Psalm Meditation 1103 Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time August 8, 2021 Psalm 21 1 In your strength the king rejoices, O Lord, and in your help how greatly he exults! 2 You have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah 3 For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold on his head. 4 He asked you for life; you gave it to him—length of days forever and ever. 5 His glory is great through your help; splendor and majesty you bestow on him. 6 You bestow on him blessings forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence. 7 For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved. 8 Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you. 9 You will make them like a fiery furnace when you appear. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them. 10 You will destroy their offspring from the earth, and their children from among humankind. 11 If they plan evil against you, if they devise mischief, they will not succeed. 12 For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows. 13 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power. (NRSV) We would like to have God at our beck and call, to give us our heart’s desire, give us cool stuff, and set fire to all of our enemies and their children. The psalmist tells us that this is how God treats the king of Israel. It is in the Bible, we have to believe that it is true, right? You can if you like, however chances are that the psalmist is celebrating a one time victory and taking it as a sign that God will continue to do these great things for the king, probably David. Having God on our instant contacts sounds pretty cool until we think what it would be like to have God able to contact us instantly and directly. Every time we gave even the slightest thought to turning from God we would get a text reminding us how much you are loved and what a bad idea our considered course of action would be. It is great to think about but probably not much fun in reality. It is no fun to realize that for many of us our daily lives are out of sync with God. It is good to know that God is interested and involved in our lives, that God loves us and wants what it best for us. It can be annoying to realize that what is best for us may not be what we would wish or hope for. We do well to live our lives as best we can, know that we are not always in accord with the ways of God, and be grateful for the forgiveness that God offers to us because we are both flawed and loved; all in the same package. August 2, 2021 LCM