1 To you, Lord, I call; you are my Rock,
do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you remain silent,
I will be like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help,
as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked,
with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbours
but harbour malice in their hearts.
4 Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done
and bring back on them what they deserve.
5 Because they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord
and what his hands have done,
he will tear them down and never build them up again.
6 Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.
8 The Lord is the strength of his people,
a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
9 Save your people and bless your inheritance;
be their shepherd and carry them forever.
The psalms are sometimes quite awkward because they make very concrete uncomfortable demands of God to take action against individuals or groups judged to be ‘wicked’. There is no glossing over this judgement. Right at the heart of this psalm, in verses 4 & 5, we find the poet at prayer asking God, quite bluntly, to repay the wicked with what they ‘deserve’.
From Psalm 1 onwards, this theology of wise vs wicked, this die, is cast. The wicked are people who are self-absorbed and scheming, deceitful and double-dealing. Their deeds show no understanding of God’s ways. The wise live their lives not in self-regard but with lives turned towards God; the wise know their orbit is governed not by their own meagre gravity but the pull and pursuit of God’s love. The wise give of themselves to others, have due regard for neighbour as well as God.
It would be natural to start this reflection by focusing on the many positive attributes of God in this psalm (rock, strength, shield, fortress of salvation and shepherd). But instead I want to head to the centre verses 4 & 5, which focus on the works of the 'wicked'. One wise commentator says this about the ‘wicked’, who close down the possibility of God's creative love working in and through them: ‘They leave God nothing to work with. As a just and righteous God, God has no choice but to “tear them down and never build them up again”.’[2]
What do we give God to work with in our lives? For our creative, loving and compassionate Lord longs to take and bless our offering each day and transform it into something beautiful, something life-giving, something that pulls us and others out of the gravitational pull of self. Oh, what a life-long pilgrimage of trust and faith this is and how difficult it is to walk this disciplined path.
When we reverse verse 5 we can see the opposite creative force of God at work: 'Since they show regard for the works of the Lord and what his hands have done, he will build them up and never tear them down again.' What is so life-giving about this re-worked verse is the sense that we only need offer a morsel of ourselves and join in God's work - we need only give the tiniest part, a little snack of a few loaves and fishes - and God will bless and multiply that offering (Matthew 15.33-38).
One of things that has happened in these last extraordinary weeks has been an upending of what seems important and what sustains life. Suddenly, we have all come to realise how much we depend on binmen and supermarket workers, on delivery drivers and care home workers - often the unsung and lowly paid. We have begun to clap them on a Thursday evening as we have joined in on our doorsteps. And this small act of public thanksgiving has also created new communities of conversation and neighbourliness. We have also found our focus has been on the self-offering and sacrificial love of so many humble and ordinary people in many 'front lines'. Sentimentalism is not what drives these selfless acts of love. What is happening in care homes and hospital wards, shopping aisles and bin runs, are many millions of acts of love that God can work with. As the virus tries to tear down the lives of many, many people, God is at work in building up the loving lives of so many people in this pandemic.
But, they need the tools to do the job. At present the media’s focus has been – for some weeks now – on the need of those who are in frontline work in hospitals to have the right personal protection equipment. On Sunday 19th April, arriving from Turkey is more than 90 tonnes of PPE, including 400,000 much needed gowns for nurses, doctors, cleaners, porters. Like the loaves and fishes, may these life-sustaining essential basics multiply life-saving acts of love.
Ultimately, though, we all need to turn to face God, to give thanks to God, as we learn more and more how dependent we are on our creator, redeemer and sustainer for life. For God is our rock and our strength, our shield and our shepherd. May God, indeed, save his people, bless his inheritance and carry us for ever as our Good Shepherd.
[1] New International Version (NIV) Holy
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[2] J Clinton McCann Jr, New Interpreters Bible Vol IV, pg 789
[2] J Clinton McCann Jr, New Interpreters Bible Vol IV, pg 789
So many are offering their morsel to be used in the service of us all.
ReplyDeleteThere’s a near neighbour who told me how he has been one of those helping to construct the new Nightingale hospital in Birmingham, working 93 hours in one week. Never before has he worked on a building project like it. Then there’s the member of our congregation who is beginning to be on call during the night for those in the NHS who need someone to talk to. To provide a listening ear to those under great stress. And the young man I know who has been called back to work to service or repair cars of NHS workers, a job which will require him to wear personal protection equipment. And those who continue to do shopping and deliver it to the homes of those who are being shielded. And when my neighbour yesterday sustained an injury and needed a crutch the newly formed street Whats App group came up with 2 that same afternoon.
We give to God in so many different ways, and in these days it seems the offerings are made without any desire for recognition or reward of status. Giving pure and simple, in support of others, in response to human need.
Prayer is another and a vital offering, and the psalmist practises the lifting up of hands as he prays for help (v2). We often lift hands in praise and adoration, or open our hands on our laps opening ourselves to God’s love and forgiveness. But here hands are lifted as a cry for help - a physical expression of our need for and dependency on God. This has challenged me - when do we lift our hands in prayers of intercession when we cry out to God in these desperate times when so many are suffering and dying. Why don’t we use our bodies more in prayer? So I did, and with hands raised and pleas of help for all in great need, tears flowed. Tears that felt some of the pain but also tears of trust knowing God is the shepherd who lifts us up and carries us through (v9).