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.

This is how we express reverence for and fear of the Lord:

To live life fully,vibrantly,prosperously,pleasantly,sensuously,and long.

To refrain from unhappy,disagreeable, unpleasant, untruthful and injurious talk.

To reject and avoid unkind, unhappy, distressing, and wicked thoughts.

To do what is beautiful, good, truthful, pleasing, helpful, and productive.

To desire and ardently run after wholeness, fulfillment, friendship, contentment, and tranquility.

Psalm 34

Psalm 36

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

I just spent three sometimes difficult days in Chicago.

My room overlooked the Chicago River.

Long neglected, abused, and polluted, the river is now teeming with kayaks, lined with restaurants, a source of life and liveliness.

Too often we neglect and abuse God.

But even more than a river, God persists in welcome and abundance.

Psalm 36

Psalm 9

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

In ancient Hebrew yadah means to give thanks.

It also means to shoot arrows or cast a line.

In giving thanks we are reaching out to God.

I envision us climbing a cliff with ropes, casting each length higher.

Each thanks is a pinion securing our climb.

Psalm 9

Psalm 149

Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with victory.
Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their couches.

What connects us to God?

Gladness and rejoicing:to physically tremble with delight.

Praising and dancing: to shine, flash forth light, and to whirl.

Humility: openness, vulnerability, and listening.

Exultation and Singing: to shout out with joy.

Psalm 149

Psalm 116

What shall I return to the Lord
for all his bounty to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.

The Hebrew for cup is derived from a verb meaning to hold together.

The Hebrew translated here as lift up can also mean to desire, take, sustain, and endure.

Salvation is to be held together with That Which Exists.

We are to actively engage that which connects us to God.

Psalm 116

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?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.

The psalms assigned for this morning are among the most calming and reassuring.

It was evidently (will be?) a very bad day. This psalm, assigned for evening, is desperate.

I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.

The opening verse of this psalm is what Jesus asked from the cross.

God is with us, never more than in despair. Despite God's abundance, there is also horrific loss and pain. Yet God is with us.

Psalm 22

Psalm 90

Let your work be manifest to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
and prosper for us the work of our hands—
O prosper the work of our hands!

"Let your doing/making be clear."

The work of God shows the essential identity of God.

The work of our hands is an entirely different Hebrew word, but it also means to do or make.

The difference between our work and God's work may be in its purpose.

Our work tends toward the instrumental: we plant in order to harvest in order to cook in order to eat in order to live

God's work is an expression of ultimate purpose.

Psalm 90

Psalm 13

But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

The psalmist is a bit schizoid.

He begins complaining of pain, sorrow, enemies, and being forsaken.

But he concludes speaking of love, joy, singing, and abundance.

The Hebrew translated as "bountifully" is more literally to ripen.

Our figs have ripened. From hard green nubs they have become soft, purple, and luscious. Dear God, help me this day to ripen a bit more into your luscious love, profound joy, and glorious singing.

Psalm 13

Psalm 10

O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;
you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,
so that those from earth may strike terror no more.

The New Revised Standard Version indicates the meaning of the last line is uncertain.

It has something to do with terror, fear, and dread.

It is unclear if humans are the source or object of the verb.

Whichever, the terror, fear, and dread will be brought to an end by doing justice to the most vulnerable and oppressed.

Psalm 10

Psalm 4

When you are disturbed, do not sin;
ponder it on your beds, and be silent.

Tremble, quake, rage, but do not choose the wrong way;

While laying in bed silently consider your intention, purposes, and place.

There is a possible subtext -- related to the kind of silence -- of pondering the source of agitation from the perspective of death.

When our life is nearly completed, what will be worth anger?

The psalm concludes: "I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety."

Psalm 4

Psalm 111

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practise it have a good understanding.

To honor, revere, and be astonished by That Which Exists is the height of wisdom.

Prudence, consideration and discernment will come to those who act in this way.

Psalm 111

Psalm 104

Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord!

Recent psalms noted that to be blessed is to make progress, even more tangibly to be on a straight, flat road heading to our destination.

Sinners or chatta are literally those who miss the mark, go the wrong way, wander and are lost.

The wicked or rasha have chosen a crooked path, a twisting way, where it is easy to become lost.

The psalmist asks that both of these treacherous paths be brought to an end.

Bless us God, help us to know the way and keep us on it.

Psalm 104

Psalm 143

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.

Teach me to do your will.

לַמְּדֵנִי, לַעֲשׂוֹת רְצוֹנֶךָ--

There are only two Hebrew words: teach and do.

I'm not sure how the translators infer God's will.

Teach me to do. Teach me to do what present reality -- your reality -- requires. Teach me to do what is right. Teach me to do what is helpful. But in any case, teach me to take action.

Teach me to do.

Psalm 143

Psalm 134

Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
who stand by night in the house of the Lord!
Lift up your hands to the holy place,
and bless the Lord.
May the Lord, maker of heaven and earth,
bless you from Zion.

We seek God's blessing, but do we bless God?

How can we bless the creator of the universe?

By kneeling and drinking deeply from the river of reality.

Psalm 134

Psalm 128

Happy is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways.
You shall eat the fruit of the labour of your hands;
you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.

Biblical happiness - or blessedness - is the making of progress and traveling straight.

Biblical fear - or reverence - is to honor, respect, or to be awestruck.

The way of the Lord is as an arrow. To make progress is to bend the bow by which the arrow is launched.

Psalm 128

Psalm 126

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.

The human condition includes pain, loss, failure, and grief.

We shall weep.

We are also given the potential for love, learning, creation, and joy.

We shall laugh.

How we engage reality can influence the abundance of each.

Psalm 126

Psalm 106

Happy are those who observe justice,
who do righteousness at all times.

אַשְׁרֵי, שֹׁמְרֵי מִשְׁפָּט; עֹשֵׂה צְדָקָה בְכָל-עֵת.

The source of happiness -'esher - is moving forward, making progress.

To observe - shamar - is to also keep, preserve, and protect.

To do - 'asah - is to fashion, make, to produce.

That Which Exists knows us.

We are to be active in knowing God.

Psalm 106

Psalm 145

The Lord is just in all his ways,
and kind in all his doings.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.

The Lord being "near" is an entirely accurate translation.

But there is a subtle subtext of being in and of the same time and space, more than proximity: a shared identity.

The "truth" of the next verse is overly abstract. Better is recognizing the relationship, recognizing the support of That Which Exist, recognizing the shared identity.

In the spoken Hebrew of the second verse I hear this shared identity: Yehovah qarowb kol 'aher qara 'emeth.

Psalm 145

Psalm 33

For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

כִּי-יָשָׁר דְּבַר-יְהוָה; וְכָל-מַעֲשֵׂהוּ, בֶּאֱמוּנָה.

אֹהֵב, צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט; חֶסֶד יְהוָה, מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ.

The way of That Which Exists is straight and smooth,
In the fullness of doing is cause for confidence.

That Which Exists embraces full selves and whole communities,
The totality of our experience is completed in goodness, beauty, and kindness.

Psalm 33

Psalm 107

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures for ever.

הֹדוּ לַיהוָה כִּי-טוֹב: כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ.

Throw, shoot, cast to That Which Exists, good, glad, and bountiful;

Goodness, kindness, faithfulness continually, forever.

Psalm 107

Psalm 63

My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

These are -- at least for me -- anxious days.

Trouble is brewing and most of it is beyond my influence.

From years of trouble, I am vulnerable in many known ways and no doubt in many more unknown.

Yet... today, this day, is overflowing with opportunity and grace; the good and beautiful abound. The abundance is beyond my ability to harvest.

You have been my help and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.

Psalm 63

Psalm 119

Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
and your law is the truth.
Trouble and anguish have come upon me,
but your commandments are my delight.
Your decrees are righteous for ever;
give me understanding that I may live.

Dear God, give me understanding.

Give me discernment.

Allow me to listen carefully enough, observe acutely enough, and be sufficiently aware of context to experience your reality.

Psalm 119

Psalm 94

Justice will return to the righteous,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.

כִּי-עַד-צֶדֶק, יָשׁוּב מִשְׁפָּט

Some translate this as, right will return unto justice.

Others translate this as, justice will again be righteous.

There are three Hebrew words mishpat shuwb tsedeq.

Mishpat: A quality of rightness or righteousness shared by the community.

Shuwb: Returns, turns back, restores.

Tsedeq: A quality of what is right for individuals.

Psalm 94

Psalm 89

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
Happy are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance;
they exult in your name all day long,
and extol your righteousness.

I AM WHO I AM, tsedeq fulfilled, perfect righteousness.

God has given all we need, perfect justice.

Even more than what we need, God loves us without condition.

Psalm 89

Psalm 46

God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Days of trouble accumulate and, perhaps, accelerate.

God will help, if we are ready to accept help.

God is with us. Are we with God?

Psalm 46

Psalm 136

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures for ever.
O give thanks to the God of gods,
for his steadfast love endures for ever.
O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his steadfast love endures for ever...

כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ.

It sounds like: kheh'-sed o-lawm'

Lovingkindness forever.

Goodness, kindness, faithfulness always.

Thank you.

Psalm 136

Psalm 91

Those who love me, I will deliver;
I will protect those who know my name.
When they call to me, I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble,
I will rescue them and honour them.
With long life I will satisfy them,
and show them my salvation.

Context is crucial.

How was Jesus protected?

Not from scourging or crucifixion.

But Jesus was rescued and honored.

Help me dear God that I may know and love you.

Psalm 91

Psalm 85

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
The Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him,
and will make a path for his steps.

Righteousness - tsedeqh - and peace - shalowm - are joined.

The particular genius of each is joined for the good of all.

Each one in combination with every one results in shared wholeness.

Psalm 85

Psalm 81

I hear a voice I had not known:
I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I rescued you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

I have called in distress. I have been rescued.

I have not been so much tested, as given opportunities to learn.

I have been answered, though I am not sure of the secret place of thunder.

I have been relieved.

I have been freed.

Psalm 81

Psalm 78

For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
When God heard, he was full of wrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mortals,
and delivered his power to captivity,
his glory to the hand of the foe.

When we worship what is not real, that which does not exist, we are likely to fall into illusion, delusion, and danger.

The troubles that then come are not caused by a wrathful God. If we choose to hurry down a dead-end God has given us the freedom to do so.

God does not abandon, but I have abandoned and ignored and stubbornly denied that which exists.

Psalm 78

Psalm 77

Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is so great as our God?
You are the God who works wonders;
you have displayed your might among the peoples.

The way of Ultimate Reality is distinct, separate, different.

The path to fulfillment is individual, personal, particular.

The journey to justice is set apart, sacred, in relationship with God and neighbor.

Psalm 77