Psalms for Today ~

 

Read Psalms 52-54

 

I encourage you to read Psalm 52 in the Message translation, purely for the comic value!  I think Psalm 52 is meant to be a farce, a moment of delicious sarcasm amid all the somber and serious study we usually think we “have to do” with the Psalms.  Laugh with the hymnwriter on this one.  I love how Eugene Peterson, author of the Message, writes, “Why do you brag of evil, “Big Man”? God’s mercy carries the day. You scheme catastrophe; your tongue cuts razor-sharp, artisan in lies. You love evil more than good, you call black white. You love malicious gossip, you foul-mouth.”  First, who knew this was in the Bible??  Second, I am amazed that this could have been written today.  We still have people who scheme catastrophe; lie; love evil; and gossip all the time.  Good Lord, it is both funny and sad at the same time.  As you read this psalm notice the throw back to Psalm 1 in verse 8, “But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God.”  Recalling one of the frameworks for reading the psalms is order-disorder-reorder.  Order is what we grew up being taught and caught from family and friends ~ the way the world is supposed to work.  Disorder is when all those rules seem to be shredded before our eyes, or we see people flourish who do not show love or work for justice.  Reorder is not simply brand-new, never seen before ~ reorder transcends and includes what was.  Reorder is both new as well as hold the disorder (which will still exist) and the order we thought we were naive for trusting still holds truth.  The Psalmist in 52 sees through the so-called hucksters and power-hungry politicians and flawed pastors as fully human.  Rather than pouring all our energy into lament (criticism or critique or rage), there is also energy for that which is life giving ~ sinking our roots deep into the Divine and the Holy in community with others.  If you keep reading, Psalm 53 echoes 52 ~ trying to explore and examine the contradictions of life as we know it.  But then, Psalm 54 returns to the refrain we’ve heard before in the last few weeks.  I try to live my life rooted in God and being aware/awake to the contradictions and the uncertainty, but that doesn’t feel like a winning strategy.  Sometimes my fear still grabs hold of the steering wheel, blasts the melancholy music of pain, and takes the exit ramp to a pity party table for one please.  Psalm 54 says that the reordering of life isn’t going to lead you to be above the fray and frenzy.  Reordered life doesn’t guarantee a Zen-like ability to rise above it all.  Reordering is a way that sometimes goes right back to disorder and longing for the order where everyone should follow the rules of being both human and kind.  I still get frustrated and flummoxed by the creativity of humanity to bring chaos and still cry out to God and need help.  I wonder, what is your takeaway now that we are one-third of the way through the psalms?  (By the way, you should totally treat yourself to some ice cream and throw confetti here because you are one-third of the way through).  Take time today to reflect on what you have read, experienced, and encountered so far.  What truths do you hold?  What questions still linger or needle at you?  What do you long/hope for as we continue to listen to the Hebrew hymnal?  May your contemplations find connection with the Creator, Composer and Conductor of this unfinished symphony called, “life”.  Amen.