Psalm 19

The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.

It is especially quiet on this pre-dawn morning.

Overnight the temperature fell below freezing. The frogs and insects are silent, perhaps until Spring.

But in the cold dry moonless sky the stars are in full voice.

Psalm 19

Psalm 6

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger,
or discipline me in your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.
My soul also is struck with terror,
while you, O Lord — how long?
Turn, O Lord, save my life;
deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.

The psalmist asks, "save my life."

The original Hebrew is much closer to: equip my mind and character.

That Which Exists, if given attention, will do both; often achieving the first translation through the second.

This says nothing about redeem, which is an entirely different verb and process.

I cannot earn my redemption, on that I depend on the promise and example of Jesus.

But we can each contribute to the quality of our days by giving full attention to that which exists as an expression of That Which Exists.

Dear God, equip my mind and character.

Psalm 6

Psalm 7

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 has chosen interesting terms.

The verb used to "make" a pit can mean to dig, or give a feast, or purchase through trade.

The "pit" is a well or cistern derived from a very similar sounding word meaning to explain or to clear up by digging deep, so to speak.

The holes into which we fall are often the outcome not just of bad choices, but of active desires and significant effort.

As long as we offer self-justifying explanations of our motivation or action we will remain trapped.

Psalm 7

Psalm 112

Praise the Lord!
Happy are those who fear the Lord,
who greatly delight in his commandments.

.אַשְׁרֵי-אִישׁ, יָרֵא אֶת-יְהוָה; בְּמִצְו‍ֹתָיו, חָפֵץ מְאֹד

How did the verb yare' - meaning to shoot or pour - come to mean fear, revere, overawed?

As a young man I was an archer.

In the concentration of mind and body needed for archery, the self is shed.

There is the bow and the arrow, that is all.

Anxiety and ambition are set aside. Even the target recedes.

Here is energy, stretch it.

Here is experience, let it fly!

Psalm 112

Psalm 144

May our sons in their youth
be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars,
cut for the building of a palace.
May our barns be filled
with produce of every kind;
may our sheep increase by thousands,
by tens of thousands in our fields,
and may our cattle be heavy with young.
May there be no breach in the walls, no exile,
and no cry of distress in our streets.
Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall;
happy are the people whose God is the Lord.

The last line again: Those who are ruled by That Which Exists will make progress.

That Which Exists or Yahovah is becoming, arising, appearing, coming...

God is constantly unfolding, fulfilling, creating, making...

We are ruled by the ultimate reality of change.

We make progress when we are able to abide with this reality.

Psalm 144

Psalm 97

The Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!
Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Fire goes before him,
and consumes his adversaries on every side.
His lightnings light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
and all the peoples behold his glory.

These are partial, even petty, expressions of That Which Exists.

But they serve to signal powers and purposes beyond our control.

We are powerful, but very far from all-powerful.

Humility and thanks are helpful to engage That Which Exists.

Aligning our purposes with God's greater purposes is wise.

Psalm 97

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 kneel before God.

We adore God, we give ourselves to God.

God kneels before us.

God adores us, God gives us all of creation.

In mutual blessing existence is fulfilled.

Psalm 134

Psalm 128

You shall eat the fruit of the labour of your hands;
you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.

You shall be happy: אַשְׁרֵי or 'esher

Derived from 'asher to go straight, make progress.

I have not chosen a straight path, but it has been interesting.

I have not arrived at my destination, nor am I quite sure what it might be.

There is - despite the twists,turns and uncertainty - a sense of progress.

Psalm 128

Psalm 123

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than its fill
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.

The Occupy Movement still seems to me more sentiment than argument.

But those who violently oppose the movement are prompting my sympathy with it.

When Scott Olsen was injured in Oakland, when the UC-Davis students and Dorli Ramey, age 84, (above) were pepper sprayed...

The contempt, scorn, and violence directed at the protesters is evidence for the validity of their concern.

Have mercy on us.

Psalm 123

Psalm 24

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is false,
and do not swear deceitfully.
They will receive blessing from the Lord,
and vindication from the God of their salvation.

In any spiritual sense I do not have clean hands or a pure heart.

The original Hebrew, however, offers a bit of hope.

Clean -- נָקִי or naqiy -- also means unpunished.

Pure -- בָּר or bar -- can also mean unpunishing.

I hear a bit of forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Psalm 24

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.
He fulfils the desire of all who fear him;
he also hears their cry, and saves them.

Jehovah is just, Jehovah is near...

Being, existence, becoming is just.

Abiding, continuing, doing is near.

Delight is done for all who pour all they have into being, existence, becoming, abiding, continuing, doing, and fully engaging That Which Exists.

Psalm 145

Psalm 124

Blessed be the Lord,
who has not given us
as prey to their teeth.
We have escaped like a bird
from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped.

Reality is this moment.

The past was real, but is now gone.

The future will be real, but has not yet unfolded.

The past may be fulfilled in this moment.

The future may be founded on this moment.

Too often we are distracted by regret or anger about the past.

As often we are delayed by fear of the future.

The great message of gospel, psalm and prophecy is that in love there is freedom.

In love we are freed from the snares of regret, anger, fear and doubt.

In love we are let loose to fly.

Psalm 124

Psalm 102

Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you endure;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You change them like clothing, and they pass away;
but you are the same, and your years have no end.

Each morning I meditate on That Which Exists.

Many times each day I pray to the great I AM.

In turmoil I cry out, even from sleep, for God.

I am relationship with the source of the cosmos.

This does not suggest I have any real understanding of God.

That Which Exists is so vast I can perceive only a small part.

אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה‎ - I am that I am - is this moment, is me, is you, is That Which Exists.

Psalm 102

Psalm 61

Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I call to you,
when my heart is faint.

Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I;
for you are my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.

The enemy takes many forms.

For me it comes as anxiety and pride;

Two sides of the same corrupting coin.

Help me, dear God, to finally arrive at the strong tower;

Where love of others completes, does not compete with self love.

Psalm 61

Psalm 101

I will sing of loyalty and of justice;
to you, O Lord, I will sing.
I will study the way that is blameless.
When shall I attain it?

I will walk with integrity of heart
within my house;
I will not set before my eyes
anything that is base.

I hate the work of those who fall away;
it shall not cling to me.
Perverseness of heart shall be far from me;
I will know nothing of evil.

One who secretly slanders a neighbour
I will destroy.
A haughty look and an arrogant heart
I will not tolerate.

I will look with favour on the faithful in the land,
so that they may live with me;
whoever walks in the way that is blameless
shall minister to me.

No one who practises deceit
shall remain in my house;
no one who utters lies
shall continue in my presence.

Morning by morning I will destroy
all the wicked in the land,
cutting off all evildoers
from the city of the Lord.

How should a post-Freudian read the psalms?

How should someone who knows Shakespeare read the psalms? Is the psalmist describing Macbeth or Coriolanus or...?

Is the psalmist celebrating or critiquing the swaggering confidence of his protagonist? Or are we to perceive only swagger?

I perceive a deadly dangerous tyrant.

How very far is this intolerance and destruction from: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.

Psalm 101

Psalm 97

Light dawns for the righteous,
and joy for the upright in heart.
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!

The verb is not dawn, it is zara' meaning to scatter seed, sow, implant, or cause conception.

Light and joy are intentionally planted, expecting a harvest.

We are each receptacles for the seed. How we receive and care for it has considerable impact on its issue.

Psalm 97

Psalm 89

I have found my servant David;
with my holy oil I have anointed him;
my hand shall always remain with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
The enemy shall not outwit him,
the wicked shall not humble him.

God found David. The Hebrew verb means coming upon, meeting, even stumbling on.

David did not earn God's favor, scripture suggests the opposite.

God's extravagant promises to David and his descendants are fulfilled.

Yet David suffered. His descendants suffered. The psalmist proclaims their pain.

To be anointed is to be joined with God, which is to heighten and deepen every experience.

Psalm 89

Psalm 19

Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.

We measure our way in silence.

It is a meaningful silence.

In its midst is dialogue and from it emerges discernment.

If we will look, we will see. If we will listen, we will hear.

Wordless wisdom.

Psalm 19

Psalm 90

Turn, O Lord! How long?
Have compassion on your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
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!

The more traditional translation of the last lines is:

"and confirm for us the work of our hands-
Yes, confirm the work of our hands."

The Hebrew verb is kuwn, meaning to establish, stabilize, secure, and make firm.

Prosperity makes me glad and its absence worries me.

But even more than prosperity, to be sure that what I do is consequential...

That is -- would be -- a source of joy.

Psalm 90

Psalm 92

The righteous flourish like the palm tree,
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
In old age they still produce fruit;
they are always green and full of sap,
showing that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Again, the psalms assigned for today are contradictory.

The confidence of the verses above contrast sharply with Psalm 88:

I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.
Your wrath has swept over me;
your dread assaults destroy me.

Humans have tended to view God as puppet master, pulling strings to cause us joy or pain.

God is creator, but as with Geppetto the creation has its own will and chooses its own way.

Psalm 92

Psalm 85

Port Salut Beach, Southern Haiti

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.

The psalms assigned for today offer two distinct visions of That Which Exists.

A psalm to be read this evening (above) is reassuring.

The first psalm to be read this morning is frightening.

O my God, make them like whirling dust,
like chaff before the wind.
As fire consumes the forest,
as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your hurricane.
Fill their faces with shame,
so that they may seek your name, O Lord.
Let them be put to shame and dismayed for ever;
let them perish in disgrace.

Evidence abounds for each. My life is typically much more similar to the first. But if I had been in Haiti during most of 2010, or had survived the Indian Ocean tsunami, or my home had been destroyed in the Texas wildfires the second psalm would seem much more real.

Psalm 85 and Psalm 83

Psalm 119

I hate the double-minded,
but I love your law.
You are my hiding-place and my shield;
I hope in your word.
Go away from me, you evildoers,
that I may keep the commandments of my God.

"I hate half-heartedness", would also be an accurate translation.

Brokeness, illness, or sadness could replace evildoers.

The failure to do and to be what would be a full-hearted expression of God's intention is often a source of separation, depression, and worse.

To embrace God's intention is to find our best self.

Psalm 119

Psalm 34

The Lord is near to the broken-hearted,
and saves the crushed in spirit.

That Which Exists is closely related to the wrecked and broken,
liberating the shattered spirit.

Psalm 34

Psalm 77

‘Will the Lord spurn for ever,
and never again be favourable?
Has his steadfast love ceased for ever?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?’
And I say, ‘It is my grief
that the right hand of the Most High has changed.’

Has God changed my grief? Or has grief altered my relationship with God?

There are several Hebrew words for grief. This one, chalah, means to become ill, there is a strong sense of self-cause as in "to make oneself sick."

In anger, pride, embarrassment, fatigue, neglect... for a whole host of reasons we separate ourselves from each other and even from God. Whenever we are ready, God is there.

Psalm 77

Psalm 96

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the Lord; for he is coming,
for he is coming to judge the earth.

The Hebrew shaphat means to judge, govern, vindicate, punish...

I tend to pray for God to punish others and vindicate me. We will each, I expect, experience a full measure of every aspect of shaphat.

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Psalm 96

Psalm 27

Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.

In choosing a passage for my morning meditation I am mostly impressionistic.

Two long or four or five shorter psalms are assigned. I read each for a verse or two that I find personally provocative or that makes me curious.

In this verse, why should enemies be my motivation?

The original Hebrew is:

הוֹרֵנִי יְהוָה, דַּרְכֶּךָ: וּנְחֵנִי, בְּאֹרַח מִישׁוֹר--לְמַעַן, שׁוֹרְרָי

The Hebrew translated here as enemies is soreq, which is a kind of grape vine.(!?)

This grapevine was commonly used by landowners or more often their overseers as a switch to punish those who were not working hard enough.

In the context of the psalm it would be more coherent with the original text to translate the verse as: "Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path to avoid the switch."

This, in turn, reminds me of Jesus in John's gospel saying:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."

Psalm 27

Psalm 73

I was stupid and ignorant;
I was like a brute beast towards you.
Nevertheless I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.

"I am senseless and without knowing" is another translation.

I can be totally oblivious, insensitive and unaware.

The more oblivious I am, the more likely I am to be certain and stubborn.

Yet God -- and others -- are patient, kind, loving.

Slowly I may come to sense something beyond my self.

Psalm 73

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 have seen this goodness.

It is abundant, especially where humankind is rare.

But even in great cities this goodness can be found.

We can be selfish, angry brutes, but we are also co-creators of the earth.

I do not have to wait. I need only look and act.

Psalm 27

Psalm 112

It is well with those who deal generously and lend,
who conduct their affairs with justice.

The Hebrew לָוָה or lavah means to join together.

Above it is translated as lend.

Debtor and lender are joined together. The strength of this connection has recently been highlighted.

In scripture God is often compared to a landowner or lender. We are the tenant or debtor.

We are always behind on our payments.

God responds patiently, constructively, lovingly, redemptively. It is well for those who conduct their affairs with justice.

Psalm 112

Psalm 72

For he delivers the needy when they call,
the poor and those who have no helper.
He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their life;
and precious is their blood in his sight.

Walking by the Occupy Los Angeles and Occupy San Francisco camps (above), I have been aware of smiling.

It has been a happy and heart-felt smile.

What is translated above as needy is the Hebrew אֶבְיוֹן or 'ebyown: vulnerable, oppressed, poor, powerless would all be reasonable translations.

Despite the place of fear, anger, and uncertainty, the Occupy Movement also represents an amazing confidence in the possibility of justice.

Leaderless and notoriously vague, the Occupiers share their vulnerability with us, expecting a redemptive response.

It is an extraordinary expectation and invitation.

To redeem is also to save, deliver, and liberate. It is almost certainly true that the targets of the Occupiers protest are also in need of liberation.

Psalm 72