Psalm Meditation 1108 Proper 19 September 12, 2021 Psalm 97 1 The Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! 2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 3 Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side. 4 His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. 5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory. 7 All worshipers of images are put to shame, those who make their boast in worthless idols; all gods bow down before him. 8 Zion hears and is glad, and the towns of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O God. 9 For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. 10 The Lord loves those who hate evil; he guards the lives of his faithful; he rescues them from the hand of the wicked. 11 Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. 12 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name! (NRSV) ¶Verse 10 has an alternate translation in the notes, “You who love the Lord hate evil.” It is the two sides of one coin. God’s love is showered on those who hate evil, and those who love God also hate evil. God’s love comes first. It is our whole reason for being. We are born out of God’s love to give it a focus and object. The loneliness of God from the creation story in Genesis rises out of the desire of God to have a focus for all of the love that God has to offer. ¶The alternate reading puts some responsibility on each of us. We can hold opposing views, even loves, in our lives, though we do have to choose a priority that will shift and change from time to time. When we find ourselves loving God, we find that we are opposed to evil. When we turn to evil we either have to redefine God in our image or turn away all together. With either reading the psalmist points us to the love of God as more lasting than the love of and participation in evil. ¶‘The Lord loves those who hate evil,’ can be seen as a limit to God’s love. I believe that God loves each and all of us, so this statement is not a limit on God as much as a limit on our ability/willingness to experience God’s love in our lives. When our hearts turn to evil, God gets crowded out and ignored rather than hated. No matter what, God loves us. “The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory.” September 6, 2021 LCM