Psalm Meditation 840
Proper 12
July 25, 2016

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)

When I am in an argument, I see myself as right and the other person or group as in the wrong. If that were not the case there would be no reason for the argument in the first place. That I see the disagreement through my own set of filters is normal and understandable. There are cases in which there is a hard and fast answer to the question at hand and those on the wrong side of the question are simply being belligerent or playing devil’s advocate. In most questions there is some nuance to the discussion that makes it a worthy topic.

The psalmist is probably facing more than verbal opposition. The nuance part of the issue is still present. There is something to be gained by those on both sides. The adversary wants something that the psalmist has. The ‘evil’ folks are convinced that the psalmist does not deserve this something, whether it is dignity, a right or privilege, or a material benefit of some kind. Whatever the situation the psalmist is on the weak side of the argument. These ‘others’ have power, influence and resources to take what the psalmist has; unless God intervenes to reset the balance of power.

Being stronger than my opponent does not make me right. Being weaker than my opponent does not make me wrong. Winning and losing is not about right and wrong as much as it is about power and influence. The interesting thing in the psalm is that one side calls on God to join the fight. Much as we would like to believe that God picks sides, it does not seem to be the case. God points us in the direction of the truth. The truth is not something that can be held by one person over another. The truth is found in some measure on every side. The task for each of us is to discover my truth and then listen and learn from the truth held by those around us.

July 18, 2016
LCM