Psalms for Turbulent Times - Psalm 39: My hope is in you

Psalm 39

The Goodman Family, Friday Night Dinner Channel Four

¹    I said, ‘I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue;
     I will keep a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence.’
²    I was silent and still; I held my peace to no avail; my distress grew worse,
³   my heart became hot within me.
     While I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:
⁴    ‘Lord, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days;
     let me know how fleeting my life is.
⁵   You have made my days a few handbreadths,
    and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.
    Surely everyone stands as a mere breath.  
⁶  Surely everyone goes about like a shadow.
    Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
    they heap up, and do not know who will gather.
⁷   ‘And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.
⁸    Deliver me from all my transgressions.
     Do not make me the scorn of the fool.
⁹     I am silent; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it.
¹⁰  Remove your stroke from me;
     I am worn down by the blows of your hand.
¹¹  ‘You chastise mortals in punishment for sin,
     consuming like a moth what is dear to them;
      surely everyone is a mere breath.  
¹² ‘Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry;
      do not hold your peace at my tears.
      For I am your passing guest, an alien, like all my forebears.
¹³  Turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again,
      before I depart and am no more.’

This is a complex and unusual psalm. At its heart is a study and acceptance of mortality. As with the previous psalm, this is a theological journey from despair to hope rooted in the experience of unexplained bodily afflictions. The suffering and fleetingness of life leads the writer to link these things with God. He or she has a sense of being ‘consumed’ by God’s punishment for unnamed sins. Yet again, there is an uncomfortable connection (to modern ears, perhaps) between sinfulness and the punishment of God experienced as illness or suffering.

The psalm starts with the plaintiff deciding they are not going to speak out about their suffering. They are not going to blame God. They are not going to question it (vs1-3). But it all becomes too much. The silence acceptance of the suffering does not work. It causes inner pain. There’s an elephant in the room and it needs calling out. But the psalmist does not want ‘the wicked’ to join in a finger-pointing exercise (vs1). It seems that going down the route of blaming God in their presence will only serve their intentions of denying God. But, what the Hebrew bible teaches us in the end – and especially the psalms – is that it is important to wrestle faithfully with God rather than dismiss God’s involvement or blame God.

So, this ill and suffering person breaks their silence. It has been building up like a hot volcano in them. They need to articulate their questions. They cannot hold back any longer. And out comes the big question: ‘How long am I going to live for?’

In an episode of Friday Night Dinner, the hit Channel Four comedy of a secular Jewish family meeting weekly for their Sabbat meal, it is the birthday of Martin Goodman. He is the middle-aged father of two young adult boys, Adam and Jonny and is married to Jackie. He walks around the house, mostly not wearing a shirt, often with a calculator to hand always doing silly sums. He has found some kind of statistical analysis that predicts the ‘death days’ of all his relatives, his wife’s and sons’ included.  They don’t want to know. But he tells them anyway! He is particularly peeved that he is predicted to die in 2048, two years before a colony of humans might be established on Mars. Jackie, Adam and Jonny are horrified by the dates, yet strangely fascinated. I guess we all are. Yet we don’t want to know, understandably.

In confronting his own mortality, the psalmist chases his thoughts down several despairing tunnels – surely our life is but a mere breath; surely we are shadows and phantoms of reality; surely all our turmoil is for nothing (vs5-6). The circumstances of his or her life has created an existential crisis of great magnitude. But rather than rail against God in anger, the psalmist choses a different path. And in verse 7, at the epicentre of the anguish and the poem, comes his only answer: ‘And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.’

Silence leads to truthful speech. Despair leads to hope worth waiting for. Loss of control leads to a trusting perspective. This trusting perspective even articulates an apparently contradictory request. The psalmist does not ask God to turn God’s face towards him or her, as might normally be expected. With radical confidence, the psalmist asks God to ‘turn his gaze away’ so that he or she may smile again. What are we to make of this?

Walter Brueggemann says this: ‘The Psalm evidences courage and ego strength before Yahweh which permits an act of hope, expectant imperatives, and an insistence that things be changed before it is too late.’[1] The psalms in general, and this psalm in particular, encourage honesty and a strong sense of standing up before God rather than living passively and fatalistically.

We are not to know the time of our death. But we are to live life with courage and hope – even if that means asking God to leave us alone so we can smile again. The fact that the psalmist asks God to do this shows a tremendous sense of worth in God’s eyes and a willingness to speak out with courage rather than hide cringingly, as if God is a despot. I have huge admiration for this psalmist. I would like to spend time with them and talk with them over a meal – perhaps a Friday Night Dinner. I just don’t want to know the span of my life: that is for God, alone, to hold and handle.

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[1] Walter Brueggemann, ‘The Costly Loss of Lament’ Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 36 (1980), p66 [Quoted in The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Vol IV, p 839]

Psalms for Turbulent Times - Psalm 38: There is no soundness in my flesh

Psalm 38[1]

¹ Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.
² Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me.
³ Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
    there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.
⁴ My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.

⁵ My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.
⁶ I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning.
⁷ My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body.
⁸ I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.

⁹ All my longings lie open before you, Lord: 

my sighing is not hidden from you.
¹⁰ My heart pounds, my strength fails me;

 even the light has gone from my eyes.
¹¹ My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
    my neighbours stay far away.
¹² Those who want to kill me set their traps,
    those who would harm me talk of my ruin; 

all day long they scheme and lie.

¹³ I am like the deaf, who cannot hear, like the mute, who cannot speak;
¹⁴ I have become like one who does not hear,

whose mouth can offer no reply.
¹⁵ Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.
¹⁶ For I said, ‘Do not let them gloat

or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.’

¹⁷ For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me.
¹⁸ I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.
¹⁹ Many have become my enemies without cause;
    those who hate me without reason are numerous.
²⁰ Those who repay my good with evil lodge accusations against me,
    though I seek only to do what is good.

²¹ Lord, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God.
²² Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Saviour.



This is a more troubling psalm. For it seems to equate sickness and suffering with divine judgment and punishment for sins committed by the ill psalmist (vs1-2).



The totality of the suffering and the sovereignty of God come into contact through aching bones, festering sores, searing pain, failing sight and a sense of being crushed mentally and spiritually. The psalmist seems to have every possible ailment. Friends, family and foes are keeping well away. Social distancing in their hands seems to be both self-protection and a weapon of isolation.



And then, in the middle of this unutterably horrible suffering, comes, in verse 15, the familiar voice of trust: ‘Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.’ There is penitence in the cry of the psalmist. The suffering does draw his thoughts to his own sinfulness; like an amplifier, his body speaks to his soul's discomfort too. This is something that happens to all of us in the grip of serious illness. Our body's ill health speaks to our soul and strips bear who we are. But for the psalmist, this humbling of the soul through the humbling of the body does not strip him or her of hope. For at the end of the psalm comes these verses: ‘Lord, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God. Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Saviour.’



The belief that sickness and suffering can be explained as God’s punishment is very problematic, yet occasionally present, in the bible. However, there are also many examples of the counter-position. Perhaps this is most supremely told as a story in the book of Job. Job suffers appallingly. He loses health, wealth, family and status in a series of catastrophic disasters. Yet despite his horrible and nightmarish afflictions, Job contends with his ‘friends’ and with God against the idea that his particular suffering and misfortune was due to sins or a result of divine punishment. And in the end he is vindicated. His theology is not based on punishment and retribution but upon awe and wonder and trust in God as supreme creator and just governor.



On the other hand, we also know that we do suffer because of decisions we, or others, make. We know that sinful societal structures cause injustice that lead to great harms and individual suffering. We know there is a link between sin and suffering and the choices that powerful and malign forces can make which damage the neediest, poorest and least powerful of all.



But the Jesus-inspired response is not to blame people for their suffering or to punish them for their suffering but to reach out in their suffering. This is the message of the cross of Jesus after all. He takes our suffering and bears it. This is the God whom the psalmist eventually turns to in those final verses – not a God of punishment but a God of hope. 

The last word of the psalm is of a future which involves rescue and deliverance not one that looks back over the suffering.  Disaster does not have the final word. Relationship does: ‘Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Saviour.’

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[1] New International Version - UK (NIVUK) Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®

Psalms for Turbulent Times - Psalm 37: Trust in the Lord and do good

Psalm 37[1]

¹ Do not fret because of those who are evil
    or be envious of those who do wrong;
² for like the grass they will soon wither,
    like green plants they will soon die away.
³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
⁵ Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ he will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
    your vindication like the noonday sun.
⁷ Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
    when they carry out their wicked schemes.
⁸ Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
    do not fret – it leads only to evil.
⁹ For those who are evil will be destroyed,
    but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
¹⁰ A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
    though you look for them, they will not be found.
¹¹ But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.
¹² The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them;
¹³ but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.
¹⁴ The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow
  to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.
¹⁵ But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
    and their bows will be broken.
¹⁶ Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked;
¹⁷ for the power of the wicked will be broken,
    but the Lord upholds the righteous.
¹⁸ The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care,
    and their inheritance will endure for ever.
¹⁹ In times of disaster they will not wither;
in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.
²⁰ But the wicked will perish:
    though the Lord’s enemies are like the flowers of the field,
    they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke.
²¹ The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously;
²² those the Lord blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be destroyed.
²³ The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him;
²⁴ though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
²⁵ I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.
²⁶ They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be a blessing.
²⁷ Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land for ever.
²⁸ For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.
Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed;
The offspring of the wicked will perish.
²⁹ The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it for ever.
³⁰ The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,
    and their tongues speak what is just.
³¹ The law of their God is in their hearts; their feet do not slip.
³² The wicked lie in wait for the righteous,
    intent on putting them to death;
³³ but the Lord will not leave them in the power of the wicked
    or let them be condemned when brought to trial.
³⁴ Hope in the Lord and keep his way.
He will exalt you to inherit the land;
    when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it.
³⁵ I have seen a wicked and ruthless man
flourishing like a luxuriant native tree,
³⁶ but he soon passed away and was no more;
   though I looked for him, he could not be found.
³⁷ Consider the blameless, observe the upright;
    a future awaits those who seek peace.
³⁸ But all sinners will be destroyed; there will be no future for the wicked.
³⁹ The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;
    he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
⁴⁰ The Lord helps them and delivers them;
    he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
    because they take refuge in him.

Here’s a psalm that deals with the problem of evil and the apparent prosperity of those who choose that path of life. It is a challenge faced head on by the writer. And the psalm he or she writes, agrees: yes the wicked do seem to prosper… for now.

But the psalm is also future-looking and sees an expanse of time and history beyond the narrowness of yesterday and today. The theological term is ‘eschatological’. The psalm presents the truth that God is sovereign and God’s justice knows no end. Although in real time God’s justice does not always seem to be more powerful. Yet, in order to live in the truth of God’s reign, the psalmist presents the clear pathway: let God be God, and don’t worry about the apparent prosperity of the wicked. For fretting, says the psalmist, is the first step which leads the righteous down the path of evil. Handing over power to God, even when you are most powerless, is the only path that leads to peace. But isn’t this a bit fatalistic? Doesn’t this attitude encourage a shrug of the shoulders and a blind eye to injustice? Isn’t this attitude, frankly, a bit pathetic? Shouldn’t the unjust ways of the wicked by challenged, rebelled against, overturned? Surely, that’s why we have laws – to hold the corrupt, the greedy, the violent and the brutal to account? What kind of turn-the-other-cheek, meek, even weak, way of living is this?

Psalm 37 is one of the psalms classified by scholars as a ‘wisdom’ psalm. It is full of sage advice (like Psalm 1) about the difference between the path of life and the path of death. It sets out two very clear ways of life. And it urges the humble person to choose the path of life – which is to do with living by faith and hope. It is about being cool minded, not hot headed. It is about waiting calmly rather than acting impetuously. It is about the long view rather than the short-term gain. It is about doing good even when doing evil seems to reap instant rewards. It is about discovering a peace that the world cannot give (John 14.7) rather than a piece of the action. This psalm suggests that there are to distinct and clear paths to choose between – the righteous way and the evil way.

During this lockdown phase of life, we, like a lot of households across the UK, have got a Netflix subscription for the first time. I have been watching Ozark. It tells the story of an apparently boring suburban family – Dad Marty is an accountant, Mum Wendy used to work on political campaigns before having two children, Charlotte (15) and Jonah (12). They are from Chicago. But they are far from boring.

It turns out Marty has been laundering earnings of a Mexican drug cartel for 10 years. Suddenly, overnight, they up sticks from Chicago and head to a Lakeland region of Missouri – The Ozarks – to begin a new life. But trouble follows them. They are totally in debt to the cartel and in order to save their lives have to sell their soul. Of course, deceit and lies surround them, cloak them, and bit by bit things start to fall apart. By series two, Wendy has been kidnapped by a heartbroken former pastor whose wife has been killed by a rival drug gang. In a cellar, taped to a chair, she is trying to make sense of her life in a conversation with him as his faith in God is shattered by his grievous losses. He has lost his church, his conviction and his wife as an innocent casualty of a drug turf war.

‘That’s the thing that no one tells you about evil,’ says Wendy Byrde. ‘They make it seem like there are two clearly marked paths with flashing  pointing out each way: sin, redemption. I mean, they tell you that Adam and Eve knew they could eat from every single tree in that garden except one. But the truth is evil comes when the righteous path is so hidden it looks like there is only one way out..… There is another path for you. A better path.’

Evil comes when the righteous path is so hidden it looks like there is only one way out – and that is yet more bad choices.

The psalmist is convinced that notwithstanding the fact that the wicked prosper, there is a greater storyline, a bigger picture – and it is God’s justice, God’s purposes, God’s timeline. Though the wicked do prosper, they shall be ‘cut off’ and those who wait for the Lord ‘shall inherit the land’ (vs9) and ‘shall enjoy great peace’ (vs11).

‘The affirmation of God’s rule is made in circumstances that seem to deny it,’ says my commentary. ‘In short, Psalm 37 is eschatological. For now, the wicked do prosper ‘in their way’ (vs7). Thus the future tense of the two refrains is significant: ‘shall inherit’ and ‘shall be cut off’.’[2]

Centuries after the psalms were collected up, Jesus spoke about this same counter-cultural attitude. With Psalm 37 clearly in mind, he started one of his most important sets of teachings (The Beatitudes) with this phrase: the meek ‘shall inherit the earth’ (Matthew 5.5). And he then walked meekly upon this earth. He is God’s beloved son, and is a co-partner in the creation of all that is. Yet this magnificent co-creator is a meek servant king. He sets the mark – the gold standard – of courageous living in the face of evil. Nearly 40 years ago, a songwriter penned perhaps the most profound 11 words of theology in modern hymnody. He captured the magnificence of all creation and the malfeasance of evil. ‘Hands that flung stars in to space, to cruel nails surrendered.’ [3] Graham Kendrick does not answer the problem of evil so much as describe God’s commitment to all humanity and all creation amidst the reality of evil. 


As we begin to emerge into the reality that this evil virus will continue to shape our lives for many months to come, we also have a path to choose. We can fret about the virus or we can face the reality and live. We reverse evil by choosing to live (L I V E is the opposite of E V I L).

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[1] New International Version - UK (NIVUK) Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

[2] New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary ©1996 Abingdon Press, Nashville, p828

[3] Graham Kendrick: The Servant King  © 1983 Thankyou Music/PRS
  

Psalms for Turbulent Times - Psalm 36: Come to me, says the Lord

Psalm 36

¹ Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in their hearts;
   there is no fear of God before their eyes.
² For they flatter themselves in their own eyes
    that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
³ The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit;
    they have ceased to act wisely and do good.
⁴ They plot mischief while on their beds;
    they are set on a way that is not good; they do not reject evil.

⁵ Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the clouds.
⁶ Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
    your judgements are like the great deep;
    you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.

⁷ How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
    All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house,
    and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
⁹ For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
¹⁰ O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
    and your salvation to the upright of heart!
¹¹ Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me,
    or the hand of the wicked drive me away.
¹² There the evildoers lie prostrate; they are thrust down, unable to rise.

Five weeks into the lockdown, the mischievous urge to break out of the concrete collar of the city was too great on a beautiful spring afternoon. I realised I had not been in a moving vehicle at a speed above 30mph for weeks as we drove out of the conurbation for five miles. Gingerly gripping the steering wheel, it almost seemed too fast as we travelled at 40mph up Manor Way to our hilly destination. Here was a decision made out of privilege. I have a car. I can move independently. No-one can stop me. Was this a lockdown breach? In fact, in our walk for 90 minutes we bumped into a tenth of the people we would see or seek to ‘socially distance’ from while walking on our local park. But, I sense, I am trying to justify myself. There’s something of the first phase of this psalm alive in my reflection here: mischievous self-referenced decision-making.

Anyhow: walking in woodland on Walton Hill, near Clent, there was joy. Bluebells carpeted the dappled landscape in the gentle folds of the north western slopes. It’s a familiar family walk. A well-trodden path of refreshment. Turning a corner on the sandy path, there was this wonderful sight (see the photo). The light stopped us in our tracks. For there before us the sunlight shone through a veil of newly unfurled oak leaves to frame a vista of great beauty.

The psalmist is captivated by the thought of God as both the source of life and light. ‘For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light,’ he says in vs9. It is an arresting turn of phrase. In the opening verses of John’s Gospel, in that unique prologue, we find the gospel writer mirroring these connections between life and light in the person of Jesus.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴ in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.[1]  

All people – not just a special few – are invited into the light and life of God. The Gospel writer proclaims it. The psalmist says so too in vs 7: ‘How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.’

How do we enter into this light and life? The psalmist is convinced that it starts with the disposition of a heart turned towards God. The kind of hearts that can’t access that light are those who imagine themselves self-sufficient. Such hearts no longer consider God having any bearing on their lives whatsoever. ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes,’ says vs1. Self-flattery has taken over. ‘They are set on a way that is not good; they do not reject evil,’ adds vs4.

Seeing Jesus as he truly was and is, is one of the great themes of John’s Gospel. Jesus drew people to him. He would openly invite people who were interested or intrigued by him to ‘come and see’ (John 1.39). Yet, at his most alive and alight – following his resurrection into a life yet to be experienced by humanity – even his followers, those who knew and loved him most, found it difficult to recognise him. What helped them to see was when he called them by their names (Mary in the garden of resurrection in John 20.16) or when he did familiar things in their sight (by breaking bread with the two Emmaus road disciples in Luke 24.31). Seeing Jesus as light and life is open to all, but this does not mean it is easy. And this is the truth of it. Discipleship is a long path of faithfulness.

Yet sometimes, like turning a corner on a well-worn and much-loved path, you can be stopped in your tracks by light and life – and it is real, and there and a foretaste of all that is to come. The mysterious Word of Life still calls out today and says ‘Come and see’. It is as if God calls out within his creation and reminds us all:

 ‘I am alive. I am the source of your life.

I love this life too. I am right at the heart of this creation.

In the bleating of the lambs and their leaping in the sunshine.

In the quiet beauty of this field of bluebells running up the hill.

In the cow parsley and flowering nettles in the hedgerows.

In the little wren flitting in and out of the hawthorn.

In the majestic buzzard and myriad humming insects.

In the Severn Valley spread south of you

all the way to the Malverns and beyond.

I love this vista too.

I care deeply for this place and this planet.

My love for it rises to the heavens

and down to the depths of the oceans;

my pain for it too and my sorrow

at humanity’s mishandled stewardship of this land.

So here is a space to reflect – a time of crisis to reassess:

what’s important is that I am the God of humans and animals alike

and my faithfulness extends to fill the whole of this landscape and beyond.

My judgments are just and my righteousness

is as solid as the hill you walk on

Come to me.’

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[1] John 1.1-4: New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Psalms for Turbulant Times - Psalm 35: Songs of deliverance all day long

Psalm 35[1] 

¹ Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;

Fight against those who fight against me.
² Take hold of buckler and shield and rise up for my help.
³ Draw also the spear and the battle-axe to meet those who pursue me;
Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”
⁴ Let those be ashamed and dishonoured who seek my life;
Let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me.
⁵ Let them be like chaff before the wind,
With the angel of the Lord driving them on.
⁶ Let their way be dark and slippery,
With the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
⁷ For without cause they hid their net for me;
Without cause they dug a pit for my soul.
⁸ Let destruction come upon him unawares,
And let the net which he hid catch himself;
Into that very destruction let him fall.
⁹ And my soul shall rejoice in the Lord; it shall exult in His salvation.
¹⁰ All my bones will say, “Lord, who is like You,
Who delivers the afflicted from him who is too strong for him,
And the afflicted and the needy from him who robs him?”
¹¹ Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know.
¹² They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul.
¹³ But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled my soul with fasting,
And my prayer kept returning to my bosom.
¹⁴ I went about as though it were my friend or brother;
I bowed down mourning, as one who sorrows for a mother.
¹⁵ But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered themselves together;
The smiters whom I did not know gathered together against me,
They slandered me without ceasing.
¹⁶ Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed at me with their teeth.
¹⁷ Lord, how long will You look on? rescue my soul from their ravages,
My only life from the lions.
¹⁸ I will give You thanks in the great congregation;
I will praise You among a mighty throng.
¹⁹ Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me;
Nor let those who hate me without cause wink maliciously.
²⁰ For they do not speak peace,
But they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.
²¹ They opened their mouth wide against me;
They said, “Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it!”
²² You have seen it, O Lord, do not keep silent;
O Lord, do not be far from me.
²³ Stir up Yourself, and awake to my right
And to my cause, my God and my Lord.
²⁴ Judge me, O Lord my God, according to Your righteousness,
And do not let them rejoice over me.
²⁵ Do not let them say in their heart, “Aha, our desire!”
Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up!”
²⁶ Let those be ashamed and humiliated altogether
who rejoice at my distress;
Let those be clothed with shame and dishonour
who magnify themselves over me.
²⁷ Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favour my vindication;
And let them say continually, “The Lord be magnified,
Who delights in the prosperity of His servant.”
²⁸ And my tongue shall declare Your righteousness
And Your praise all day long.

During the lockdown phase in Italy, people found ways to give joy to one another even as those feelings of fear and chaos swirled around them. The artist Octavia Bromell has chosen to focus on the ‘wonderful things people are doing in the face of such monumental adversity’. This picture of hers depicts Italians singing to one another from their balconies. She shares her work as @tinkoutsidethebox on Instagram and has thousands of followers around the world. She told BBC News how she began creating work as a way of helping her severe anxiety and depression, with her colourful and thoughtful illustrations aiming to find the joy in everyday life. "I think more people are experiencing a form of distress that feels very familiar to me," she said. "My work has become an outlet that means I can express some positivity and, hopefully, I can share it with [other] people as well."[1]

I have chosen this picture to, in a sense, contrast with the battle-strewn imagery of the Psalm 35. Although the square brick wall which confronts us gives us a visual sense of being surrounded and, in a sense, imprisoned, there is yet something very peaceful about it. The woman in the bottom left hand corner, leaning on her right hand at her window, provides us with a sense of serenity. 

This is certainly not the emotion of the psalmist today. We find he or she bearing witness to a chaotic rollercoaster ride through peaks and troughs of bitter complaint and a need for God's protection and amidst a vivid experience of ‘monumental adversity’. It is intensely personal. Friends who he or she cared for deeply (even to the extent of fasting and praying for them in their sicknesses) have now turned into enemies. Blindsided by this unremitting sense of betrayal, the psalmist courageously decides to turn the tables on them. She or he in effect says: ‘Look, I have listened to all your malicious and deceitful words and now I want to hear what God has to say. Contend for me, God. Come into this situation and be my shield and my deliverance. I can’t do anything here. But you can. You are sovereign. I trust in you. And I know that those who are my loving friends will sing with me songs of vindication.’

Such songs lift the spirit – even from a balcony in a Tuscan town - all day long! What would your song of deliverance be today? Where will you sing it?

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[1] New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52296886 (accessed April 25th 2020)

Psalms for Turbulent Times - Psalm 34: Pursue peace

  

Psalm 34[1]

A Psalm of David when he feigned madness before Abimelech,
who drove him away and he departed.

¹I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
² My soul will make its boast in the Lord;
The humble will hear it and rejoice.
³ O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.
⁴ I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces will never be ashamed.

⁶ This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
And saved him out of all his troubles.
⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him,
And rescues them.
⁸ O taste and see that the Lord is good;

How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
⁹ O fear the Lord, you His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
¹⁰ The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.
¹¹ Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
¹² Who is the man who desires life
And loves length of days that he may see good?

¹³ Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
¹⁴ Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous

And His ears are open to their cry.
¹⁶ The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
¹⁷ The righteous cry, and the Lord hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to the broken-hearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
²⁰ He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.
²¹ Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
²² The Lord redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.

The British sculptor Sir Anthony Gormley has created a clay model entitled ‘Hold’. It is inspired by the experience of lockdown. It is solitary figure resting its head between tightly wound arms, clasping bent knees and shoulders. He told BBC News (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52296886) : ‘I wanted to make this self-contained body, looking at itself, at the resource that one has within oneself.’

He has shared the image online via London's White Cube gallery. ‘I suppose that, for me, was trying to make an objective equivalent for the state that we're all in. Most of us live our lives in ridiculous obligation to a machine that… is always telling us to do more, have more, go to more places, make more money. This is a wonderful time in which those imperatives are loosened. And we have to ask ourselves: What do we care about? What do we value? What do we love?"

Psalm 34 is a prayer of thanksgiving and gratefulness which spills over with praise because of a real experience of the psalmist. He has gone through an unspecified trial (though some link this to a specific experience of David - see the prefix at the top of the page). ‘This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all of his troubles,’ he reports in vs6. ‘The Lord is near to the broken-hearted,’ he continues in vs18, ‘And saves those who are crushed in spirit.’

Gormley’s figure ‘Hold’ perhaps expresses in physicality, incarnate in a lump of clay, that tremendous sense of crushed spirit and heart-brokenness.

But out of this experience of despair comes something vividly life-giving. It is like a good meal, a feast, to one who has known only famine. And in his great enthusiasm, the psalmist says: ‘O taste and see that the Lord is God: how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.’ (vs8) In other words, the psalmist invites all who will hear him to also share in the experience of being loved by God. Come and experience deliverance (vs4), salvation (vs6) and life (vs12).

Sir Anthony Gormley echoes something of the psalmist’s reflection, when he suggests that this lockdown time is an opportunity for deep inward reflection on what is really important in life. Is it greed or gratitude? What do we truly value? What do we desire with all our heart? How might we grow in wisdom? And what are the resources we can draw upon from within ourselves?

For people of faith, the scriptures are a central resource. These scriptures speak truthfully of and into human experience. They also speak of the spiritual  power God gives the humble person of prayer. This crushed person who cries out moves from inward navel-gazing (rather like the figure Hold) towards something more uplifted. The psalmist describes in vs5 the experience of having a ‘radiant face’ looking outwards towards God – no longer hunkered down with shame but released, rescued, and under God’s refuge of grace.

This psalm has echoes of the wisdom literature of the bible, in particular the book of Proverbs. After encouraging us to ‘taste and see the goodness of God’ borne out of experience, the psalmist set out (vs11-14) to teach from out of the wisdom he has learned: ‘ Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.  Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good?  Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.’

Out of the lockdown for each of us might come a deeper sense of wise living and a shaping of character, like a sculptor accomplishes with clay. And perhaps we might live by one of the one of the most profound mantras of this psalm and have our character formed by it: May we become people who 'seek peace and pursue it.' From solitary imprisonment to active, fluid living pursuing peace.

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[1] New American Standard Bible (NASB)  Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation