Psalm Meditation 1004
Proper 19
September 15, 2019

Psalm 129
1 “Often have they attacked me from my youth”—let Israel now say—
2 “often have they attacked me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed on my back; they made their furrows long.”
4 The Lord is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward.
6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops that withers before it grows up,
7 with which reapers do not fill their hands or binders of sheaves their arms,
8 while those who pass by do not say, “The blessing of the Lord be upon you! We bless you in the name of the Lord!”
(NRSV)

The phrase that jumped out at me for today is, “yet they have not prevailed against me.” When we have been attacked, whether it be physically, spiritually, or emotionally, the temptation is to see ourselves as victims. We feel beaten down and defeated, as if we will never be able to survive another onslaught on that level. That may or may not be true. What is important for this time, for today, is that we survived. Our adversary has beaten us and is still standing, however, we are alive, we have not been completely defeated. We are able to be cared for, alone or with help, in a way that will get us back on our feet.

We are not unchanged or unscathed. We have been broken and defeated, “yet they have not prevailed against me.” We will need some time to heal, and to do that we will need support. One of the supports we can count on is the presence of God. While the psalmist says that God will deal with those who have hurt us, I believe it is more important to realize that God is with us. God becomes our chief supporter, holding on to us in the face of this attack. We will never see the world through the lens we once used, our innocence is gone, and our trust has a mature nuance to it. However, we feel the hand of God holding us as we move from innocence to maturity.

It is likely that we will join the psalmist in encouraging God to go get all the folks responsible for our pain and suffering. We will look on their destruction with a certain glee. And then we will discover that God does not work that way. God is not one we can call upon to destroy our enemies with fire and violence. If we could, how many of our adversaries would have called down fire and violence on us? Nope, God works through healing presence, through grace, through peace, through love. We can ask God to rain fire on our enemies, and it will not happen because God does not work that way. God will hold us closer and whisper the reminder, “yet they have not prevailed against me.”

September 9, 2019
LCM