Psalm Meditation 1304 ¶Trinity Sunday ¶June 15, 2025 ¶Psalm 14 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2014&version=NRSVUE ¶I am sure that not everyone who does not believe in God is foolish. In some cases, the God in whom they do not believe has been forced on them to the point of trauma. Others have been gaslit to believe that God could not possibly love anyone like them. Still others have determined that in their scientific mindset there is no need for a divinity beyond the scientific models to which they cling. Are they wrong? Well, yes and no. The God they reject is a caricature of the God of the Psalms and the rest of the Bible. ¶God does look at each of us, especially any of us who believe we know all the ways of heaven and earth. Much like parents or mentors look on their charges and smile at how much they think they know about everything. Those of us who believe we are ‘practically perfect in every way’ are as perverse as those who believe that God is an imaginary friend of a group of very weird people. Any of us who know we have all the answers run the risk of being counted among the evildoers who draw or drive people away from God. ¶The psalmist wants each of us to be among those who do our best to do the right thing, and confess and atone when we mess things up. God is on the side of the poor, the oppressed, the ignored, and invites us to join in looking out for, looking after the folks who are not able to care for themselves in the current moment. ¶June 9, 2025 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1141 ¶Third Sunday of Easter ¶May 1, 2022 ¶Psalm 14 1 Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. 3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one. 4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the LORD? 5 There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the company of the righteous. 6 You would confound the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge. 7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad. (NRSV) ¶In Hebrew, the meaning of the word ‘fool’ means more than the English, ‘stupid.’ It can also mean ‘wicked’ and the rest of the psalm points toward that meaning. And while we are at it, let’s say that YHWH is looking down on the fools in humankind rather than painting us all with the broad brush of doom and destruction. Though we tend to look at everyone who is not ‘us’ as evil and God forsaken, God is not as exclusionary as we can be. ¶These fools are likely those who make God in their own image, who justify all of their ideas and actions as being in line with the will of God. “Do you want to exclude and demonize a group of people, even rationalize their death and destruction? Boy, do we have the deity for you. We will continue to call this deity YHWH since we are already used to that name, And we will use that name to justify all sorts of evil against others to make ourselves more comfortable. We can even find a single verse in the Bible to show we have the right and responsibility to carry out our plans” ¶God has a soft spot for the poor. So if you are on the side of those who have the power to make the rules, it is important to make sure that as many as possible benefit from those rules. Sadly, many who make the rules are surrounded by those who benefit, and are blind to those who do not. Does this rule fit into the whole arc of God’s salvation history or did someone have to look a while to find that proof text for this rule? ¶April 25, 2022 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1061 Proper 24 Laity Sunday October 18, 2020 Psalm 14 1 Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. 3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one. 4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord? 5 There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the company of the righteous. 6 You would confound the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge. 7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad. (NRSV) I am not as concerned about those who say there is no God as I am about those who say that God rigidly conforms to their way of thinking and acting. They see ‘our people’ as right and justifiable in their actions, and ‘those people’ as guilty of deep sinfulness even when both groups follow the same path. And it is almost always ‘those people’ who are most guilty of the kind of idolatry that lets them define God according to their own words and deeds. Since people on every side are guilty, God looks down to see “if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.” When God sees that we “have all gone astray,” it is time for us to look to ourselves instead of blaming ‘them’ for all the ills of the world. Granted, we see as ourselves among those who cannot bring change to the world, we are following those we believe can bring our corner of the world back to its senses. ‘It is for the rich and powerful to change the world, we simply hitch our wagon to those with whom we align most fully.’ Somewhere in all of this process we have agency to support and influence those who would run the world for our sake. And we have a responsibility to listen to those we claim to be helping with our actions. To call on an old joke punchline, we are not being helpful by leading folks across a street they did not intend to cross. Today I see verse 7 as a desire for change from the halls of human leadership. ‘If only our leaders would be the ones to deliver all people from the bonds of sin and death.’ Barring that, the psalmist is deeply aware that it is God who is the refuge and deliverer of those who have no voice in the direction of the future. Some people see their role as speaking out for the poor and needy while others see their role as giving the poor and needy the platform to speak for themselves. Either way, the psalmist and others look forward to a time, “When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.” October 12, 2020 LCM

Psalm Meditation 868
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
February 5, 2017

Psalm 14
1 Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good.
2 The LORD looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.
3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.
4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the LORD?
5 There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the company of the righteous.
6 You would confound the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.
7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
(NRSV)

It is tempting to paint as godless everyone who does not believe the same things I believe. That makes for a very broad brush. I have been painted with that brush by those with whom I disagree. At times I wear that label proudly as a reminder that I am not one of those folks. This psalm is not really about beliefs, it is about putting our beliefs into action. Especially, it is about caring for the poor, all of whom have a special place in God’s heart.

It is tempting to blame poverty on those who live in it. If only they acted as I do and made the choices I make they would be in my same situation. In India, the answer to this thinking has been codified into the caste system. If you are born into a particular caste you are unable to rise above your birth and it is difficult to fall into the level below. While American culture does not have a strict caste system, we do have a habit of telling people by words and actions that they need to learn their place and stay in it. At the same time we tell stories of folks who have broken the barriers and risen above their station.

God and the psalmists do not tell us that we only need to care for those who are in poverty due to some unforeseen circumstance. We are to care for the poor because they are our brothers and sisters in the family of God. There is no word of blame for the poor. Blame is cast especially on those who take advantage of the poor in any way. There is also blame on those of us who do nothing to help. My friends and colleagues who work among those in poverty say that offering handouts is a temporary solution at best. While they help the individuals and families who come to them with daily bread, they also do what they can to change attitudes and systems that keep folks enmeshed in poverty.

January 30, 2017
LCM

Psalm Meditation 760
Baptism of the Lord
January 11, 2015

Psalm 14
1 Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good.
2 The LORD looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.
3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.
4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the LORD?
5 There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the company of the righteous.
6 You would confound the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.
7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
(NRSV)

Current thinking in some circles is that we somehow deserve our lot in life. If you are poor, you have done something to get yourself there. If you are rich you deserve to be rich. If you are somewhere in between you have done something to get yourself to where you are today. It falls to each of us to make our own economic way. This system works well when we are talking about ’you,’ someone other than ’me’ or ’us.’ Once we make the conversation personal we realize that there are factors that are out of our control. There are others whose concerns do not include our well-being, who nonetheless have some say over our economic status.

Looking up from the viewpoint of poverty we wish someone was there to give us something to grab so that we could pull ourselves out of the situation in which we find ourselves. We hear the words of Deuteronomy 15:11, “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.” “ as a reminder to those who have stuff to share with those of us who are currently without. We don’t need to be coddled so much as assisted in some useful, helpful way.

The psalmist reminds us that the people of God look out for each other. We don’t blame or accuse those who have any more than we blame or accuse those who don’t. We recognize that God is not nearly as concerned with how much stuff we have, as with how we use what we do have. Do we use our resources to help those in need or do we use our stuff to feather our own nests? For the psalmist, the way to go is to help each other. We can open our hand to the poor so that folks will then help us in the event of a reversal of fortune, or we can open our hand because it is the right thing to do.

January 5, 2015
LCM