Psalm 118

I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!
O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!

What is success?

Here it is a breaking out, a rushing out.

Think of a spring breaking out from rock;

Or a flower opening to the sun;

Or a savior emerging from the tomb.

Psalm 118

Psalm 88

Every day I call on you, O Lord;
I spread out my hands to you.
Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the shades rise up to praise you?
Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Are your wonders known in the darkness,
or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?

The psalmist was being rhetorical, even ironic.

Yet many Christians believe that even, perhaps especially, the dead praise God.

In the Apostles' Creed we read that Jesus, "descended to the dead."

Many believe God's presence and steadfast love extends even beyond the grave.

Many believe the greatest wonder was worked out in darkness and silence.

Psalm 88

Psalm 54

With a freewill-offering I will sacrifice to you;
I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
For he has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

This is an interesting psalm to assign for Good Friday.

As we recall the tortured death of Jesus, what should me make of "delivered me from every trouble."

The freewill-offering of Jesus was profound self-sacrifice.

Jesus was not protected from every trouble, rather he was made more vulnerable.

There are twenty-three Hebrew words that, given context, can be translated as deliver.

This is נָצַל or natsal. In most contexts, I read this as a synonym for protect.

There is, though, a verse from Isaiah that may suggest what is meant here:

"But this is a people plundered and despoiled; All of them are trapped in caves, Or are hidden away in prisons; They have become a prey with none to deliver them, And a spoil, with none to say, "Give them back !" (Isaiah 42:22)

There is none to deliver them -- and they are plundered and despoiled because, "You have seen many things, but you do not observe them; Your ears are open, but none hears." (Verse 20)

Deliverance requires cooperation, even more: collaboration; our active engagement with God in co-creating. The means for transcending troubles is to make ourselves more vulnerable to troubles.

Psalm 54

Post 143

Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning,
for in you I put my trust.
Teach me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
Save me, O Lord, from my enemies;
I have fled to you for refuge.
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
Let your good spirit lead me
on a level path.

My wife and I were on our evening walk.

From some distant hillside we each heard a deep whine.

"It sounds like a Tibetan prayer horn," I said amazed.

"More like a chain saw," she suggested.

I am glad to have imagined the prayer horn.

I am glad to have been corrected.

May I find a path that is neither too steep, nor too low, but a level path that reflects the full reality of God.

Post 143

Psalm 74

Have regard for your covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.
Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.

There is a legal gloss that might result in "plead your cause."

But this is only one possibility.

The Hebrew is רִיב or riyb, also means to contend, strive, engage.

It is the same verb found in Isaiah 27:8: "You contended with them by banishing them, by driving them away. With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the east wind."

Contend with us. Strive with us. Engage with us. And we with you.

Psalm 74

Psalm 94

Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
those who contrive mischief by statute?
They band together against the life of the righteous,
and condemn the innocent to death.
But the Lord has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge.
He will repay them for their iniquity
and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the Lord our God will wipe them out.

"He will repay them for their iniquity," does not capture the full reciprocity of the Hebrew.

God will cause wicked rulers to experience the evil they contrived for others.

Elsewhere we are assured of God's love and care for innocent victims.

There will continue to be, however, innocent victims.

To remind us, we have been given the cross.

Psalm 94

Psalm 51

O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt-offering, you would not be pleased.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Three days ago our lips were the cause of wickedness (Psalm 141).

Today they offer praise.

The difference is the character of our heart: inner being, soul, mind, persona.

In each psalm we have been seduced.

Friday we were tempted to self-indulgence. Here we are self-sacrificing.

Psalm 51