Psalm Meditation 767
Second Sunday in Lent
March 1, 2015

Psalm 86
1 Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God;
3 be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all day long.
4 Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.
6 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication.
7 In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me.
8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
14 O God, the insolent rise up against me; a band of ruffians seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant; save the child of your serving girl.
17 Show me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
(NRSV)

Isn’t it interesting that the psalmist asks God to, “Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me…” as if it is God who is not paying attention. While ancient thought would have been inclined to assume that it was God who was inattentive, we have broadened and deepened our understanding of who God is. While we know in our heads and hearts that God is always present and aware, we have each been known to lose track of that bit of truth in the midst of a crisis or a bump in the road. Human nature seems to allow us the option of knowing that it is the other party who is at fault in the event of a conflict.

How often have we been guilty of talking past each other, giving all the responsibility to the other to listen, to hear, to change? Our default assumption is that we have to choose sides in which one of us is completely in the right and you, of course, are totally in the wrong. Since God is not inclined to communicate with us in a standard ‘voice of God,’ we are that much more likely to see God as the one at fault. God is a much better listener than we are used to encountering. Our expectation is that we will be interrupted with a solution which we can pick apart and wait for the rebuttal.

God seems to listen to us until we are ready to receive the word God has for us. The word of God is not so much right or wrong as it is true. We can disagree, dispute and argue with the word God offers to us, however it seems to stand no matter what. The psalmist asks for a sign from God that will shame critics, naysayers and adversaries. Instead, we are offered a word that connects us to God and the people of God in such a way that we are no longer dissuaded from our God relationship by any amount of negativity.

February 25, 2015
LCM