Psalm Meditation 993
Proper 8
June 30, 2019

Psalm 52
1 Why do you boast, O mighty one, of mischief done against the godly? All day long
2 you are plotting destruction. Your tongue is like a sharp razor, you worker of treachery.
3 You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking the truth. Selah
4 You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue.
5 But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous will see, and fear, and will laugh at the evildoer, saying,
7 “See the one who would not take refuge in God, but trusted in abundant riches, and sought refuge in wealth!”
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.
9 I will thank you forever, because of what you have done. In the presence of the faithful I will proclaim your name, for it is good.
(NRSV)

It is easy to make this about a politician, supervisor, or boss that makes us crazy. And it may well include each of the folks we picture as we read this. It is just as likely about us. If we have led someone to believe something that is more to our advantage than to theirs, we are among those the psalmist writes about. I have planned which public office holders I would have in mind as I wrote this, and then… and then I read it this morning and discovered it is about us, about me.

It is so easy to think and write about ‘those’ people. There is not much that I can do about them. I can only stand back and wait for God to break them down, snatch them from their dwellings, and uproot them from the land of the living. I can change me. I can learn that, just because I have the power to do something, doesn’t mean it is of God. If I have any part in holding someone else down; if I have any part in spreading lies, even the ones I believe, I am guilty of loving evil more than good, and lying more than speaking the truth.

Mercifully, once we realize that a psalm like this can include us among the evil doers, rather than among the righteous, we can turn to God in repentance. As we move toward God we will discover that we have taken refuge in God rather than taking refuge in the ‘stuff’ on which we have depended for our safety and security. As our refuge in God becomes more deeply established we will find it less important to boast and lie for the sake of ‘stuff,’ and look more to a deepening sense of the presence of God in all we are and do.

June 24, 2019
LCM