Obviously, the psalmist himself has endured such experiences. We are spared the exact details, but not knowing makes it easier for us to apply the psalm to our own circumstances. In true psalmist fashion the struggle is between good (his own) and evil (his enemies’). “You have rebuked the ungodly and destroyed the wicked.”
An attractive trait in the psalms is the readiness of the psalmist to thank God. We are usually quite ready to implore God for help or guidance or an endless variety of things. We are less ready to give thanks. “I will give thanks to you, O Lord … I will be glad and rejoice in you … I will sing to your name.”
Again, because of the unshakeable trust the psalmist has in God, the word “if” is nearly absent from his vocabulary. Almost always we hear the word “when.” “When my enemies are driven back.” The psalmist is so certain of God’s help that he is able to say, “As for the enemy, they are finished.” Even more remarkable, he can say this while he is still deeply embroiled in the struggle. “Have pity on me, O Lord; see the misery I suffer from those who hate me.”
The psalmist’s deep trust does not come from any denial of his situation, but from utter conviction that, even as he thrashes around in his continuing struggles with life, there is One he knows who will “lift me up from the gate of death.”
As always, the source of this trust lies in what the psalmist understands to be the nature of God. Because “the Lord is known by his acts of justice,” then somehow, in spite of everything, justice will emerge in our dealings with life. For the psalmist this is particularly true where there is oppression with injustice. “The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed … The needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever.”
These verses have rung down through the ages, offering hope and changing lives.
Consider someone you trust implicitly. What characteristics in them elicit your trust? How do you behave in the presence of, or in response to, this person? Could you behave this way in your relationship with God? Ask God to strengthen your trust.
The Lord is king for ever and ever …
To give justice to the orphan and oppressed.
“Why do you stand so far off, O Lord, and hide yourself in time of trouble?” This cry echoes down through time, in every generation. At certain moments in life the question is voiced by all of us.
It would seem that cry of the psalmist is not linked to any present personal agony. Instead it issues from a condition he regards as rampant in his society. “The wicked arrogantly persecute the poor … They lurk in ambush in public squares … they murder the innocent; they spy out the helpless.”
But there is something beyond all this that troubles the psalmist at least as much. It is the attitude of those who perpetrate such crimes. “The wicked are so proud that they care not for God; their only thought is, ‘God does not matter’ … They say in their heart, ‘God has forgotten.’”
Most of us are painfully aware that almost all the psalmist’s images point to a similar condition in our own society. For us, the phrases “lurk in public squares” and “murder the innocent” appear too often in the daily news, and are becoming so familiar that they seldom merit headlines. In our day, people of power and authority too often “persecute the poor” in the name of such apparently desirable goals as the restructuring of society or the new corporate agenda.
But beyond the ghastliness of crime and the brutalities of what we call the market economy, there is an even more troubling question for us today. While much in our society remains fine and worthy of loyalty, people increasingly live on the assumption that “God does not matter,” that human actions and policies need no transcendent source to guide or nourish or judge them. “They say in their heart, ‘I shall not be shaken … God has forgotten.’”
For the psalmist, the blemishes of his society are unacceptable. If “the Lord is king,” then there must be “justice to the orphan and oppressed.” For him, it is inconceivable to think otherwise.
Centuries later a young woman who is poor—both she and her child are in great danger from the awful powers of her society—recalls such a song as this. She prays for justice in the world and safety for her child. “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,” sings Mary, “and has lifted up the lowly.”
Consider a person or group who suffer cruelty and oppression. Ask God to be with them and to give them courage and comfort. Ask God to be with their oppressors, to show them the suffering they cause, and to move them to deeds of compassion.
In the Lord have I taken refuge;
how then can you say tome,
“Fly away like a bird to the hilltop.”
Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk whose writings became a major part of twentieth-century Christian life, spent the first half of his ordained life in the seclusion and detachment of Gethsemane Abbey. Though he did not often leave the abbey, he spent the second half of his life in passionate involvement in the divisive issues of American society during the nineteen sixties and seventies.
At the point of change in his stance, Merton wrote a book whose title explains his change of attitude. He called the book Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander.
Merton’s change of attitude would be understood by the psalmist. Obviously, things are seriously wrong in his society. We are not given specifics, but we can surmise what is adrift. “The wicked … ambush … the true of heart.” It is becoming difficult to live a life of integrity. There is a reference to “those who delight in violence,” one of the sure signs of a troubled society. Most ominous, there seems to be some justification for saying that “the foundations are being destroyed.”
Much of what goes on in our own time allows us to identify with the thoughts and feelings of the psalmist—especially when we must choose a response to what is happening around us. The psalmist expresses the dilemma. “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” For the psalmist, one of two courses seems possible. We can, as many advise, try to opt out and “fly away like a bird to the hilltop”—assuming we have the means and the opportunity.
But if we are people of faith, who try to base our actions and choices on trust in a righteous God, there is the certainty that our lives and actions are both observed and judged. “[The Lord’s] eyes behold the inhabited world.” Even more sobering is the knowledge that “[the Lord’s] piercing eye weighs our worth.”
For the psalmist, the choice is to reject escapism and accept action and service. “In the Lord have I taken refuge.” Whatever contribution can be made, the psalmist will make it, because” [the Lord] delights in righteous deeds.”
Is there an evil in your society or the world that particularly troubles you? Ask God what you could reasonably do to help alleviate or eradicate it. Remember that frequent and regular prayer for others, in the light of God’s presence, is a sacred act of charity.
“Because the needy are oppressed …