Psalm Meditation 936
Trinity Sunday
May 27, 2018

Psalm 86
1 Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God;
3 be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all day long.
4 Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.
6 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication.
7 In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me.
8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
14 O God, the insolent rise up against me; a band of ruffians seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant; save the child of your serving girl.
17 Show me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
(NRSV)

Some days it seems as if my prayers rise up to emptiness rather than rising up to God. On those days it seems that God is, as defined by people in Sir Isaac Newton’s day, “the unmoved mover,” who set Creation in motion and then stepped back to watch it run without interference. In at least one read through, the psalmist is also worried that God is not listening to the cries of one who is poor and needy. Sometimes we keep piling up words and phrases in hopes of being heard.

In a more positive reading, the psalmist is giving praise for all that God is already doing; preserving life, gladdening the soul, loving and forgiving to name a few. God is already at work offering protection from the ‘band of ruffians’ seeking the psalmist’s life. And the psalmist gives thanks and glorifies God, no matter what. Any negativity gives way to the comforting assurance that God is actively present in each one of our lives.

Prayer is relational. When we pray for ourselves as the psalmist does here, we participate in a relationship with God. When we pray for others, we join with God in a relationship with the ones for whom we pray. We offer our concern to God who acts in the lives of those for whom we pray. At the same time God points us to those things we can do for those for whom we pray.

May 21, 2018
LCM