Psalm Meditation 953
Proper 20
September 23, 2018

Psalm 109
1 Do not be silent, O God of my praise.
2 For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues.
3 They beset me with words of hate, and attack me without cause.
4 In return for my love they accuse me, even while I make prayer for them.
5 So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 They say, “Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand on his right.
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin.
8 May his days be few; may another seize his position.
9 May his children be orphans, and his wife a widow.
10 May his children wander about and beg; may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit.
11 May the creditor seize all that he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil.
12 May there be no one to do him a kindness, nor anyone to pity his orphaned children.
13 May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation.
14 May the iniquity of his father be remembered before the LORD , and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the LORD continually, and may his memory be cut off from the earth.
16 For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted to their death.
17 He loved to curse; let curses come on him. He did not like blessing; may it be far from him.
18 He clothed himself with cursing as his coat, may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones.
19 May it be like a garment that he wraps around himself, like a belt that he wears every day.”
20 May that be the reward of my accusers from the LORD , of those who speak evil against my life.
21 But you, O Lord my Lord, act on my behalf for your name’s sake; because your steadfast love is good, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is pierced within me.
23 I am gone like a shadow at evening; I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting; my body has become gaunt.
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O LORD my God! Save me according to your steadfast love.
27 Let them know that this is your hand; you, O LORD , have done it.
28 Let them curse, but you will bless. Let my assailants be put to shame; may your servant be glad.
29 May my accusers be clothed with dishonor; may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a mantle.
30 With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD ; I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save them from those who would condemn them to death.
(NRSV)

It is easy to get into accusation matches, blaming those around us for the evil that comes to us. If we listen closely we discover that many of those same accusations are being used against us by the very people we are accusing. In some cases we are simply copying the charges that others level against us, in most cases both sides are mutually guilty. We have done and sad bad things about the other because ‘they started it.’ One side either starts out with more power or is able to shift the power dynamic by bringing in allies and supporters who believe that they are the wronged party.

The psalmist brings God into the mix. God has a way of sorting through the messy situations we find ourselves in. There is something fair and impartial about God, something that won’t let us take an accusation against another farther than it needs to go. An elementary teacher I know used to short circuit the tattling that runs rampant through elementary classes by asking the student doing the tattling how they had contributed to the situation. ‘What did you do to start or continue to the situation you are trying to get someone else in trouble for?’ Denial was the first response; when pressed they could let the teacher know what they had done to keep the conflict going to the point that someone needed to intervene to put a stop to it. God has a way of keeping an eye on each one of us, already knowing how we participated in the escalation of the conflict, and bringing us to repentance and forgiveness.

There are situations in which one party is singled out so that those in power can exercise their dominance over the people around them. Some people are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and they get chosen as the target of the influential and powerful people around them. Other times we add fuel to a fire that would have gone out on its own if we had only let it. Either way it is good to bring God into the situation. Looking through the eyes of God we can see where we need to lean on God for the strength to face the evil tide in which we have been taken up, and where we need to offer those around us our own repentance for our evil acts and forgiveness for those evil done against us. Either way God, “stands at the right hand of the needy, to save them from those who would condemn them to death.”

September 17, 2018
LCM