Psalm Meditation 889
Proper 8
July 2, 2017

Psalm 81
1 Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
2 Raise a song, sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our festal day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph, when he went out over the land of Egypt. I hear a voice I had not known:
6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you called, and I rescued you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you; O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.
13 O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their doom would last forever.
16 I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
(NRSV)

Humans seem to like the idea of one or more divine beings watching over us and teaching us how to live with each other, and maybe even those who are not like us. Prophets and teachers rise up to show us what it means to live in the presence of the holy ones who desire, and sometimes demand, our love and allegiance. And we are grateful to hear these voices and the advice and admonitions they offer to us as people of faith and practice. Our gratitude does have its limits. There comes a time when we would rather live our lives on our own terms.

In these times we look around for a set of divine beings who ask a little less of us, and in some cases ask more of us. In the case of the psalmist, there comes a realization that the people of Israel have moved away from the God of their ancestors and have taken to doing things their own way. They may continue to say that they are acting in the name of God, however their actions bear no resemblance to the ways they were taught as the ways of their God. The psalmist hears the voice of God saying that if people would return to the ways they were taught in previous generations there would not be the troubles they now face.

If only the Israelites were the only ones who ever rounded the edges and dulled the sharpness of their faith and faithfulness. I hope in most cases these things happen by inaction and inattention. There are times in which people knowingly twist the word and ways of God to suit their fancy. Because it is an easier way, a more agreeable way, no one bothers to mention that it is not God’s way by any stretch of the imagination. And so, God continues to call us back to lives of faith and action based on the word and work of God.

June 26, 2017
LCM