Psalm Meditation 918
Third Sunday After Epiphany
January 21, 2018

Psalm 80
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us!
3 Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
4 O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches;
11 it sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River.
12 Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.
14 Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,
15 the stock that your right hand planted.
16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18 Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
(NRSV)

The psalm appears to have been written at a time in which the borders were under regular attack. It was probably not an army, but small bands of marauders, who would work the edges of the nation raiding what they could as their own need arose. Some of the raiding parties were larger than others. These ran through the nation like a boar runs through a vineyard, destroying everything in the wide path it leaves. In the midst of this the psalmist cries out to God for relief.

The psalmist reminds God that this nation was planted after the land was cleared and the way prepared by the hand of God. From there the nation has spread out to fill the space available to them. This current trouble must be because God is not paying attention. If only God would turn and empower the ruler to drive all these annoyances from the land. ‘And, if you, O God, will meet our needs for safety and security we will be true to you forever.’

Does God get distracted? God is not distractible, God is always paying attention and is always with us. Is God to blame when our lives don’t go as we would have planned them? God is not a puppet master who maps out our lives and sees that we live out the script written for us. Is God’s behavior negotiable, can we get God to do what we want by acting in certain ways? God is God, driven by decisions and priorities beyond our ability to understand. Through it all God is with us, loving us.

January 15, 2018
LCM