Psalm Meditation 1039
Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 17, 2020

Psalm 35
1 Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!
2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and rise up to help me!
3 Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers; say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”
4 Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life. Let them be turned back and confounded who devise evil against me.
5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them on.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
7 For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life.
8 Let ruin come on them unawares. And let the net that they hid ensnare them; let them fall in it—to their ruin.
9 Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his deliverance.
10 All my bones shall say, “O Lord, who is like you? You deliver the weak from those too strong for them, the weak and needy from those who despoil them.”
11 Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me about things I do not know.
12 They repay me evil for good; my soul is forlorn.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting. I prayed with head bowed on my bosom,
14 as though I grieved for a friend or a brother; I went about as one who laments for a mother, bowed down and in mourning.
15 But at my stumbling they gathered in glee, they gathered together against me; ruffians whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing;
16 they impiously mocked more and more, gnashing at me with their teeth.
17 How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their ravages, my life from the lions!
18 Then I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19 Do not let my treacherous enemies rejoice over me, or those who hate me without cause wink the eye.
20 For they do not speak peace, but they conceive deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.
21 They open wide their mouths against me; they say, “Aha, Aha, our eyes have seen it.”
22 You have seen, O Lord; do not be silent! O Lord, do not be far from me!
23 Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defense, for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24 Vindicate me, O Lord, my God, according to your righteousness, and do not let them rejoice over me.
25 Do not let them say to themselves, “Aha, we have our heart’s desire.” Do not let them say, “We have swallowed you up.”
26 Let all those who rejoice at my calamity be put to shame and confusion; let those who exalt themselves against me be clothed with shame and dishonor.
27 Let those who desire my vindication shout for joy and be glad, and say evermore, “Great is the Lord, who delights in the welfare of his servant.”
28 Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all day long.
(NRSV)

Recognizing that the Bible is a mirror, and that we get out of it what we have to put into it, this psalm strikes me as the words of a whiner. ‘Everybody is picking on me, even after all the wonderful things I did for them. And God, if you loved me you would put all those big meanies in their place.’ Here in the middle of a pandemic, it is easy to get whiny and to expect that God will make it all right by changing all those other people and giving me a smooth route from here on.

Rarely is the fault all on one side. My wife was a much sought after substitute teacher when our children were in school. Her rule on tattling was that you had to start with what you had done to start or escalate the situation. Once students realized that they could not get someone else in trouble without getting themselves in some as well, it ruined tattling for most of them. As we begin to moan and whine to God about all the big meanies picking on us, it is a good idea to look to ourselves to see what we may have done to contribute to the problem, even how our actions may have been taken in a way we did mean them.

And God has this way of dealing with us calmly, despite our desire for the violent end to all who have wronged us most recently. And sometimes the very calmness of God can set us off again because we want violence to rain down on those people who ruined my life, or at least my day. Eventually, we do see some sense in the ways of God and we can say, ““Great is the Lord, who delights in the welfare of his servant.” Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all day long.”

May 11, 2020
LCM lcrsmanifold@att.net
http://psalmmeditations.blogspot.com/