Psalm Meditation 620
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 6, 2012

Psalm 108
1 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make melody. Awake, my soul!
2 Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn.
3 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to you among the nations.
4 For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.
6 Give victory with your right hand, and answer me, so that those whom you love may be rescued.
7 God has promised in his sanctuary: "With exultation I will divide up Shechem, and portion out the Vale of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin; on Edom I hurl my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph."
10 Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
12 O grant us help against the foe, for human help is worthless.
13 With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.
(NRSV)

The psalmist exerts a great deal of energy calling folks to sing praises to God. While, at first, it seems to be an enthusiastic call to celebration verse 11 lets us know that it is more a cry of desperation in the face of rejection by God in this current battle or series of battles. Perhaps if we call loudly enough or do enough of the good and right things we can rouse God to reclaim us.

I would be glad to say that our concept of God has changed. In our calmer moments perhaps it has. We now know that God is with us at all times. While God may not do what we want done at the time and in the manner in which we would like it, we know that God is with us. And like the psalmist we find ourselves wondering what we could do or say differently to get God on our side when things look bleak. We continue to act as if we can earn the love of God, especially in the face of calamity and danger.

That things are not going as we would like for them to go does not mean that we have been abandoned by God. It is likely that God is with us in a way we are not currently able to appreciate. What is important to us may be of little or no importance to God in this particular moment. Winning a game, an argument, a battle may not matter to God nearly as much as the attitude we display in our winning and our losing. God is with us in all times and places. Sometimes it is up to us to figure out what that means for us in a particular situation.

© April 30, 2012