Psalm Meditation 559
Transfiguration Sunday
March 6, 2011

Psalm 66
1 Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
2 sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise.
3 Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.
4 All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name." Selah
5 Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
6 He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him,
7 who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations-- let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Selah
8 Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard,
9 who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.
10 For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.
11 You brought us into the net; you laid burdens on our backs;
12 you let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will pay you my vows,
14 those that my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me.
17 I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
19 But truly God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer.
20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.
(NRSV)

In times of trouble many of us have made promises to God in hopes of buying or bargaining our way out of this particular trouble. In some of those cases, when we do get out unscathed, we keep the promises we made for awhile. Once the initial rush of survival has worn off so does the compulsion to keep our promises to God. Since we tend to believe that our generation invented everything that is really cool and useful, it is interesting to see that the psalmist states, “I will pay you my vows, those that my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.”

We are not the first generation to believe that we can bargain with God by making promises. While there is no indication whether or not the psalmist actually kept those vows and promises I find myself believing it will happen since this is Scripture. Given a moment to consider, I remember that the psalmist is as human as I and has the same good intentions that don’t translate into behaviors as easily as any of us hope they will.

The good thing is that God knows us, loves us and is not as swayed or convinced by our vows and promises as we hope. It is God’s love for us that brings us through our troubles rather than the power of our vows and promises. My guess is that we will continue to make promises to God that will outline all our actions if only we are delivered alive through this mess. God will continue to be with us through one trial after another not because of our promises and vows but because of God’s overwhelming love for us. God does listen and give heed to our prayers, God is blessed, and best of all we are not removed from the steadfast love of God no matter what.

February 28, 2011