praises are short because they are such large, broad categories. There is so much for which to praise God that we can do it broad brush strokes. Our list of laments and woes are more specific because we know they are limited in time and scope. They are painful and weigh heavily on us however briefly they may touch us. The small brush detail work of a lament takes more time and effort than the broad brushstrokes of praise. Most of the time a heartfelt, ‘wow’ is ever so much more meaningful than gushing over how perfect or praiseworthy this or that may be.

God blesses us in so many ways. When we begin to describe or even list the wonderful ways God touches us we run out of words and simply stand in awe of the greatness of God and God’s gifts. And this great God does all these great things by choice. God wants to be a part of our lives and wants us to have life and have it abundantly.

© August 24, 2009