Psalm Meditation 648
Twenty fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
November 18, 2012

Psalm 54
1 Save me, O God, by your name, and vindicate me by your might.
2 Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For the insolent have risen against me, the ruthless seek my life; they do not set God before them. (Selah)
4 But surely, God is my helper; the LORD is the upholder of my life.
5 He will repay my enemies for their evil. In your faithfulness, put an end to them.
6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O LORD, for it is good.
7 For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.
(NRSV)

Not all of our enemies are intentional and certainly they are not all human. The most pressing enemy for many of us is circumstance. We find ourselves in the midst of situations that threaten to crush our spirits without a single person who has set themselves against us. If we do have a person or group on whom to focus as the enemy, it is likely that they did not set themselves the task of destroying our lives. This does not mean they are not the enemy; it means that their destruction will not change our lives any more than our destruction would have changed theirs.

In the midst of these situations God offers us comfort and strength to stand in the face of all that stands against us. In some cases, the very awareness of the presence of God gives us a calm assurance even though nothing around us has changed. In other instances, the presence of God, through the people of God, dissipates the evil forces arrayed against us. It is not the vengeance that is satisfying, it is the calming assurance of the presence of God. The power of our enemies is broken as we rest in the arms of God.

When we can thank God for being present in the ugliest, most painful situation, we discover that some of the sting is gone. Things around us may or may not change. Our hearts are changed as we are touched by the presence of God in all the ways God is made known to us. We mourn our losses and we give God thanks for being with us. We stand in triumph over the situations that have assailed us.

November 12, 2012