Psalm 34

Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Which of you desires life,
and covets many days to enjoy good?
Keep your tongue from evil,
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.

Speak of what is good. Do not deceive.

Do not break, separate, or divide.

Do what is cause for pleasure, gladness, and joy.

Work for peace, wholeness, and fulfillment.

This is how to be in relationship with That Which Exists.


Psalm 34

Psalm 27

I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

I see the Goodness of the Lord.

I see us reaching out in love to strangers.

I see us helping those in need.

I see us working for peace in the midst of violence.

This is not all I see, but all this I see in the land of the living in this very moment.

Psalm 27

Psalm 73

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant;
I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For they have no pain;
their bodies are sound and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not plagued like other people.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them like a garment.

By most standards I am prosperous, yet I envy those who are even more prosperous.

I especially envy those who have found or made a recurring source of prosperity, my resources ebb and flow.

Some are fearful of losing what they have gained. I do not envy them. A few wear the psalmist's necklace of pride. I do not envy them.

Those who I envy have, if I perceive correctly, discovered how to fulfill themselves and authentically serve others in a manner that produces social,spiritual, and commercial value.

It is really not their prosperity that I envy, it is their wholeness.

Psalm 73

Psalm 71

You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.

There are depths and there are heights.

There is descending and ascending.

There are troubles and calamities.

There is fulfillment and great joy.

In every place there is God.

Psalm 71

Psalm 72

Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to a king’s son.
May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice.
May the mountains yield prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness.
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor.

Again the interplay of tsedeq (righteousness) and mishpat (justice).

The son must find his tsedeq before becoming king, before becoming an agent of mishpat.

Guided by his own tsedeq the king honors the tsedeq of others, cultivating a shared respect for one another, a common commitment to one another, and in this way harvests the wholeness of peace.

Psalm 72

Psalm 68

Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth;
sing praises to the Lord,
O rider in the heavens, the ancient heavens;
listen, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.

I need to listen, much more often, much more carefully.

That Which Exists has a mighty voice, but I am self-absorbed and even when I hear, I tend not to engage what is said.

To hear, truly hear, That Which Exists is to know goodness and truth and beauty.

Psalm 68

Psalm 65

By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.

The translator has rendered צֶ֫דֶק (tsedeq) as deliverance.

This is an uncommon translation, which is not to say inaccurate.

In and through tsedeq we experience personal fulfillment in a just community.

God's intentions and actions aim at a perfect balance of our self in relationship with others, including God.

I am honored, all are honored. I am empowered, all are empowered. My strengths support the whole community. My weakness is diffused in a strong community. I am delivered to my self, my neighbors, and my God.

Psalm 65

Psalm 84

O Lord of hosts,
happy is everyone who trusts in you.

יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת-- אַשְׁרֵי אָדָם, בֹּטֵחַ בָּךְ.

That Which Exists and is going forth,
He who boldly embraces you will make progress with you.

Psalm 84

Psalm 138

The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.

That Which Exists will accomplish, complete, bring to an end.

That Which Exists acts in context, through space and time.

That Which Exists is good, faithful, and kind.

Psalm 138

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.

There are situations when the very best that can happen is for my sense-of-self to be shattered.

When my sense-of-self is separated from God, disdainful of others, and proud, then that self must be destroyed in order to make way for a better and truer self.

When all is in pieces I turn to God to reclaim me for his original intention.

Psalm 51

Psalm 84

Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.
Happy are those who live in your house,
ever singing your praise.

The sparrow knows its place.

A swallow knows its role.

I am not sure to what God calls me.

But I know the happiness of singing God's praise.

Psalm 84

Psalm 49

When we look at the wise, they die;
fool and dolt perish together
and leave their wealth to others.
Their graves are their homes for ever,
their dwelling-places to all generations,
though they named lands their own.
Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;
they are like the animals that perish.

The psalms assigned for today each contrast human mortality with divine eternity, our weakness is compared to God's strength.

Left to our own abilities there is no hope, only struggle and delusion and destruction.

"But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me."

God will פָּדָה or padah: ransom, rescue, deliver.

God will לָקַח or laqach: take away, receive, marry.

Psalm 49

Psalm 47

God has gone up with a shout,
the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
For God is the king of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm.

I am anxious for no good reason.

There could be many good reasons to be anxious.

But my mind has not chosen any one cause or collection of causes. I am distracted and double-minded.

The only solution is to give thanks and sing praises.

Thank you That Which Exists for all your great gifts, your abundance, your love, and your saving grace.

Psalm 47

Psalm 41

By this I know that you are pleased with me;
because my enemy has not triumphed over me.
But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
and set me in your presence for ever.

The enemies of the psalmist are external.

My worst enemies are internal.

In confronting my enemies God is the holder of my integrity, that which completes me, fulfills me, and makes me whole.

When I am most integrated within myself, I am most as peace.

When I am most integrated with God, I am most fulfilled.

Psalm 41

Psalm 103

As for mortals, their days are like grass;
they flourish like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.

I misread the third verse above as meaning, "steadfast love for the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting."

The preposition "of" can, I am fairly sure, have this meaning. Whether the original Hebrew allows for this potential confusion is beyond my competence. But in context, my "for" meaning is clearly incorrect.

Still I wonder: when our life is done is anything left other than the steadfast love - the goodness, kindness, and faithfulness - we have lived?

Psalm 103

Psalm 42

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

Hope is sometimes maligned as an opiate or delusion or distraction.

There are nineteen Hebrew words that we translate as hope.

Here the psalmist uses יָחַל or yachal which also means wait or wait expectantly.

Speaking of the suffering servant, the prophet Isaiah uses yachal:"He will not be disheartened or crushed until He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law."

Hope is the ability - especially under duress - to focus on sources of meaning and relationships that transcend and potentially transform. We wait expectantly for justice to be restored and in expecting it, we speed its return.

Psalm 42

Psalm 35

Let them be turned back and confounded
who devise evil against me.
Let them be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them on.
Let their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.

Yesterday, for the fourth time, I had meeting canceled.

The meeting was with a group I am ready to serve, but with which I have had a troubled relationship.

I don't think they devise evil against me, but I do perceive they see me as a distraction or even a competitor.

They discourage others from working with me, they undermine my plans, they frustrate me.

I pray that an angel of the Lord will point them to my work and whisper in their ear that we might begin to work together.

Psalm 35

Psalm 37

The wicked borrow, and do not pay back,
but the righteous are generous and keep giving;
for those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land,
but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

Taking a debt can be an act of confidence and hope. It is too often a matter of unthinking indulgence or desperation.

Failing to pay debts -- whatever the cause -- is wicked: undermining relationships, destructive of community, and discouraging shared confidence.

Those making loans should be wise in discerning the motivation of debtors. But even when debts are forsaken the righteous continue to give, to fund debt, and to have confidence in creativity and growth.

The psalmist is concerned to clarify the confidence the righteous can have in the love and care of God.

Along the way, righteousness can be the foundation of an effective economic policy.

Psalm 37

Psalm 119

Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes,
and I will observe it to the end.
Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of your commandments,
for I delight in it.
Turn my heart to your decrees,
and not to selfish gain.
Turn my eyes from looking at vanities;
give me life in your ways.

Teach me, especially teach me how to observe, consider, and discern.

Point me to the pathway of wisdom.

Stretch my mind to see and recognize the evidence of That Which Exists.

Help my mind pass over whatever is separated from That Which Exists.

Psalm 119

Psalm 36

Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your judgements are like the great deep;
you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.

Four characteristics of God:

חֶ֫סֶד or chesed meaning loving, kindly, and good.

אֱמוּנָה or 'emuwnah meaning firm, steadfast, and faithful.

צְדָקָה or tsedaqah meaning righteous, complete, and whole.

מִשְׁפָּט or mishpat meaning just and respecting the tsedaqah of others.

Psalm 36

Psalm 9

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

There will be troubles. There will be oppression.

Even - especially? - for those who trust in God.

God does not depart, does not abandon, those who inquire of That Which Exists.

Psalm 9

Psalm 114

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turns the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a spring of water.

That Which Exists -- Yahweh, Our God -- is paradoxical.

That Which Exists turns rock into water and water into rock.

We dance, whirl, and writhe in longing.

Psalm 114

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord, all you nations!
Extol him, all you peoples!
For great is his steadfast love towards us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for ever.
Praise the Lord!

To praise the Lord is to be a source of light.

In praise of God my face shines, my voice shines, I am transformed.

With praise I receive and give God's steadfast love.

Psalm 117

Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?

The psalmist begins in despair.

Yet he recalls his relationship with God.

The psalmist is consumed by pain and shame.

Yet he has known and still knows God.

The psalmist is threatened and near death.

Yet he knows that God can rescue and redeem.

The psalmist begins focused on himself but ends focusing on God, and in the process the psalmist is transformed.

Psalm 22

Psalm 18

For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
For all his ordinances were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.
I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from guilt.
Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

David was far from blameless. Scripture is full of David's wrong-doing and its consequences.

We might even conclude that departing from the Lord's path is crucial to David's righteousness (tsedeq) and his relationship with God.

The how and why of our spiritual failures are often fundamental to how we come to know God.

The image is of David and Bathsheba by Lika Tov.

Psalm 18

Psalm 12

The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,
silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
You, O Lord, will protect us;
you will guard us from this generation for ever.
On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among humankind.

I turn to scripture as prayer and for guidance regarding ultimate reality.

That the wicked prowl and vileness is exalted matches my experience.

That the promises of God are pure matches my hope and understanding.

History and personal experience suggests that the Lord will not necessarily protect and guard us from the wicked of this generation.

The psalmist used שָׁמַר (shamar) that can mean protect but more commonly means watch over, preserve, keep.

The psalmist used נָצַר (natsar) that can mean guard but is closely related to how a watchman guards by raising a warning.

It is important to listen carefully to what God is promising.

Psalm 12

Psalm 11

The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,
and his soul hates the lover of violence...
For the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.

Each of us is called to be righteous, each of us has a claim to righteousness, .

We are called to recognize the aspect of God that is especially our own.

The righteous respect the diversity of God's gifts, they avoid violating the righteousness of others.

Psalm 11

Psalm 7

If one does not repent, God will whet his sword;
he has bent and strung his bow;
he has prepared his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.
See how they conceive evil,
and are pregnant with mischief,
and bring forth lies.
They make a pit, digging it out,
and fall into the hole that they have made.
Their mischief returns upon their own heads,
and on their own heads their violence descends.

The psalmist offers us two versions of divine punishment.

In the first a sky god descends from heaven with his weapons.

In the second evil and mischief dig their own grave.

Job was a good man who blamed God and insisted on self-justification.

Once Job stopped complaining, confessed he lacked basic understanding, and began to listen, "That which exists restored his fortunes."

The image is of Job and his friends by William Blake.

Psalm 7

Psalm 111

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures for ever.

Most versions of scripture continue to translate יִרְאָה or yir'ah as fear.

This is not incorrect, but it is not the only accurate translation.

Reverence is equally correct. Respecting or honoring are involved.

Perhaps a sense of awe, a recognition of God's uncanny otherness, best captures the Hebrew.

In any case, yir'ah is the beginning of wisdom when we are motivated to run toward, not away from.

Psalm 111

Psalm 104

When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.

Our creation and our renewal are from God.

Only by engaging the ultimate ground of being do we live.

In the hand of God is strength, power, potential fulfilled, and every Good.

Psalm 104

Psalm 143

Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
Let your good spirit lead me
on a level path.

My understanding of Hebrew is so basic that I may be wrong, but it looks to me that the first line is "Teach me to do for you are my God."

The "your will" is either implied or added as a reasonable caution.

I wonder if God's will is mostly focused on doing, creating, making, being productive... without much concern for how.

The verb 'asah can mean all these things and more generally has the sense of being productive.

When I observe God's creation I perceive constant movement, change, destruction and creation.

If the motivation and outcome is productive, creative, dynamic, I perceive that God offers considerable grace to any troubles caused along the way.

Psalm 143