Psalm Meditation 657
Second Sunday After Epiphany
January 20, 2013

Psalm 26
1 Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and mind.
3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you.
4 I do not sit with the worthless, nor do I consort with hypocrites;
5 I hate the company of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands in innocence, and go around your altar, O LORD,
7 singing aloud a song of thanksgiving, and telling all your wondrous deeds.
8 O LORD, I love the house in which you dwell, and the place where your glory abides.
9 Do not sweep me away with sinners, nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
10 those in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground; in the great congregation I will bless the LORD.
(NRSV)

In the current state of the world, it is tempting to give in and recognize that evil has won. We might as well sit down and wait for the end to come at the hand of God, at the hands of evil doers, or some combination of the two. If we let ourselves be overcome with cynicism we would be wrong. As people of God we are always right to join the psalmist in the singing of a song of thanksgiving and telling the wondrous deeds of God. Even though, especially because, it is easy to give in to a cynical, defeatist attitude, the way to God is through thanksgiving and a sense of wonder.

My dad taught me to be a short range pessimist and a long range optimist. That is, things rarely work out the way we want them to at the time, however in the long run it will work itself out. I do have a cynical, defeatist attitude for the short term. I do believe that things have a way of working out - eventually. It is possible to find writings of philosophers in every age who have commented on the terrible shape of the world and our relationships with each other, even in our families. At the same time, we discover that the dire predictions included in their descriptions have not come true. We continue to live on as groups of people who lean toward destruction and continue to survive and thrive.

A most helpful corrective to our cynical leanings is to sing a song of thankfulness and tell of the wondrous works of God. So, give up on the world and all the people in it, especially the ones close by who insist on driving you crazy on a daily basis. However, don’t give up on God, or God’s ability to redeem those people, and us, from the clutches of our leaning toward foolishness and destruction. Yes, we will go through various trials. Yes, we will be overwhelmed from time to time. Yes, God is with us through it all, moving our feet to level ground.

January 14, 2012