Psalm Meditation 1109 Proper 20 September 19, 2021 Psalm 22 1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest. 3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads; 8 “Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—let him rescue the one in whom he delights!” 9 Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast. 10 On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God. 11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. 12 Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me; 13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 15 my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me. My hands and feet have shriveled; 17 I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots. 19 But you, O Lord, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid! 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog! 21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me. 22 I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: 23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! 24 For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him. 25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him. 26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. 28 For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. 29 To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him. 30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord, 31 and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it. (NRSV) ¶An old joke that resurfaces from time to time: a couple gets an evacuation order for potential flooding and says they trust God to watch over them and do nothing. As the flooding begins a police car comes by and offers to take them out, again they say that God will watch over them and do nothing. As the waters rise a rescue boat comes and offers them a ride out. ‘Thanks, God will watch over us.’ They stay in the house though they have moved to the upper floor. When the water has forced them on to the roof a helicopter comes to rescue them and they refuse that route as well. They drown. As they stand before God they complain that they trusted God and they were not saved. God responds, “I sent you an evacuation order, a car, a boat, and a helicopter, what more did you want?” ¶All of that to remind us that it may not be that the psalmist is being forsaken by God as the psalmist is ignoring the normal and natural ways that God works in our lives. There are times we feel as if we are drowning only to discover that the water comes up to our waist or knees. People do drown in very shallow water so I do not cast any blame on them in the panic state in which they find themselves. I do know that things are not always as they seem, and if we can keep our wits about us, God is at work in our lives in ways that will not seem miraculous as we tell the story to future generations. ¶The trajectory of this psalm begins with feeling forsaken, goes back and forth from praise to a new trouble and ends in a word of praise. The fact that the psalmist addresses God offers a word of hope from the beginning. The psalmist then stays in touch with God as new calamities pile on, trusting the presence of God to make in difference in the lives of the psalmist and the people of the congregation. What begins as a complaint moves to a word and sense of hope. The ending redefines the beginning as a request for assurance rather than as a complaint against God’s abandonment of the psalmist and us. “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.” ¶September 13, 2021 LCM