Psalm Meditation 919
Fourth Sunday After Epiphany
January 28, 2018

Psalm 71
1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me, and those who watch for my life consult together.
11 They say, “Pursue and seize that person whom God has forsaken, for there is no one to deliver.”
12 O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!
13 Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed; let those who seek to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14 But I will hope continually, and will praise you yet more and more.
15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all day long, though their number is past my knowledge.
16 I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD, I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.
17 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come. Your power
19 and your righteousness, O God, reach the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?
20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my honor, and comfort me once again.
22 I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have rescued.
24 All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help, for those who tried to do me harm have been put to shame, and disgraced.
(NRSV)

We like to know that even when we are in the wrong, we are not completely wrong. The psalmist wants the assurance that even in the midst of being hounded and harried, accused of being abandoned by God, that God is present. With the words, “Pursue and seize that person whom God has forsaken, for there is no one to deliver,” hanging in the air the psalmist knows that God is not one to forsake us in time of need. Even when we are guilty and in need of correction God does not abandon us. Even when we feel abandoned and left on our own God is with us.

Whether God is present or absent, near or far, the psalmist will continue to give God praise and will continue to celebrate the mighty deeds God performs in the world around us. Even if the psalmist gets no benefit from the goodness of God the praises and witness to the power of God will continue for as long as possible. At the same time there is confidence that God will act, will redeem, and will restore the psalmist to a place of honor and comfort.

I am aware that we read our own theological and cultural leanings into the biblical text. When we do that we get to avoid some of the harsh realities of the original context. In other cases we miss the richness of faithfulness in the people of God. It gives us the opportunity to explain away the violence of the text even though people may have been seized and punished because it appeared that they had been abandoned by God. We miss the richness of a faithfulness that clings to God when things are going well and when things are going badly, when it appears that we are abandoned and alone. Even then the psalmist praises God.

January 22, 2018
LCM