Psalm Meditation 1007
Proper 22
October 6, 2019

Psalm 5
1 Give ear to my words, O Lord; give heed to my sighing.
2 Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil will not sojourn with you.
5 The boastful will not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.
7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house, I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you.
8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.
9 For there is no truth in their mouths; their hearts are destruction; their throats are open graves; they flatter with their tongues.
10 Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of their many transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, so that those who love your name may exult in you.
12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover them with favor as with a shield.
(NRSV)

We are better at recognizing when those around us do things to earn their place in the presence of God. We might not be as good at seeing that at work in our lives. When we do something because we should, we are trying to earn someone else’s love and respect. One of my teachers said that ‘should, ought, must, and supposed to,’ rise from external influence. We do those things because someone else is driving our decision making. It could be family, friend, or boss who is pressing us to do what they want done. If we are acting because we feel as if God is pushing us, we are attempting to earn God’s love.

The other side of the expectation list is, ‘want, wish, hope, desire, and feel like’ doing things. This side of the list is from internal influence. We act because there is something within us drives our action. In between the two lists is, ‘need to, and have to.’ We ‘need to’ do something because of external influence, ‘should...’, or from something inside us, ‘want…’. On the ‘want’ side of the list we act from our own motivation. Gratitude rises from the ‘want’ side. In verse 7 of this psalm, the entering, bowing, and awe in the temple are responses to the steadfast love of God. The response is not demanded by God, it is the psalmist’s heartfelt desire in the experience of God’s love.

There are days in which we serve God and others out of sense of duty, because we can’t find the motivation within ourselves. Most days we serve God because there is something within us that is looking for a way to offer our joy and gratitude as a response to all that God does for us. The psalmist enters the temple in response to God’s steadfast love rather than out of a sense of obligation, as a way to earn the love of God. Worship and service done out of obligation leads to resentment and burn out. Worship and service done in response to God’s love leads to rejoicing, blessing, and awe.

September 30, 2019
LCM