Psalm Meditation 880
Third Sunday of Easter
April 30, 2017
Psalm 18 (selected verses)
1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, so I shall be saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of perdition assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He bowed the heavens, and came down; thick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub, and flew; he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering around him, his canopy thick clouds dark with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him there broke through his clouds hailstones and coals of fire.
13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me;
for they were too mighty for me.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them; and did not turn back until they were consumed.
38 I struck them down, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet.
39 For you girded me with strength for the battle; you made my assailants sink under me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me, and those who hated me I destroyed.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them; they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them fine, like dust before the wind; I cast them out like the mire of the streets.
43 You delivered me from strife with the peoples; you made me head of the nations; people whom I had not known served me.
44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me; foreigners came cringing to me.
45 Foreigners lost heart, and came trembling out of their strongholds.
46 The LORD lives! Blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation,
47 the God who gave me vengeance and subdued peoples under me;
48 who delivered me from my enemies; indeed, you exalted me above my adversaries; you delivered me from the violent.
49 For this I will extol you, O LORD, among the nations, and sing praises to your name.
50 Great triumphs he gives to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.
(NRSV)
Most of us have enemies of some sort. Some have mortal enemies made of flesh and bone. Each meeting will be a confrontation involving blows or bullets and blood. Some have enemies, also made of flesh and bone. These meetings are confrontations of words and ideas, with no hope of agreement. Some have enemies of emotional/spiritual makeup. These would be the habits, afflictions, and addictions that draw energy from us, with or without our permission. Each type of enemy, each individual enemy drains our time and energy in a variety of exhausting ways. One is not more damaging than another even though the wounds may be more visible.
The psalmist encapsulates the psalm with verse 17, “[God] delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.” By calling on and depending on God for deliverance, the psalmist is freed to serve God in righteousness. The psalmist points out, in some of the verses edited out for space, that the rewards God offers are a mirror image of the attributes we bring to the presence of God. “With the loyal you show yourself loyal; with the blameless you show yourself blameless; with the pure you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you show yourself perverse.” (25-26) Because God is so far beyond our comprehension we are able to see in God what we contribute to the relationship. God defeats our enemies, or becomes our enemy, using the characteristics we possess within ourselves in a way that leaves our common enemies powerless.
While many psalms call for the destruction of enemies through death, dismemberment, and disease that is not usually how God works among us. Some enemies are destroyed by robbing them of their power over us, some by coming to a peaceful accord between us, and some through recognition that we were never enemies to begin with. God has power over our enemies as God has power over us. When we turn to God we are better able to see the power of God at work in the lives of our enemies, ourselves, and all of creation.
April 24, 2017
LCM
Monday, April 24, 2017
Monday, April 17, 2017
Psalm Meditation 879
Second Sunday of Easter
April 23, 2017
Psalm 35
1 Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!
2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and rise up to help me!
3 Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers; say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”
4 Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life. Let them be turned back and confounded who devise evil against me.
5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them on.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.
7 For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life.
8 Let ruin come on them unawares. And let the net that they hid ensnare them; let them fall in it—to their ruin.
9 Then my soul shall rejoice in the LORD, exulting in his deliverance.
10 All my bones shall say, “O LORD, who is like you? You deliver the weak from those too strong for them, the weak and needy from those who despoil them.”
11 Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me about things I do not know.
12 They repay me evil for good; my soul is forlorn.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting. I prayed with head bowed on my bosom,
14 as though I grieved for a friend or a brother; I went about as one who laments for a mother, bowed down and in mourning.
15 But at my stumbling they gathered in glee, they gathered together against me; ruffians whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing;
16 they impiously mocked more and more, gnashing at me with their teeth.
17 How long, O LORD, will you look on? Rescue me from their ravages, my life from the lions!
18 Then I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19 Do not let my treacherous enemies rejoice over me, or those who hate me without cause wink the eye.
20 For they do not speak peace, but they conceive deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.
21 They open wide their mouths against me; they say, “Aha, Aha, our eyes have seen it.”
22 You have seen, O LORD; do not be silent! O Lord, do not be far from me!
23 Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defense, for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24 Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness, and do not let them rejoice over me.
25 Do not let them say to themselves, “Aha, we have our heart’s desire.” Do not let them say, “We have swallowed you up.”
26 Let all those who rejoice at my calamity be put to shame and confusion;
let those who exalt themselves against me be clothed with shame and dishonor.
27 Let those who desire my vindication shout for joy and be glad, and say evermore, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant.”
28 Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all day long.
(NRSV)
When confronted with the reality of sin in our lives most of the people I know can admit a share of guilt as they suffer the consequences of their sinful actions. Knowing that we are answerable to God, that God knows us better than we know ourselves, we can admit that we may have had a hand in our own downfall. We may even be able to accept the punishment that is a part of sin when we see this infraction as primarily between ourselves and God.
When it is between you and me, it is a different story. Yes, some of our Puritan sensibility may kick in and we will know that I must be guilty because I am human. However, you better get the lion’s share of the punishment because I know that you are more at fault than I. This is what we have in the psalm. These folks who are out to get me have got to be evil because I am such a good person and couldn’t possibly deserve any of the things they are doing to me. For that matter, any time there is a me against you situation I am going to call on God to take care of you because you couldn’t possibly be right in the eyes of God when I am on the other side of the question/problem. It is possible that the psalmist is correct in the particular case of the psalm. It may be that a good person is being persecuted for reasons unknown to the psalmist and to us, and those reasons are unfounded and vindictive. There are those who pick on others because of the goodness of that other. We can’t imagine that anyone is really as good as they come across in daily life so traps and snares are set as a test of their goodness.
Some people really are as good a people as they appear to be. They call on God because they genuinely do not understand what is happening to them. Others are not as good as they appear and they call on God to ‘take care of’ those who don’t see how wonderful they must be. So, we do well to look at both sides of these situations. Am I picking on someone just to be mean spirited and vindictive, for good reason or not? Am I being picked on by a bunch of big meanies or do I have a holier than thou attitude that drives people to pick on me or, at least, take some joy in it when others are doing the picking. Either way God loves us beyond measure and moves to correct all who need correction.
April 17, 2017
LCM
Second Sunday of Easter
April 23, 2017
Psalm 35
1 Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!
2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and rise up to help me!
3 Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers; say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”
4 Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life. Let them be turned back and confounded who devise evil against me.
5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them on.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.
7 For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life.
8 Let ruin come on them unawares. And let the net that they hid ensnare them; let them fall in it—to their ruin.
9 Then my soul shall rejoice in the LORD, exulting in his deliverance.
10 All my bones shall say, “O LORD, who is like you? You deliver the weak from those too strong for them, the weak and needy from those who despoil them.”
11 Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me about things I do not know.
12 They repay me evil for good; my soul is forlorn.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting. I prayed with head bowed on my bosom,
14 as though I grieved for a friend or a brother; I went about as one who laments for a mother, bowed down and in mourning.
15 But at my stumbling they gathered in glee, they gathered together against me; ruffians whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing;
16 they impiously mocked more and more, gnashing at me with their teeth.
17 How long, O LORD, will you look on? Rescue me from their ravages, my life from the lions!
18 Then I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19 Do not let my treacherous enemies rejoice over me, or those who hate me without cause wink the eye.
20 For they do not speak peace, but they conceive deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.
21 They open wide their mouths against me; they say, “Aha, Aha, our eyes have seen it.”
22 You have seen, O LORD; do not be silent! O Lord, do not be far from me!
23 Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defense, for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24 Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness, and do not let them rejoice over me.
25 Do not let them say to themselves, “Aha, we have our heart’s desire.” Do not let them say, “We have swallowed you up.”
26 Let all those who rejoice at my calamity be put to shame and confusion;
let those who exalt themselves against me be clothed with shame and dishonor.
27 Let those who desire my vindication shout for joy and be glad, and say evermore, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant.”
28 Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all day long.
(NRSV)
When confronted with the reality of sin in our lives most of the people I know can admit a share of guilt as they suffer the consequences of their sinful actions. Knowing that we are answerable to God, that God knows us better than we know ourselves, we can admit that we may have had a hand in our own downfall. We may even be able to accept the punishment that is a part of sin when we see this infraction as primarily between ourselves and God.
When it is between you and me, it is a different story. Yes, some of our Puritan sensibility may kick in and we will know that I must be guilty because I am human. However, you better get the lion’s share of the punishment because I know that you are more at fault than I. This is what we have in the psalm. These folks who are out to get me have got to be evil because I am such a good person and couldn’t possibly deserve any of the things they are doing to me. For that matter, any time there is a me against you situation I am going to call on God to take care of you because you couldn’t possibly be right in the eyes of God when I am on the other side of the question/problem. It is possible that the psalmist is correct in the particular case of the psalm. It may be that a good person is being persecuted for reasons unknown to the psalmist and to us, and those reasons are unfounded and vindictive. There are those who pick on others because of the goodness of that other. We can’t imagine that anyone is really as good as they come across in daily life so traps and snares are set as a test of their goodness.
Some people really are as good a people as they appear to be. They call on God because they genuinely do not understand what is happening to them. Others are not as good as they appear and they call on God to ‘take care of’ those who don’t see how wonderful they must be. So, we do well to look at both sides of these situations. Am I picking on someone just to be mean spirited and vindictive, for good reason or not? Am I being picked on by a bunch of big meanies or do I have a holier than thou attitude that drives people to pick on me or, at least, take some joy in it when others are doing the picking. Either way God loves us beyond measure and moves to correct all who need correction.
April 17, 2017
LCM
Monday, April 10, 2017
Psalm Meditation 878
Easter
April 16, 2017
Psalm 116
1 I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I pray, save my life!”
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.
6 The LORD protects the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
9 I walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
10 I kept my faith, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted”;
11 I said in my consternation, “Everyone is a liar.”
12 What shall I return to the LORD for all his bounty to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
14 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones.
16 O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the child of your serving girl. You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)
This psalm sounds as if it is made up of quid pro quo, tit for tat, statements—I love God because of all the great things that have happened to me. There is some of that. Because of who God is and who we are, our love for God is always a response to what God has done in our lives. Whatever we give to God is giving back, since all we have is a gift in the first place. Unlike some people who act in order to make people feel an obligation to them, God acts out of love for us and is deeply touched and gratified when we respond with love in return.
When we add a testimony in addition to our love God is doubly gratified. A testimony is given to those around us and serves to give them an example of how God has worked in our lives and a hint of how God is at work in their lives. God does not wait for an acknowledgment from us before acting in our lives. We receive because God loves us. I have heard people say that they will not give another gift to a particular someone until they get a ‘Thank you’ from them for the current gift. It makes some sense for us, however God continues to give to us whether we give thanks privately, publicly, or not at all. God loves us, simple as that.
The psalmist is filled with gratitude for this return to health and strength and sees it as a gift from the hand of God. As an expression of thanks the psalmist will participate in expanding circles of worship; in the family meal, in the public payment of privately made vows, and in the offering sacrifices and giving public, verbal thanks to God for all that has been received through a time of trial. The hope of the psalmist is that others will see and join in the thanksgiving to our God who loves us beyond measure.
April 10, 2017
LCM
Easter
April 16, 2017
Psalm 116
1 I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I pray, save my life!”
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.
6 The LORD protects the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
9 I walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
10 I kept my faith, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted”;
11 I said in my consternation, “Everyone is a liar.”
12 What shall I return to the LORD for all his bounty to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
14 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones.
16 O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the child of your serving girl. You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)
This psalm sounds as if it is made up of quid pro quo, tit for tat, statements—I love God because of all the great things that have happened to me. There is some of that. Because of who God is and who we are, our love for God is always a response to what God has done in our lives. Whatever we give to God is giving back, since all we have is a gift in the first place. Unlike some people who act in order to make people feel an obligation to them, God acts out of love for us and is deeply touched and gratified when we respond with love in return.
When we add a testimony in addition to our love God is doubly gratified. A testimony is given to those around us and serves to give them an example of how God has worked in our lives and a hint of how God is at work in their lives. God does not wait for an acknowledgment from us before acting in our lives. We receive because God loves us. I have heard people say that they will not give another gift to a particular someone until they get a ‘Thank you’ from them for the current gift. It makes some sense for us, however God continues to give to us whether we give thanks privately, publicly, or not at all. God loves us, simple as that.
The psalmist is filled with gratitude for this return to health and strength and sees it as a gift from the hand of God. As an expression of thanks the psalmist will participate in expanding circles of worship; in the family meal, in the public payment of privately made vows, and in the offering sacrifices and giving public, verbal thanks to God for all that has been received through a time of trial. The hope of the psalmist is that others will see and join in the thanksgiving to our God who loves us beyond measure.
April 10, 2017
LCM
Monday, April 3, 2017
Psalm Meditation 877
Palm/Passion Sunday
April 9, 2017
Psalm 85
1 LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin. Selah
3 You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.
4 Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.
8 Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12 The LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.
(NRSV)
“God has no grandchildren.” It means that each generation accepts the personal relationship God offers to us. We are children of God. We cannot depend only on the relationship between our parents and God, we need to form that relationship ourselves. All that to say that it appears the psalmist is calling on God to honor the relationship with a previous generation for the sake of the current one. As you did all these wonderful things for our parents, we are ready for you to do all those same things for us. The psalmist’s generation opens the bargaining by asking God to do wonderful things. Once that happens we will be a thankful people.
While it is true that God is always the first actor, there is a sense here that the people are making the first move by asking that God restore and revive them before they turn to God in faithfulness and awe. It is always tempting to make demands on God as if we are the ones opening the negotiations. ‘God, you do this for me and I will do this in return.’ I am not sure what kind of counter offer we can make in the event that God decides not to do as we ask. One assumption is that if God doesn’t act according to our instructions there must not be a God. Who is most damaged by that assumption?
Yes, this is an unusually bleak reading of the psalm. Our requests for God’s attention are not bargaining chips so much as acknowledgements that we have wandered off and now want to be drawn back into a heartfelt, heart changing relationship with God. We are not in a position of power so that we can negotiate, we are in a position of desire. Our desire is to have the kind of relationship with God that we have seen from previous generations. What we don’t know is that as we come into the presence of God knowing that something is missing we are repeating the process of each generation before. God is waiting to save us, love us, and give us peace.
April 3, 2017
LCM
Palm/Passion Sunday
April 9, 2017
Psalm 85
1 LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin. Selah
3 You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.
4 Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.
8 Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12 The LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.
(NRSV)
“God has no grandchildren.” It means that each generation accepts the personal relationship God offers to us. We are children of God. We cannot depend only on the relationship between our parents and God, we need to form that relationship ourselves. All that to say that it appears the psalmist is calling on God to honor the relationship with a previous generation for the sake of the current one. As you did all these wonderful things for our parents, we are ready for you to do all those same things for us. The psalmist’s generation opens the bargaining by asking God to do wonderful things. Once that happens we will be a thankful people.
While it is true that God is always the first actor, there is a sense here that the people are making the first move by asking that God restore and revive them before they turn to God in faithfulness and awe. It is always tempting to make demands on God as if we are the ones opening the negotiations. ‘God, you do this for me and I will do this in return.’ I am not sure what kind of counter offer we can make in the event that God decides not to do as we ask. One assumption is that if God doesn’t act according to our instructions there must not be a God. Who is most damaged by that assumption?
Yes, this is an unusually bleak reading of the psalm. Our requests for God’s attention are not bargaining chips so much as acknowledgements that we have wandered off and now want to be drawn back into a heartfelt, heart changing relationship with God. We are not in a position of power so that we can negotiate, we are in a position of desire. Our desire is to have the kind of relationship with God that we have seen from previous generations. What we don’t know is that as we come into the presence of God knowing that something is missing we are repeating the process of each generation before. God is waiting to save us, love us, and give us peace.
April 3, 2017
LCM
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)