Psalm Meditation 1173 ¶Third Sunday of Advent ¶December 11, 2022 ¶Psalm 57 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+57&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶There is nothing quite so comforting as a song rising in your heart to buoy your spirits, and make the mood lighter. However, there are times in which a song will not rise and a dark mood is made that much darker by the absence of music. Times of tragedy and grief, times of stress, and times of terror are a few of the moments in our lives that rob the music from us. In one particular case for me, I did not notice that I had been bereft of song until it suddenly returned one day. As music rose again I realized how much I had missed it. ¶The introduction to this psalm says it comes from a time in which David was fleeing from Saul. I imagine that David was drained by all the stresses and losses that accompanied falling out of Saul’s favor. In verse seven David is able to muster the wherewithal to say, “My heart is steadfast, O God; my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make melody.” He pushes himself to raise a song, and in it he finds comfort and the assurance that God is present in this, and every time of David’s life. It isn’t always that easy, which may explain why David is such a model of faithfulness. ¶As David recovers the ability to sing, the companion sense of thankfulness to God rises as well. In thankfulness David can rediscover a sense the steadfast love of God that moves so many of us from our bleak places to a deeper appreciation of the ways God loves and cares for us all the time. “For your steadfast love is as high as the heavens; your faithfulness extends to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth. “ ¶December 5, 2022 ¶LCM