Psalm Meditation 870
Seventh Sunday After Epiphany
February 19, 2017

Psalm 64
1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from the dread enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the scheming of evildoers,
3 who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows,
4 shooting from ambush at the blameless; they shoot suddenly and without fear.
5 They hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly, thinking, “Who can see us?
6 Who can search out our crimes? We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot.” For the human heart and mind are deep.
7 But God will shoot his arrow at them; they will be wounded suddenly.
8 Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake with horror.
9 Then everyone will fear; they will tell what God has brought about, and ponder what he has done.
10 Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him. Let all the upright in heart glory.
(NRSV)

It would be wonderful if God were as quick on the draw as we can be. Destroy all the evil people and get them out of our way so that we can continue to be the good people we have always been. Or, at least, the good people we intend to be. Or, the good people we think we are. What if there are people praying this psalm with us in mind? What if there are people who see as evil because of something we have done or left undone? What if there are people who believe that we have gotten what we have at their expense?

If that is the case, maybe it is a good thing that God is not as quick on the trigger as we would like when people pick on us. My sense is that people are not hated and attacked for being good people. People get attacked when there is either a perception of something wrong with those being attacked. In some cases the wrong that is perceived is a sense that the ones being attacked are other than, they are not really people, they are not really human, they do not matter to those doing the attacking. One of the best ways to get support for an attack is to convince a majority that ‘those people’ are not really people after all.

It has been going on since before this psalm was written and goes on today. People on both sides of a question or conflict will find a way to emphasize the ‘otherness’ of the people on the opposing side of the dispute. The psalmist has a great idea, “Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him. Let all the upright in heart glory.” When we turn to God we discover that there is true and false, sin and righteousness, right and wrong on every side of a conflict. As we turn to God we discover that we are in this life together and by the grace of God learn to live with those with whom we are gifted to live.

February 12, 2017
LCM