Read Through The Psalms |
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The Week of April 28, 2008 Psalm 42,43 and 44 Psalm 42 and 43 Most biblical scholars suggest that these form one psalm when read together; a psalm in three parts, bound together by the phrase "why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me." (42:5, 11, 43:5). As a prayer of individual lament, the psalm expresses despair and the experience of separation from the living God. Water and thirst hold this prayer together metaphorically. Images of the mournful braying of a thirsty deer, a soul seeking the "living water" of a saving God, tears feeding the one far from God, and the natural chaos of water in storm and flood, all point to the deep human need for God, and God's destructive AND saving power. The hope of this prayer resides in the knowledge that once again, the faithful might be allowed to worship God together in the temple in Jerusalem, guided by God's "light and truth." (43:3)
Psalm 44 This psalm expresses communal despair concerning a military defeat. God's protection and help in the past are remembered, and the community of faith raises a protest concerning God's absence in the present trouble. The metaphor of God "sleeping" and hiding the divine "face" (which illumines and lights the way of the people) permeates this prayer. Here we experience the people of God trying to make sense of great catastrophe, and not letting God off the hook! Notice in particular the argument that according to the covenant made with God, the people have kept their end of the bargain (43:17-21). The psalm protests the people's innocence; they have kept the covenant, and have remained faithful to the God of Israel. Therefore, with assurance they call upon God to remember and be faithful as well. The boldness of this protest of innocence is peculiar to the spirituality of the Psalms, and foreign to the way most modern Christians approach God in prayer! From My Reading: (Concerning Psalm 44) The theological pathos of this prayer lies in the continuity and discontinuity between recollection on the one hand and complaint on the other. Both construe the history through which the congregation has lived and lives as the work of God. This is the continuity, and the prayer holds to that continuity with unyielding commitment. But the work of God to make a place in the midst of the nations for the people of God has turned to dissolution of the congregation and a discrediting of their faith by the nations. That is the discontinuity. The congregation can speak of it only as inexplicable mystery that has no discernible basis in God's way or their's. The psalm is a prayer of faith in the face of the inexplicable. My Thoughts: My soul thirsts for God; for the Living God Psalm 42:2 "Why hello! How are you?" A well meaning friend begins conversation with the polite question. More times than not, we answer "fine, and you?" It's the right thing to say and do, and it hurries along the conversation. But how often a different answer come to mind!
"I'm tired." "I'm burned out." "I'm falling apart." "I need a break." "I need a change."
We may not express these thoughts, but each of us experience diminution, discrepancy and depletion. Often we look to our job, our family and friends, or the world around us for a cause. Perhaps a new boss, or a new spouse would make things better. Maybe we should stop taking on responsibilities and activities. A new toy, or outfit or expensive vacation certainly will reduce our stress and make life better. We fool ourselves into believing that a change in external circumstance will fill us and renew our spirits. The psalmist reminds us that we are created with a certain "thirst" for God's presence and guidance. We can try to find refreshment elsewhere, but in the end only God can satisfy and resolve the tension and stress of life. I have begun to see fatigue, confusion, fuzzy priorities and just plain wild scheduling as first and foremost a spiritual issue. We each experience the normal stress and craziness of life, but ultimately, our underlying thirst for God depletes us faster than anything the "world" throws at us! When Jesus met the Samaritan Woman at the well, a woman with enough baggage to weigh down the strongest person, he identified himself as the source of water that could satisfy her thirsty soul. Jesus still offers that living water to each of us. John 4:14 Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.' Blessings,
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