The Hebrew Hymnal

 

“Poets tell us what our eyes, blurred with too much gawking, and our ears, dulled with too much chatter, miss around and within us. Poets use words to drag us into the depth of reality itself.” And I really like this — “Poetry grabs us by the jugular.” “Far from being cosmetic language, it is intestinal.  Eugene Peterson

 

This week, we are going to dive into and dwell with the psalms.  This is the hymnal of the Hebrew people ~ these are poems of praise and pain that the people of God have prayed for centuries.  Peterson’s quote above reminds us that the poems of the Psalms are not just sappy sentimentalism to make us feel warm and fuzzy inside.  The Hebrew Hymnal will jar us and jolt us.  I invite you to read the words of Psalm 1 with me slowly, savoring each syllable. 

 

From the Voice Translation:

God’s blessings follow you and await you at every turn:
    when you don’t follow the advice of those who delight in wicked schemes,
When you avoid sin’s highway,
    when judgment and sarcasm beckon you, but you refuse.
For you, the Eternal’s Word is your happiness.
    It is your focus—from dusk to dawn.
You are like a tree,
    planted by flowing, cool streams of water that never run dry.
Your fruit ripens in its time;
    your leaves never fade or curl in the summer sun.
No matter what you do, you prosper.

For those who focus on sin, the story is different.
    They are like the fallen husk of wheat, tossed by an open wind, left deserted and alone.
In the end, the wicked will fall in judgment;
    the guilty will be separated from the innocent.
Their road suddenly will end in death,
    yet the journey of the righteous has been charted by the Eternal.

 

Where are you planted right now?  You can answer that physically with your location and then name what you see, smell, and sense around you.  You can answer that question emotionally ~ what is growing in you.  You can answer that spiritually ~ what is in the soil of your soul.  What is nourishing or nurturing you?  Note that sometimes what is nourishing me spiritually is about as healthy as going to Taco Bell or McDonald’s every day for every meal.  We can turn to doom scrolling of echo chambers where the algorithms keep sending us more the same, so we keep on clicking.  We can have the drone of the 24-hour news cycle where analysts argue with no conclusions or compromise or consensus is ever found.  We might find ourselves planted in a blur of busyness that becomes numbness.  What streams are you planted by?  And do you need to be uprooted ~ perhaps not physically ~ but emotionally to be planted in a new location?  How might this Hebrew hymn be the voice of God singing to you today?  I pray God, who is our composer and conductor will move through the words above with a sweet melody today. Amen.