Psalm Meditation 1093 Trinity Sunday May 30, 2021 Psalm 44 1 We have heard with our ears, O God, our ancestors have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old: 2 you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free; 3 for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm give them victory; but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your countenance, for you delighted in them. 4 You are my King and my God; you command victories for Jacob. 5 Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down our assailants. 6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. 7 But you have saved us from our foes, and have put to confusion those who hate us. 8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah 9 Yet you have rejected us and abased us, and have not gone out with our armies. 10 You made us turn back from the foe, and our enemies have gotten spoil. 11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter, and have scattered us among the nations. 12 You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them. 13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us. 14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples. 15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face 16 at the words of the taunters and revilers, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. 17 All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten you, or been false to your covenant. 18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way, 19 yet you have broken us in the haunt of jackals, and covered us with deep darkness. 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god, 21 would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart. 22 Because of you we are being killed all day long, and accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not cast us off forever! 24 Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? 25 For we sink down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. 26 Rise up, come to our help. Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love. (NRSV) When things are going well, we have to remind ourselves that God has a lot to do with our success, having given us our skills and abilities to use and refine. The psalmist goes so far as to say that our success is due to the work of God for us. As long as God is fighting for us we don’t need to have skills and abilities of our own because God is the one doing all the work. It is no use to trust our weapons if we do not place our primary loyalty in God. The psalmist raises a lament due to the military losses the people have suffered. We must have done something to deserve being chased off of the battlefield by superior forces on the other side. The psalmist does not know of any way that our people have been unfaithful, so this loss must be the fault of God rather than us. Since absolute rulers of the day were inconsistent in their rules and enforcement this is the only example people had for divine action. God is not as wishy washy as the psalmist wants to believe. At the same time, God is not the direct cause of everything that happens to us. God has given each of us, friend and foe alike, the ability to make our own choices and to live with the consequences of our actions. As we get to live with the consequences of our choices, as do those around us, we live with the consequences of actions by those around us through no fault of our own. May 24, 2021 LCM lcrsmanifold@att.net http://psalmmeditations.blogspot.com/