Psalm Meditation 1013
Proper 28
November 17, 2019

Psalm 6
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.
3 My soul also is struck with terror, while you, O Lord—how long?
4 Turn, O Lord, save my life; deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who can give you praise?
6 I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.
7 My eyes waste away because of grief; they grow weak because of all my foes.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror; they shall turn back, and in a moment be put to shame.
(NRSV)

When we feel abandoned or disciplined by God our temptation is to bargain with God, to go through the list of things we will do and the ways we will act if God will get us out of this. At our best we probably realize that our promises hold as much water as a stereotypical political promise. We tell God what sounds good, what we are willing to do forever in the pressure of the moment, and will lose incentive to do once we are back on solid footing with God and the world.

The interesting thing in this psalm is that the psalmist doesn’t make promises, there is a reminder of what God would be missing in the event of the psalmists death. “For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who can give you praise?” God is treated as a ruler who is more interested in personal gain than in serving those being ruled. The psalmist reminds God, ‘I can’t praise you if I am dead, especially in the nothingness of Sheol.’ The bargaining is not, ‘here’s what I will do.’ the bargaining is, ‘here is what you will miss if you let me go.’

No matter what our image of God may be we are tempted to negotiate when things are not going our way. I imagine that God is not swayed by our negotiating skills as much as by the steadfast love with which God surrounds us on a full time basis. God is aware of the sincerity of our promises in the moment as well as how easily we will forget them as soon as things smooth out for us. God is aware of what will be missing if we are no longer able to offer our praise to God. As much as God enjoys the comradery of our time together, threatening to withhold our praise is not what gets God to act in our favor. God loves us beyond measure and offers it to us in every time and place, sometimes we notice.

November 11, 2019
LCM