Psalm Meditation 592
Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 23, 2011

Psalm 13
1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, "I have prevailed"; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
(NRSV)

I find it interesting that there are a number of psalms in which the psalmist complains to God about having been abandoned by God. However, if the complaint were not directed to God it would not be in the Psalms. Who do we turn to when our lives seem to be collapsing all around us? Do we turn to
God, even though it seems that God is one of many who has turned away and left us to fend for ourselves? Do we complain to friends or family, even when this would mean we are not as alone as we believe ourselves to be? Or do we hold it in and let our complaint join in the process of chewing us up from the inside as the current enemy chews on us from any number of locations? It does seem that when we feel totally abandoned God is the one who will hear us even in the deepest darkness.

Enemies prevail when we have nothing left to give. As long as we have the energy and willingness to complain to God we have something left on which to rebuild life and hope. Life and hope may have to be built somewhere other than in this life. As we find our hope in God we see the possibility of life in the presence of God.

Even as we complain to God it changes our focus from the attacks we are enduring to the steadfast, unshakable love God offers to us in all times and places. A new focus and perspective can rob the current situation of some of its power as we see that there is something beyond this crisis that cannot be touched by this or any other crisis. That new perspective is the beginning of salvation.

October 17, 2011