Read Psalms 7-9
By now, you are starting to hear
a rhythm in the cadence and chorus of the Psalms. Psalm 7 cries out, “God, a little help
here! I am being chased by the enemies.”
Wait, I wonder if sometimes the enemies are not only out there ~
but also in here ~ in my soul. When I open the garage door to my soul, who
knows what kind of wild creature might be living or luring or wander too close
for comfort. The Psalmist bravely and boldly,
maybe with brashness, says, “Arise God in your anger and rise up against the
rage of my enemies.” How many times do
we say these words, maybe not to God, but nevertheless I certainly pray them in
a way. And yet, I also know that I want
mercy for myself and justice for others.
When I stumble and bumble, I long for forgiveness. But if someone else does that thing? I am right back to eye-for-eye justice with
anger feeding and fueling my outrage. To
be honest, I get emotional whiplash when I start to sing Psalm 8. After all the Psalms of help we’ve been
reading and saying and singing, now we get to a psalm of wow. (Remember the three most basic prayers/songs
are help, thanks, and wow). I encourage
you to go outside and sing Psalm 8 to a tree or bird or grass; letting the soil
beneath your feet meet the soil in your soul.
Finally, Psalm 9 offers a prayer
of thanksgiving. To be sure, the writer
does still long for enemies being defeated and deflated and even destroyed. How do we hold tension between orientation (the
way we want to live) and disorientation (the way we actually live and how life
keeps being beautifully tragic) and reorientation (the way we may not solve or
sort out this mystery so we praise as a way of prayerful protest). As the poet J. Drew Lanham says, “Joy is the
justice we give ourselves.” Joy
(hope/love/peace) may not have external evidence, but very well may be a state
in our soul. Joy (hope/love/peace/grace)
is not something we earn ~ it is who God is and what we might wake up to as we
read the psalms each day. May these
words you sing sustain and strengthen you in these days. Amen.
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