In the morning you hear my voice
1 Give ear to my words, O Lord;
give heed to my sighing.
2 Listen to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.
3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil will not sojourn with you.
5 The boastful will not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.
7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house,
I will bow down towards your holy temple
in awe of you.
8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.
9 For there is no truth in their mouths;
their hearts are destruction;
their throats are open graves;
they flatter with their tongues.
10 Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of their many transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
so that those who love your name may exult in you.
12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you cover them with favour as with a shield.
There is a beautiful Hebrew word that is translated as ‘steadfast love’ in the NRSVA translation being used today (vs7). It is pronounced ch-es-ed but in Romanised alphabet would be spelt hesed. This is the first time, but definitely not the last time, that it makes an appearance in the Psalter. But our English bibles serve up a very thin translation, a beautiful but tiny plateful of a word when what is required is a feast. It is a pair of words we might swallow rather two hurriedly when we hit the 106 and 107th words in Psalm 5.
To switch metaphors rather too obviously, if a covering of snow was the nature of God, this word is like a giant snowball which rolls into one word a whole load of other words. My commentary puts it this way: ‘It is difficult to translate because it rolls into one the concepts of God’s grace, mercy, compassion, patience, faithfulness, loyalty and love.’[1] We will come across it again, most famously, when we get to Psalm 23. But let us not get ahead of ourselves.
This psalm is another prayer. It begins with three verses which, in their syntax, surround God (named as ‘Lord’ in vs1 and ‘my King and my God’ in vs2) with cries and prayers and sighing and requests. How many wake up with sighs and cries and request each day? This faithful praying is rooted not in the troubles which surround the psalmist (who appears to suffer at the hands of vile, deceitful, bloodthirsty people) but in the abundant steadfast love of God. He is realistic about the storm that surrounds him, but his prayer is motivated by the character of God. And at the end, the psalmist tells of the joy of living a free life under the protective and shielding love of God. It is almost as if the psalmist, who bows down low in prayer, senses the closeness of God surrounding him or her. No social distancing with God!
Today the words of the PM reiterated the need for social distancing. On a beautiful spring day, where so many have been out and about and not keeping to this guidance, he again urged people to keep at least two metres from each other in order to play our bit in slowing down the spread of the virus in order to act with loving kindness for others. And as we heard in this evening’s Mother’s Day briefing from Downing Street, the word used with clarity was ‘shielding’. ‘We need to go further and shield the most vulnerable members of our society to save their lives,’ said Robert Jenrick, the government minister for housing and community. The practical matter of ensuring that the most vulnerable get their food and medicines was outlined so as to reduce fears of people who are from now told to stay behind closed doors for 12 weeks.
Today’s psalm concludes with the word ‘shield’. Every word in this psalm is moving us to this hopeful credal statement: that the God of faithful love and loyalty and compassion surrounds the righteous (ie those who do not act in bloodthirsty, hateful, selfish ways). The psalms often talk in very black and white terms about the righteous (ones who choose to belong to God - a 'belonging' that is simply based on the reality that they acknowledge they are not self-sufficient but are very vulnerable and needy) and the wicked/enemies (who take the law into their own hands and act without reference to the needs of the weakest in society). In this health crisis, those who become enemies of the vulnerable are those who fail to act with loving kindness. May we do all we can to shield the vulnerable.
As we surround God with our prayers, so may those who feel they are surrounded by danger discover the shielding love of God through the steadfast 'marathon-running' persistence of care needed in the coming months - a steadfast love that protects the vulnerable in very many practical ways from enemies and the careless who choose not to heed the needy but sprint away from those responsibilities.
Lord, protect us from the deceit
of flattering tongues and lying lips;
give us words of life which speak your truth
and bless your name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[1] The
New Interpreters Bible (Vol 4) © Abingdon Press 1996, pg700
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ReplyDeleteWaking up this morning the church which I have attended since birth was not open for public worship. There was no Mother Church to go to on this Mothering Sunday. There was no sacred building from where I could “make my appeal to you” in the physical company of my sisters and brothers in Christ. The early morning brought a feeling of being adrift. Yet the Lord did hear our voice as we joined in spirit from our own homes in worship and prayer for the world, the Church and all in need. God’s steadfast love compels us to be steadfast in prayer.
ReplyDeleteBut what will tomorrow morning feel like for those 1.5 million of our most vulnerable people who are now to stay in for 12 weeks? Yes they are shielded but so imprisoning unlike the free life you speak of under God’s shielding love. And for those who are not online there is even more risk of isolation. It makes me wonder why those who seem unable to socially distance themselves should be the ones to be kept at home to stop the spread of the virus and let the vulnerable be free. Such hard decisions for those in authority to be making. They need our prayers that God will lead them in his righteousness.
The evening draws to a close with a lighted candle in the window as a sign of the light and life of Jesus Christ, our sure and steadfast hope. And when the morning comes we will heed again the call to pray, and to pray, and to be constant in prayer.