Psalm Meditation 857
Reign of Christ Sunday
November 20, 2016

Psalm 141
I call upon you, O LORD; come quickly to me; give ear to my voice when I call to you.
2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.
3 Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not turn my heart to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with those who work iniquity; do not let me eat of their delicacies.
5 Let the righteous strike me; let the faithful correct me. Never let the oil of the wicked anoint my head, for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds.
6 When they are given over to those who shall condemn them, then they shall learn that my words were pleasant.
7 Like a rock that one breaks apart and shatters on the land, so shall their bones be strewn at the mouth of Sheol.
8 But my eyes are turned toward you, O GOD, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; do not leave me defenseless.
9 Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me, and from the snares of evildoers.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I alone escape.
(NRSV)

There are times in which it is easy to say things that are hurtful to others. Sometimes those words are true, yet spoken in a way or at a time that is not helpful. When my team beats your team in sports, politics or religion and I let you know that I won and you lost, it is not helpful. When I do all that with the aim of belittling you, that is hurtful. When you are already down and hurting and I jump in your face to remind you that you are ‘a loser’ that is probably evil.

There are times in which it is best to set a guard over my mouth and say nothing rather than make it a point to say that hurtful thing to someone who is already suffering. Perhaps when the roles were reversed I heard those hurtful things and now I am getting back at all those who hurt me before. I do well to join the psalmist in praying, “Do not turn my heart to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with those who work iniquity.”

Tables do have a way of turning. If I can keep myself from saying anything that sounds like bragging or insulting on the winning side, it is possible that I won’t hear it when I am next on the losing side. And if I do hear it, I can join the psalmist in turning toward God for a moment of refuge and respite.

November 14, 2016
LCM