Psalm Meditation 1017
Third Sunday of Advent
December 15, 2019

Psalm 56
1 Be gracious to me, O God, for people trample on me; all day long foes oppress me;
2 my enemies trample on me all day long, for many fight against me. O Most High,
3 when I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I am not afraid; what can flesh do to me?
5 All day long they seek to injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They stir up strife, they lurk, they watch my steps. As they hoped to have my life,
7 so repay them for their crime; in wrath cast down the peoples, O God!
8 You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your record?
9 Then my enemies will retreat in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust; I am not afraid. What can a mere mortal do to me?
12 My vows to you I must perform, O God; I will render thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from falling, so that I may walk before God in the light of life.
(NRSV)

Most of my enemies are not people. My actual enemies are ideas. Therefore, the people I count as enemies, opponents, and adversaries are not really the enemy. If either I or they have a change of heart I can just as easily count those same people among my compatriots. With the exception of leading voices I don’t know who my enemies are by name and I am sure they do not know mine. Yet we count ourselves as enemies.

There are people we choose as enemies, people we decide to oppose at every turn for reasons that seem good at the time. If those folks have made a name for themselves in our area of interest and influence, we can oppose them face to face. Even then we are inclined to send others in to do the actual battle while we call the shots. If we get too close we may discover that there is something there worth getting to know, love, and appreciate. Chosen enemies have as much to do with who we are as who they are.

The psalmist states that no matter what, we can turn to God. Are we feeling persecuted? We can turn to God. Are we feeling ignored? We can turn to God. Are we eaten up by grief? We can turn to God. “My vows to you I must perform, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from falling, so that I may walk before God in the light of life.”


December 9, 2019
LCM