Psalm Meditation 804
Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
November 15, 2015

Psalm 30
1 I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.
3 O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
7 By your favor, O LORD, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed.
8 To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication:
9 “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!”
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
(NRSV)

Our foes are not always other people and they are not always outside of us. Some folks have internal foes along the lines of illness and disease, others have foes that shout out fears and inadequacies more loudly than any other internal voices. Illnesses and diseases can drain us of our strength and energy in such a way that we can’t bring ourselves to do anything. I have heard that, in cases of serious illnesses, we are not fighting an illness we are the battleground on which the battle is fought between disease and medicine.
Those who go up against fears and anxieties can be drained as easily as those whose battles are with outside forces.

The psalmist thanks God for deliverance from a bout with something that could have been fatal. There is also the recognition that this was punishment for sinful arrogance on the part of the psalmist. By turning to God in this time of distress, not only has the illness been removed there is a companion healing of the sin that brought on the illness in the first place. There is both physical healing and a restoration of the broken relationship between the psalmist and God.

While we no longer see every illness as a punishment for sin, we can continue to turn to God for comfort in the face of any and all foes. With different knowledge and several more years of experience, we see God as present with us in every time and place rather than the cause of our disease or prosperity. God continues to turn mourning into dancing, sorrow into joy and to be with us in every time and circumstance of life.

November 9, 2015
LCM