Psalm Meditation 1000
Proper 15
August 18, 2019

Psalm 79
1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2 They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the air for food, the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth.
3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.
4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.
5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?
6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.
8 Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake.
10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes.
11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power preserve those doomed to die.
12 Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors the taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord!
13 Then we your people, the flock of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
(NRSV)

Israel was beat up and bullied by the surrounding nations more often than it was victorious over them. This psalm recounts one of those times. The nation had been overrun, Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple was defiled. The people had been killed in the streets and the bodies left unburied. It was not the outcome anyone in Israel wanted. The assumption is that God was angry with them and stepped out of the way so the nation could be devastated. The psalmist is ready for God to turn that fierce anger to the surrounding nations who have done such damage to God’s chosen people.

The psalmist is aware of the presence of sin, otherwise God would not allow these neighboring enemies to overrun the nation. There is no confession of sin, only the acknowledgement of it. The psalmist, and probably the rest of the nation, are ready for all the destruction to be finished. If God will deliver them from these wages of sin, they will tell each other, and generations to come, that God is good and glorious.

Whether we are being bullied or are guilty of being the bully we do well to turn to God. We then open ourselves to receive the comforting presence of God or the gracious judgement that comes from God. Chances are the we have our occasions of each. Either way, if we are moving toward God to the best of our ability, we will find that God is with us. “Then we your people, the flock of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.”

August 12, 2019
LCM