Reflections on the Psalms. Steven Croft
Psalm 6
O Lord, rebuke me not in your wrath;neither chasten me in your fierce anger.
‘Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak’ (v.2)
To read this psalm is to go against the flow of our culture. These days we are continually pressed to boast of how well we are, how well we cope, how fit, how rejuvenated, how much improved by our current diet or exercise regime. We are even tempted to tweak our Facebook pics to prove it. The psalmist does just the opposite. He is frank about the fact that he is not a ‘well’ man. Indeed the confession ‘I am weak’ is followed by: I am ‘weary … wasted … worn away’ (vv.6,7). In some ways it’s a relief to be able to say that, to be licensed by our liturgy to make that confession, and to make it in good company. For if the psalmist suffers and feels cut off and rebuked at the opening of the psalm, by verse 8 he knows that in spite of his weakness, he has got through to God. If he has, then so have I, who take his words on my lips and make them mine.
And what of these enemies, put to shame and confusion? Whoever his enemies were, ours are just those voices in our culture that want to shame us with our weakness, that only credit the young, the fit and the strong. Here God rebukes those voices and turns them back, so that we need never feel ashamed of our weakness with him, but rather bring it swiftly and simply to his mercy.
Reflection by Malcolm Guite
Refrain:
Turn again, O Lord, and deliver my soul.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ,
may the tears shed in your earthly life
be balm for all who weep,
and may the prayers of your pilgrimage
give strength to all who suffer;
for your mercy’s sake.
Psalm 7
O Lord my God, in you I take refuge;save me from all who pursue me, and deliver me.
‘I will give thanks’ (v.17)
As in so many of the psalms, God is here described as a safe haven to whom we can run in times of stress or danger – a refuge (v.1) and a shield (v.10). Running to God in times of trouble is an expression of faith. Yet in this case the psalmist’s troubles seem to have arisen from his attempt to walk God’s way. He knows that God is just (v.11), yet his current situation is marked by injustice and unmerited persecution.
How is he to make sense of this? How are we to make sense of the injustice that afflicts the whole world, and that sometimes touches our nearest and dearest? The psalmist begins by exhorting God to act in accordance with his nature. Even in the midst of his distressing and confusing situation, he asserts that God is a God of justice.
Then somehow he seems to see the world differently. He observes a kind of natural justice at work in the lives of those who do wrong; their evil deeds and intentions ultimately rebound on them. In this light he is able to do more than simply assert that God is good; he is able to give thanks (v.17). From his dark situation has emerged the virtue of gratitude. This is a virtue that begins with choosing to see a situation as a gift, and that then has a knock-on effect on how we act and feel: the ability to make music (v.17) is a sign that the dark mood is lifting.
Reflection by Joanna Collicutt
Refrain:
Give judgement for me
according to my righteousness, O Lord.
Prayer:
Lord, your justice turns evil on itself:
move us to examine our hearts
and repent of all duplicity;
for the sake of Jesus Christ,
our Judge and righteous Saviour.
Psalm 8
O Lord our governor,how glorious is your name in all the world!
‘… praised out of the mouths of babes’ (v.2)
Astronomy was a brand new science when this psalm was written. In Babylon, astronomers were beginning to map the sky, and they already had tables accurately predicting lunar eclipses. However, they had no concept whatever of the vast numbers and distances that we know are involved, now that present-day astronomers can turn their gamma-ray telescopes toward the void. To the believer, then as now, gazing upward results in awe at the majesty of God and his love for humanity (vv.4-5). To the sceptic, it affirms the impossibility of a Creator being responsible for such an insignificant thing as human life on planet Earth.
However, regardless of whether the scale of the cosmos strengthens a belief in God or does the opposite, there is someone whose thoughts are even more powerful than a psalmist or a scientist. That is a baby. A baby doesn’t attempt to explain God, nor measure him, nor reject him. A baby just wonders (v.2).
Nobody – not even the world’s most aggressive atheist – would tell an infant that it’s ridiculous to be in awe of what is just a random evolutionary blip in the great godless progress of the cosmos. Instead, a child is encouraged to marvel.
Baby one; atheist nil.
Psalm 8 is a reminder that a little more childish astonishment would be good for us all from time to time.
Reflection by Peter Graystone
Refrain:
O Lord our governor,
how glorious is your name in all the world!
Prayer:
We bless you, master of the heavens,
for the wonderful order which enfolds this world;
grant that your whole creation
may find fulfilment in the Son of Man,
Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Psalm 9
I will give thanks to you, Lord, with my whole heart;I will tell of all your marvellous works.
‘… let not mortals have the upper hand’ (v.19)
All is well, it seems at first. The psalmist’s enemies have been defeated. The wicked have been destroyed. God is to be praised, his miraculous deeds recalled and recounted.
But then the tone changes. ‘Have mercy on me,’ the psalmist pleads. What we have read so far has been more a statement of faith than an account of experience. It has told us what ought to be true.
Believing in God while living in God’s world can be a frustrating experience. There is too much that is wrong with the world. It gives unbelievers a rod to beat us with. If there is a god, why does he not sort the world out? In particular, why do good people suffer and the wicked get away with it? And why does this happen on a global as well as an individual scale? There are too many dictatorships, too many places where people live in unnecessary poverty, too many of