Meditation for November 7, 2007
From The Rev. Peter Munson
Psalm 71:1-12, 19-24
1 In You, O Lord, have I taken refuge;
let me never be ashamed.
2 In Your righteousness, deliver me and set me free;
incline Your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe;
You are my crag and my stronghold.
4 Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.
5 For You are my hope, O Lord God,
my confidence since I was young.
6 I have been sustained by You ever since I was born;
from my mother's womb You have been my strength;
my praise shall be always of You.
7 I have become a portent to many;
but You are my refuge and my strength.
8 Let my mouth be full of Your praise
and Your glory all the day long.
9 Do not cast me off in my old age;
forsake me not when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies are talking against me,
and those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together.
11 They say, "God has forsaken him;
go after him and seize him;
because there is none who will save."
12 O God, be not far from me;
come quickly to help me, O my God.
19 Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens;
you have done great things;
who is like You, O God?
20 You have showed me great troubles and adversities,
but You will restore my life
and bring me up again from the deep places of the earth.
21 You strengthen me more and more;
You enfold and comfort me.
22 Therefore I will praise You upon the lyre for Your faithfulness,
O my God;
I will sing to You with the harp, O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will sing with joy when I play to you,
and so will my soul, which You have redeemed.
24 My tongue will proclaim Your righteousness all day long,
for they are ashamed and disgraced who sought to do me harm.
The Psalms As Blessing
Aren't you glad the Psalms are in the Bible? When we read the Psalms, we get a glimpse of the hymnbook of the Jewish people. In the psalms, we have poetry, hymnody, and someone's personal prayer journal all intermingled.
Just look at this portion of Psalm 71, one of the psalms appointed for this week. In this one psalm, you get a snapshot of what is wonderful about this collection of 150 hymns.
Consider the different ways the Psalmist refers to God, just in Psalm 71:
- strong rock, crag, stronghold
- my hope
- my refuge and my strength
- deliverer (implied)
- Savior, Lord
- comforter
- Holy One of Israel
- redeemer
- righteous one
These images of God, just by themselves, give us plenty to meditate on.
But it doesn't stop there. Where else but in a psalm can you go from a prayer for safety, protection, and deliverance (verses 2-4) to a proclamation of praise that manifests itself in singing and the playing of the harp? (verses 22-24)
Where else but in a psalm can you hear someone talk so much about their enemy, the wicked, the oppressor, and the evildoer (verses 4, 10-11, 24)? Where else in the Bible but in the Psalms (well okay, maybe Saul in 1 Samuel) do you wonder if someone is totally paranoid? (verses 10-11)
Where else but in a psalm (well okay, maybe in Isaiah or in the beginning of Genesis or in the beginning of John's Gospel) do you hear such lovely phrases as "forsake me not when my strength fails"? (verse 9)
Where else but in a psalm do you hear a writer talk about being sustained by God while still in his mother's womb (verse 6) and then, just a few verses later, the same person writes, "Do not cast me off in my old age"? (verse 9)
Where else but in a psalm do you hear the word "portent"?!? (verse 7)
And maybe, most important of all, if you are feeling raw or all over the place with your emotions, or up-and-down in your relationship with God (with lots of feelings gong on in that part of your life, too), and you need to find some place in the Bible where you think another human being can identify with where you are and what you are going through, where might you look? I think the winner - the place where most people would find solace during those times, hands down - would have to be the Psalms.
I had a very rough start to my day on Monday - a conflict with Julia, with lots of fear that rose up inside of me. Now, two days later (in verse 20), I read, "You have showed me great troubles and adversities..." On Monday evening, Julia and I had another conversation, a wonderful conversation, where we each felt heard, and we came to some deeper understandings, and we felt very close afterwards. All of this happened in one day! And today, I go on to read the latter part of verse 20: "... but you will restore my life and bring me up again form the deep places of the earth." And on to verses 21 and 22: "You strengthen me more and more; you enfold me and comfort me. Therefore I will praise you..."
Here is someone - the author of this Psalm - who knows what it feels like to be in my shoes, and to have the kind of day that I've just had. There are people around me - good friends - who also listen, and can empathize with what I am going through, too. That's a tremendous blessing. And it's also a blessing to know that someone who lived as long as 3,000 years ago felt some of the very same things that I am feeling. It is a blessing to know that the Psalmist had similar challenges, similar feelings, and similar experiences of a present, personal, active, powerful, and loving God - One who delivers us, comforts us, and gives us strength... One who is our refuge, strong rock, and strength... One who delivers us and redeems us... One who is our hope.
Aren't you glad the Psalms are in the Bible? Don't forget to read them and pray with them. They are a blessing. They are a gift to us from God.