Psalm Meditation 997
Proper 12
July 28, 2019

Psalm 28
1 To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, do not refuse to hear me, for if you are silent to me, I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplication, as I cry to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who are workers of evil, who speak peace with their neighbors, while mischief is in their hearts.
4 Repay them according to their work, and according to the evil of their deeds; repay them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward.
5 Because they do not regard the works of the Lord, or the work of his hands, he will break them down and build them up no more.
6 Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard the sound of my pleadings.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.
8 The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
9 O save your people, and bless your heritage; be their shepherd, and carry them forever.
(NRSV)

We tend to judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions. When we mess up, we know what our intentions were, so the screw up does not seem so bad. When someone else messes up, we can only see the results, so we assume that their result is what they wanted to do all along. Because all we know is the visible part, we read their motives back into their actions. On top of all that, if we like them we assign them positive motives and if we don’t we assign them negative motivations.

The psalmist knows that those seen as wicked meant to do the things that did damage. At the same time the psalmists asks not to be dragged off with those wicked people because of the relationship the psalmist has with God. ‘We are such good buddies, you couldn’t possibly do the terrible things to me that I want you to do to ‘those’ people.’ We can only hope that the psalmist is correct in assessing who is good and who is wicked.

It is a good idea to be careful in our assessment of good and evil. What we think is good can be received by another as evil. What is good for us can have a disastrous consequence for someone who was not considered in our plan. We do our best to live up to our motives, to serve God to the best of our ability, and put ourselves and others at the mercy of God.

July 22, 2019
LCM