Psalm Meditation 785
Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 5, 2015

Psalm 83
1 O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
2 Even now your enemies are in tumult; those who hate you have raised their heads.
3 They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against those you protect.
4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more.”
5 They conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant—
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assyria also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. Selah
9 Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the Wadi Kishon,
10 who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let us take the pastures of God for our own possession.”
13 O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind.
14 As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15 so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your hurricane.
16 Fill their faces with shame, so that they may seek your name, O LORD.
17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace.
18 Let them know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.
(NRSV)

When YHWH was seen as a tribal deity, watching over one group of people, it was easier to know what the will of God was and who the enemies of God were. At that time YHWH wanted justice and righteousness for this one group of people and anyone who challenged the sovereignty of Israel was an enemy of both God and the people. Even then, the concept of justice and righteousness was hard to agree upon. At least the outside enemies were easy to identify; they were the folks who wanted to take the land and destroy the people who lived on the land given by YHWH.

As our concept of God broadened it became more and more difficult to see who the enemies of God were. In land wars there were people on both sides who claimed to follow the same God. We were still quick to proclaim that God was on our side even as those we fought against made the same claim. It is probably closer to the truth to say that God was with the people on both sides of the fight and was saddened that we chose such an evil way of settling our differences. There were truth and lies on both sides, as has often been the case.

While there are still the life and death battles of guns and bombs over resources, we also have battles of ideas as to what constitutes justice and righteousness. It is quite likely that there is sincerity on every side as we declare that we have the complete word of God in this matter. Here is where the difficulty arises. If one person or group can plumb the depths of the mind of God on any question we have a god that is too small to meet all the complexities of life as it has always been. The task we have before us is to refuse to draw hard lines about God’s truth in our discussions and disagreements. There is a kernel of truth, a word of justice and righteousness in each argument and idea. It is a process of listening to each other, a refusal to pick sides, all while keeping our hearts tuned to God.

June 29, 2015
LCM lcrsmanifold@att.net
http://psalmmeditations.blogspot.com/