Psalm 5:1-8 (NRSV)
make your way straight before me.
Psalm 5 is an individual lament, a prayer of innocence. The psalm is likely from before the exile. The theme of the psalm is a morning sacrifice prayer at the temple. The author was one of the godly whom the wicked attacked.
The superscription is To the leader: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.
Psalm 5: 1-3 show the psalmist calling upon the Lord in the morning, probably at the sacrifice. The several invocations reveal the heaviness of the affliction of the psalmist. Out of the desperation due to the threats of enemies, the writer begs 1 Give ear to my words, O Lord; give heed to my sighing. It suggests some fearfulness that the Lord might not listen. He offers his cry, prayer, and pleads his case. He waits expectantly, with all the trust he can arouse. He will to see how the Lord will act. 2 Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I pray. 3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; NJB and Tanakh translate "daybreak." For morning prayer, see Psalms 55:17; 59:16; 88:13; 119:147. In addition, Mark 1:35: "In the morning, while it was still very dark, [Jesus] got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed." In the morning I plead my case to you, (or sets out his morning sacrifice, per NEB) and watch (tsaphah) for how God will act in response to his plea. Nouns based on the same root as “tsaphah” mean lookout post/point or watchtower. The verb has the connotation of waiting expectantly, hence NET's "[I] wait expectantly for an answer." Micah 7:6d-7 (NIV) reads, "[A] man's enemies are the members of his own household. But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me." A synonym for tsaphah is shamar. Habakkuk 2:1 says: "I will stand at my watchpost [from the same root as shamar], and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch [tsaphah] to see what [the LORD] will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint." Psalm 130:5-6 says, "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch [shamar] for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning" (yes, it's doubled). The author hurts; he fears; he prayerfully lays himself open before the Lord and waits longingly and expectantly for his answer.
Crying out to God when one is in the grips of pain or fear is a sign of faith in God. Psalm 22 begins with a question that arises out of anguish and pain: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me. The last words of Jesus were the same heart-wrenching question. If the cry of your heart is why God has let you down, do not be afraid to let that prayer cry out to God.
Praying the heart
You can only pray what's in your heart.
So if your heart is being ripped from your chest
pray the tearing
if your heart is full of bitterness
pray it to the last dreg
if your heart is a river gone wild
pray the torrent
or a lava flow scorching the mountain
pray the fire
pray the scream in your heart
the fanning bellows
pray the rage,
the murder and
the mourning
pray your heart into the great quiet hands that can hold it
like the small bird it is.[1]
A central tenet of faith believes that the loving God is always close to the creatures God has made. God is ready to reach out and to save. The temptation is to think that perhaps God will not reach out to me and to save me in this circumstance. Our temptation is to think God does not know me and therefore the possibility of rescue is non-existent. We must resist that temptation, of course. When we do, we will find God and life in surprising ways. In faith, we know God is near, even in the midst of difficulties, problems, and darkness of life. God listens, responds, and saves in the way God chooses. We need to have eyes open to recognize the presence and way of God.
Psalm 5: 4-6 shows the relationship of God to the wicked is not something one can find in the temple. 4 For implying, in context, that God will hear his prayers and act on his behalf because of his opponents' wickedness, you are not a God who delights in wickedness [or evil people/sinners in some translations]; evil will not sojourn with you [or will not be your guests]. The threat to the psalmist is multi-faceted. 5 The (1) boastful will not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. That is strong language. 6 You destroy those who speak (2) lies; the Lord abhors the (3) bloodthirsty and (4)deceitful. Thus, the threat to the psalmist includes verbal attacks as well as threat to his physical life. The psalmist suffers at the hands of lying wicked people. We can discuss the mercy and righteousness of God. The righteousness of God judges. Thus, it will exculpate and condemn, reward and punish. Orthodoxy had pushed this aspect too much and imperiled the unity of the righteousness and mercy of God. Yet, the righteousness of God is also an expression of real mercy, grace, and love. We need to push ourselves to a deeper understanding of mercy, or as Luther put lit, the righteousness of God is divine mercy.[2]
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