Psalm Meditation 1284 ¶Third Sunday After Epiphany ¶January 26, 2025 ¶Psalm 7 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%207&version=NRSVUE (NRSVUE) ¶It is cause for great celebration when it appears that God has risen up to give our enemies their just deserts. When they suffer all manner of disasters, both of natural and human origin, we celebrate their losses. They are getting what they deserve, what we would mete out to them if it were in our power to do so. It is wonderful to see God take an active role in the revenge that we wished on our enemies and adversaries. We rejoice that God heard our prayers and rained down death and destruction on the bad people. ¶However, when disaster strikes us and those we love, we are left to wonder why this could possibly be happening to us. We are good people; just ask us. God couldn’t possibly have anything against us because we are the good and righteous people, who do all the good and righteous things, at least most of the time. And all those people who are celebrating our calamity are just perpetuating the evil we always knew they were capable of practicing. It is neither right nor fair that ‘those’ people believe we are being punished by God. ¶The psalmist had the advantage over us of believing that every nation had a deity of their own who waged war on behalf of their own people. As we take the monotheism we profess seriously we see that one God watches over each and all of us. So, perhaps God does not mete out the punishments we deserve, rather allows us to reap the consequences of our own actions. Or, as one of my mentors said, “We are not punished for our sin, so much as we are punished by our sin.” Rather than being quick to judge those who suffer as evil, we do well to pray for all who suffer and do what we can to alleviate that suffering. ¶January 20, 2025 ¶LCM