1 Sing gladly to God our strength,
Shout out to the God of Jacob.
2 Lift your voices in the song and beat the drum,
The lyre is sweet with the lute.
3 Blast the ram’s horn on the new moon,
When the moon starts to wax, for our festival day.
4 For it is an ordinance in Israel,
A rule of the God of Jacob.
5 A decree He declared it for Israel
When He sallied forth against Egypt’s land –
A language I knew not, heard.
6 “I delivered his shoulder from the burden
His palms were loosed from the hod.
7 “From the straits you called and I set you free.
I answered you from thunder’s hiding-place.
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 “Hear, O my people, that I may adjure you.
Israel, if You would but hear Me.
9 “There shall be among you no foreign god
And you shall not bow to an alien god.
10 “I am the Lord your God
Who brings you up from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, that I may fill it.
11 “But My people did not heed My voice
And Israel wanted nothing of Me.
12 “And I let them follow their heart’s wilfulness,
They went by their own counsels.
13 “If My people would but heed Me.
If Israel would go in My ways,
14 “In a moment I would humble their enemies,
And against their foes I would turn My hand.
15 “Those who hate the Lord would cringe before Him,
And their time of doom would be everlasting.
16 “And I would feed them the finest wheat,
And from the rock I was sate him with honey.”
I have wondered after all this time of not being able to sing with others, what my voice sounds like. I have missed singing in a choir. I have missed singing in church. I have missed the way songs of faith form us, shape us, provide us with meaning and articulate those inner thoughts and praises which provide us with sustenance, like honey from the rock.
Psalm 81 is a liturgical psalm of praise and remembrance, to be sung at new moon festivals (so every 28 days) and possibly also to mark the full moon too. It is also, scholars suggest, a psalm particularly written and sung to mark the start of the festival of booths or tabernacles, which was an a great annual celebration. It required a full orchestra of trumpets, percussion, stringed instruments and voices. And the purpose? To be reminded, in the act of praising, of God’s strength.
Just as the Jewish people are a people shaped by thanks and praise as well as lament and grief – so it is with us. The sadness that overshadows me in these pandemic days is that lack of song which has so shaped my spiritual path these last 55 years. But we will sing again….
One of the most significant theological reflections of this psalm is God’s persistent call that humanity would listen to Him. It is articulated in the form of sermon. The plea for a ‘listening people’ is a constant drumbeat. In verse 8 it comes in the shape of a recommitment to the first commandment: ‘Hear, O my people…’ begins the strong urging, have no God but me. Then, in verse 11, we are reminded again how the rescued slaves of Egypt in their desert wanderings repeatedly took no heed of God. This beautiful little homily is still so lovingly versed. God still sees this rebellious and wilful people as ‘My people’. This way-making, promise-keeping, miracle-working God pleads in verse 13: ‘If My people would but heed Me…’ The wistful longing heart of God promises to show the way, work a miracle and keep promises (but here we are brought down to earth and reminded of that storyline from Psalm 80, of a people who need to turn around in order to listen).
What we learn about God’s nature most of all in this psalm is that God is generous and abundant, longing to bless and nourish the people. There is such richness in the verses from the beginning. Sweet song, exuberant praise, blasts of trumpets, loud shouts, glad singing – and all at the command of God – are expected. And why? Because God is a burden-lifting (vs6), apprentice-forming (vs7), banquet-serving (vs10), enemy-humbling (vs14), provision-supplying (vs16) God.
Possibly the most poetic and beautiful promise of all comes in the last two lines. Finest wheat and honey are the gold standard of God’s provision. I am reminded of one of the verses of a favourite hymn of the Church, I the Lord of Sea and Sky[2]:
I, The Lord Of Wind And
Flame
I Will Tend The Poor And Lame.
I Will Set A Feast For Them,
My Hand Will Save
Finest Bread I Will Provide,
Till Their Hearts Be Satisfied.
I Will Give My Life To Them,
Whom Shall I Send?
I Will Tend The Poor And Lame.
I Will Set A Feast For Them,
My Hand Will Save
Finest Bread I Will Provide,
Till Their Hearts Be Satisfied.
I Will Give My Life To Them,
Whom Shall I Send?
Here I Am Lord, Is It I, Lord?
I Have Heard You Calling In The Night.
I Will Go Lord, If You Lead Me.
I Will Hold Your People In My Heart.
I Have Heard You Calling In The Night.
I Will Go Lord, If You Lead Me.
I Will Hold Your People In My Heart.
Nothing but the best and sweetest will satisfy our hearts. It is a magnificent thought don’t you think – the very finest wheat and sweetest honey (not mere water) flowing from a rock! It this psalm’s final sign off, a hint of the extravagance of God. I love this most attractive quality which lifts me above my mean grasping thought pattens and again encourages me to be shaped by generosity. May honey from the rock sate us all.
Rousing congregational singing of hymns of praise lifts our spirits. And whilst we can join in and sing along to our online worship it is not the same as standing next to someone and feeling the energy of music, hearing one another’s breathing and the movement of the body, and being taken up into the presence of God, together. Not being able to sing together is a huge loss. So it’s not surprising I often find myself welling up with a lump in my throat when I hear the weekly recordings of familiar voices from the choir singing hymns and worship songs.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this psalm, to me, seems to warn us to listen to what we are singing. It is not enough to simply have a good sing. The psalm repeatedly has the call for us to listen to God and hear again the story of our salvation that we sing about, which in turn asks of us a response of faithfulness to live God’s ways. I’m reminded of Jesus teaching that “everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock”. The psalm has God yearning that we would listen to him (v13) and live accordingly, not the way of idolatry (v9).
I learnt yesterday that at one counselling centre, those who are already trained in face to face counselling are now to be trained in telephone counselling due to the high demand because of the pandemic and the need to socially distance. For each counsellor this will involve 100 hours of training. Learning to listen on the phone is a very different skill from face to face. It takes time to learn to become a good listener.
It takes time to learn to listen to God. What new ways might I need to learn to hear God? For some of us it is hard to listen without song and hymn words through which we have discovered God speaks to us so often. Yet we can listen to God through our practice of prayer in its diverse forms. Prayer is a life time’s spiritual discipline and the promise is that God will fill us with the finest wheat and honey. Not for our own exclusive benefit but so that we can respond and act, and as the hymn says go and “tend the poor and lame”, and share God’s abundant feast. We sing, we hear and we respond in action.