August 18 — Psalm 109

“Do not be silent, O God of my praise. For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They beset me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, even while I make prayer for them. So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love. They say, “Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand on his right. When he is tried, let him be found guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin. May his days be few; may another seize his position. May his children be orphans, and his wife a widow. May his children wander about and beg; may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit. May the creditor seize all that he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil. May there be no one to do him a kindness, nor anyone to pity his orphaned children. May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation. May the iniquity of his father be remembered before the LORD, and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the LORD continually, and may his memory be cut off from the earth.” (Verses 1-15)

This psalm constitutes the most vivid example of an imprecatory prayer found in the Psalms. What is an “imprecatory prayer”? This type of prayer is a prayer of “retribution” — these Psalms are those that invoke judgment, calamity, or curses, upon one’s enemies or those perceived as the enemies of God.

Such petitions for justice have posed a theological problem, not to our surprise. Questions people have raised over the years include: How can a man who claims to trust in the Lord (verses 21-31), pray such curses on his enemies as those found in verses 6-20?

Let me provide several possible answers for this problem. First, there is a legitimate righteous indignation against sin. Jesus indirectly commands something similar when he tells the woman caught in adultery to “Go and sin no more.” (John 8:11) Second, the curses used here are actually a prayer that places the matter into the hands of a just and holy G-d. The Psalmist does not judge — he prays that G-d will be G-d, and will judge rightly. Third, the psalmist is so identified with God that he turns to the only place he knows he will be heard — where we are always heard — he turns to G-d.

Let us pray:

God of steadfast love, on the cross your Son forgave his enemies. Turn us from hatred and evil, that we may forgive the offenses of others as we have been forgiven by you; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

August 17 — Psalm 108

“My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make melody. Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn. I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth. Give victory with your right hand, and answer me, so that those whom you love may be rescued. God has promised in his sanctuary: “With exultation I will divide up Shechem, and portion out the Vale of Succoth. Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter. Moab is my washbasin; on Edom I hurl my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph.” Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies. O grant us help against the foe, for human help is worthless. With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.”

Awake, my soul!

Our five cats love to sleep — I have a cartoon that speaks to the life of my cats so well — it says “20 hours of sleeping, 4 hours of awesomeness.” I am not a good sleeper, but I wish I could learn to sleep in — like my cats. We know how important good sleep is — and getting plenty of that good sleep. According to the “Sleep Matters Club”, “The average person spends about 26 years sleeping in their life which equates to 9,490 days or 227,760 hours. Surprisingly, we also spend 7 years trying to get to sleep. That’s 33 years or 12,045 days spent in bed!”

So, it is important to get good sleep — but it is even more important, especially for our faith, to be awake in the world. To be awake means that we choose to get out from the comfort of our lives — those areas that try to coax us to more sleep — or sleepiness — when we should be awake, praising G-d, and living active faith lives.

Much like getting out of bed to face the world on its own terms, we are called to live G-dly lives, and to love for G-d, because our G-d lives for us.

Perhaps this is something that the Psalms teach us better than anything: they cover all the topics within the human experience — singing, praising, sleeping, waking, praying, worshipping — they teach us that we should see G-d within those moments too.

Let us pray:

O God, your steadfast love is wider than all the universe and your faithfulness greater than the heights of heaven. Give us your help against sin and every evil. Waken our voices and instruments to sound your praise before the world in thanksgiving for your goodness; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.