Psalm Meditation 1072 Epiphany Sunday January 3, 2021 Psalm 91 1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, 2 will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” 3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; 4 he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. 5 You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day, 6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8 You will only look with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. 9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place, 10 no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. 12 On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot. 14 Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. 15 When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them. 16 With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation. (NRSV) In every time and place there are folks who will find and make ways to test our love and loyalty. In times of stress and trauma these folks seem to need to test our loyalty more deeply and more regularly. There are those who will test the limits of this psalm on a regular basis. There are congregations in which the faithful will handle venomous snakes for a variety of reasons. I can only guess what those reasons might be. It seems that some handle snakes in worship as a way to demonstrate their faith, while others do it to test the faithfulness of God in the face of danger. Those who don’t handle snakes have other ways of demonstrating faith or testing God. Making bargains with or making demands on God are a couple of the ways many of us have been known to test the limits of God’s love for us. “If you do this for me, I will do that for you.” is a familiar bargaining method. It usually requires God to stretch the laws of Creation to the breaking point or beyond. And our reaction to God’s action places some regular inconvenience in our path. “God, you need to do this for us because we told all our friends you would, and we would hate for you to look bad in front of all these people.” goes beyond bargaining to demanding that God act. And if our demands are met we do not give thanks to God, we give an ‘I told you so,’ look to our friends. God loves us without condition and will be with us through all of the calamities and traumas that happen in our lives. If we get sick or hurt it does not mean that God has abandoned us. God is with us through it all. God will always be ready as a solid refuge from all of our troubles and trials, just as God is with us in each of our moments of joy and ease. We may not be rescued from trial the way we ask or expect, however, God is with us. “When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them.” December 28, 2020 LCM