Psalm Meditation 879
Second Sunday of Easter
April 23, 2017

Psalm 35
1 Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!
2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and rise up to help me!
3 Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers; say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”
4 Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life. Let them be turned back and confounded  who devise evil against me.
5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them on.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.
7 For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life.
8 Let ruin come on them unawares. And let the net that they hid ensnare them; let them fall in it—to their ruin.
9 Then my soul shall rejoice in the LORD, exulting in his deliverance.
10 All my bones shall say, “O LORD, who is like you? You deliver the weak from those too strong for them, the weak and needy from those who despoil them.”
11 Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me about things I do not know.
12 They repay me evil for good; my soul is forlorn.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting. I prayed with head bowed on my bosom,
14 as though I grieved for a friend or a brother; I went about as one who laments for a mother, bowed down and in mourning.
15 But at my stumbling they gathered in glee, they gathered together against me; ruffians whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing;
16 they impiously mocked more and more, gnashing at me with their teeth.
17 How long, O LORD, will you look on? Rescue me from their ravages, my life from the lions!
18 Then I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19 Do not let my treacherous enemies rejoice over me, or those who hate me without cause wink the eye.
20 For they do not speak peace, but they conceive deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.
21 They open wide their mouths against me; they say, “Aha, Aha, our eyes have seen it.”
22 You have seen, O LORD; do not be silent! O Lord, do not be far from me!
23 Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defense, for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24 Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness, and do not let them rejoice over me.
25 Do not let them say to themselves, “Aha, we have our heart’s desire.” Do not let them say, “We have swallowed you up.”
26 Let all those who rejoice at my calamity be put to shame and confusion;
let those who exalt themselves against me be clothed with shame and dishonor.
27 Let those who desire my vindication shout for joy and be glad, and say evermore, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant.”
28 Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all day long.
(NRSV)

When confronted with the reality of sin in our lives most of the people I know can admit a share of guilt as they suffer the consequences of their sinful actions. Knowing that we are answerable to God, that God knows us better than we know ourselves, we can admit that we may have had a hand in our own downfall. We may even be able to accept the punishment that is a part of sin when we see this infraction as primarily between ourselves and God.

When it is between you and me, it is a different story. Yes, some of our Puritan sensibility may kick in and we will know that I must be guilty because I am human. However, you better get the lion’s share of the punishment because I know that you are more at fault than I. This is what we have in the psalm. These folks who are out to get me have got to be evil because I am such a good person and couldn’t possibly deserve any of the things they are doing to me. For that matter, any time there is a me against you situation I am going to call on God to take care of you because you couldn’t possibly be right in the eyes of God when I am on the other side of the question/problem. It is possible that the psalmist is correct in the particular case of the psalm. It may be that a good person is being persecuted for reasons unknown to the psalmist and to us, and those reasons are unfounded and vindictive. There are those who pick on others because of the goodness of that other. We can’t imagine that anyone is really as good as they come across in daily life so traps and snares are set as a test of their goodness.

Some people really are as good a people as they appear to be. They call on God because they genuinely do not understand what is happening to them. Others are not as good as they appear and they call on God to ‘take care of’ those who don’t see how wonderful they must be. So, we do well to look at both sides of these situations. Am I picking on someone just to be mean spirited and vindictive, for good reason or not? Am I being picked on by a bunch of big meanies or do I have a holier than thou attitude that drives people to pick on me or, at least, take some joy in it when others are doing the picking. Either way God loves us beyond measure and moves to correct all who need correction.

April 17, 2017
LCM