Psalm Meditation 1043 Proper 6 June 14, 2020 Psalm 11 1 In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to me, “Flee like a bird to the mountains; 2 for look, the wicked bend the bow, they have fitted their arrow to the string, to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart. 3 If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” 4 The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, his gaze examines humankind. 5 The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates the lover of violence. 6 On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and sulfur; a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. 7 For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face. (NRSV) The larger the group, the more likely that one of them is a naysayer. This is the one whose first inclination is to go toward the negative interpretation of events. The psalmist is commenting on the potential influence of one or more of the negative folks as the group faces an adversary. This negative course has the worst case scenario already worked out in this situation. ‘It is time to run away while we still can. The bad folks have no concern about us, they are shooting in the dark to destroy whatever gets hit by arrows and we have no recourse but to save ourselves.’ The psalmist is happy to quote the negative voice as long as their words are surrounded by other words of trust in God. The psalmist knows that no matter what is going on in the world, God is with us, shielding us from the worst. Because we are on the side of God we can count on the activity of God around us. God knows the hearts of each one of us and will treat us according to our activity, as well as our relationship to God. Those out to get us will be the eventual recipients of a shower of fire and sulfur/brimstone. If you don’t know who speaks the word of negativity in your group you may be the naysayer of you may be such a positive influence that you never hear the negative even if it is spoken directly to you. Either way, the psalmist encourages us to look to God in our best, our worst, and all the in between parts of our lives. God wants us to desire the presence of God in our lives and is gratified when we are open the that presence in all the times and places of our lives. God knows our hearts and loves us. When we willingly return that love we behold the face of God. June 8, 2020 LCM lcrsmanifold@att.net http://psalmmeditations.blogspot.com/