Psalm Meditation 808
Third Sunday of Advent
December 13, 2015

Psalm 22
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
8 “Commit your cause to the LORD; let him deliver—let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”
9 Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
10 On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;
15 my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me. My hands and feet have shriveled;
17 I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.
19 But you, O LORD, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog!
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD. May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
28 For dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
29 To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.
30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,
31 and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.
(NRSV)

In winter months especially, it is easy to let the darkness of a day work its way past our skin and get into the cracks and recesses of our lives. Given the proper conditions we can feel lost, abandoned, forsaken. The psalmist is going through one of these dark times and laments the infectious darkness while at the same time having an awareness of God’s presence in the past. God has been present in the community as well as in the personal details of the psalmist’s life from birth. Darkness and God’s presence wrestle for the top spot in the psalmist’s awareness.

The psalmist chooses to dwell on the presence of God and to move from the sense of having been forsaken to an awareness that God is, and has always been, a watcher over and a protector of those who feel abandoned and defeated in the face of what would otherwise be overwhelming. When we feel as if we have options, the psalmist models making the choice for God. From a sense of having been forsaken, the psalmist moves to a remembrance of the presence of God. The dark thoughts crash back in to be met again by the active engagement of God in the life of the whole community, including the psalmist.

When we are in a position to choose our feelings and mood, it is good to have this pattern from the psalm. We decide, in the midst of bearing the weight of the world, to focus on the presence of God. When the weight of the darkness worms its way back in, we re-focus on the presence of God in our own lives and in the lives of those who have taught us by word and example that God is ever available to us. As we see God at work more and more clearly the darkness of feeling forsaken fades in the light of the company and community of God and the people of God.

December 7, 2015
LCM