Psalm Meditation 916
First Sunday After the Epiphany
January 7, 2018

Psalm 30
1 I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.
3 O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
7 By your favor, O LORD, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed.
8 To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication:
9 “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!”
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
(NRSV)

To go from suffering to rejoicing is a good thing. To know that God had a hand in bringing about the good things makes it all that much better. Going through a rough patch in which it seems that there is no way to turn things around is draining and isolating. We are sure that no one has been through anything quite like this and that our suffering is unique in scope. True, suffering is unique to the person going through it even as we experience the same event as those around us. It is isolating to know that no one has suffered this event in this way.

At some point we find a way to peek out of the isolation to see that others have suffered fates similar to ours. When we see that they too are moving from isolation to something new we offer ourselves to each other for companionship on this new journey. Perhaps we discover the presence of God within ourselves, perhaps we discover God in our companionship. Somehow I am reminded of a Latin phrase, “Vocatus atque non vocatus Deus aderit “ “Bidden or unbidden God is there. Whether we know it or not, whether we recognize it or not, God is with us in the good and the bad of our lives.

The psalmist is aware that God is present in the current state of affairs. Things were going badly and now they have turned around. God is in that turn around. The psalmist is also aware that God was present as things went from good to bad. In the psalmist’s mind God was an active cause in both directions. I do not need to see God as a cause for either good or bad in life. I am content to know that God is present, loving me in ways that prod me to live with the assurance, “Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”

January 1, 2018
LCM