Psalms
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Praying the Psalms: A Phrase Here and a Phrase There

I would like to continue this year my reflections on the Psalms, starting with a pot pourri of short quotations from various Psalms, outside their context, but phrases which are expressive prayers in themselves.

In you O Lord I take refuge. (Ps 7:1)  This phrase and variations on it are common throughout the Psalms.

O Lord, how wonderful is your name throughout the earth  (Ps 8:1)

Preserve me, O Lord, I take refuge in you … For you will not leave my soul in hell, nor will you allow your faithful one to see corruption.  (Ps 16:1,11)

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.  O my God in you I put my trust, let me never be put to shame.  (Ps 25:1,2)

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise is ever on my lips.  (Ps 34:1)

I waited, I waited for the Lord; he bent down to me and heard my cry.  (Ps 40:1)

Behold I come; in the scroll of the book it is written, “I delight to do your will, O Lord; your law is written in my heart.”  (Ps 40:7)

Be still and know that I am God.  (Ps 46:10)

O for the wings of a dove.  I would fly away and be at rest.  (Ps 55:6)

Cast your care upon the Lord and he will sustain you.  He will never permit the righteous to be moved.  (Ps 55:22)

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast.  (Ps 57.7)

For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.  (Ps 62:5,6)

In you O Lord I take refuge, let me never be put to shame. (Ps 71:1)  The whole of Psalm 71 is worth looking at; phrase after phrase begs our attention.  It is too long to deal with in this forum.

O Shepherd of Israel, hear us.  (Ps 80:1)

How lovely is thy dwelling place, Lord of Hosts.  My soul is longing and pining for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.  (Ps84:1,2)

Teach us to number our days that we may get wisdom of heart  …  Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us.  (Ps 90: 12,15)

Modern translators, while aiming to be faithful to the original text, have difficulties with phrases like Lord God Sabaoth, or Lord God of Hosts (sometimes translated as Lord God Almighty).  Mostly, however, a measure of common sense will give us the meaning and intention of the psalmist.  A certain leeway in interpretation is necessary simply because the Psalms are poetry and therefore require an unpacking of metaphor.  It would be dangerous, for instance, to take the words Israel and Jerusalem too literally today, given the violence and injustice in those places (though their history has rarely been much different).  I think we have to look beyond the literal and see those places as something like the place of happiness and unity that God has promised his faithful people.

The main thing about these short quotations is to take them into our hearts as prayer, letting them reveal something of the God they focus our attention on.  They are short enough to be used as we get about our daily business, in the kitchen, in the traffic, in the shops, in the yard, anywhere, even at your computer!  Can I recommend to your attention an internet site for personal prayer: www.sacredspace.ie. 

Psalm 8 – O Lord, Our God, How Wonderful is your Name through All the Earth

1. O Lord, our God, how wonderful is your name though all the earth.  Your majesty is praised above the heavens.  2. Out of the mouths of children and babes in arms you have found praise to silence your enemies.

In Hebrew the words for “your name” and “your heavens” sound almost exactly the same; so the impact of the phrase “the heavens proclaim the name of the Lord” is quite powerful.  It suggests that God surrounds the earth with an intimate presence, a personal calling or vocation.  “Out of the mouths …” (Ex ore infantium et lactentium …) I like to read as “From the mouths of children and innocents you often bring forth words that confound the critics, those who think they know it all”.3. When I look at the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars that you have established, 4. what is man that you should be mindful of him, mortal man that you should care for him?Perhaps we should say “What are we that you are mindful of us?  What are we that you care for us?”, partly because of the inclusive language, but also to remind us that there is no such thing as an individualistic Christian – we are all in it together, it’s all about service.  Many people find a wonderful sense of God in the creation about them – in the stars, the mountains and the sea.  We have every reason to be humble before the magnificence of creation, yet God has made us lords of the created world, but also given us equivalent responsibilities to care for his creation.

5. You have made him a little less than the angels [a god], with glory and honour you crowned him.  6. You have given him power over the works of your hands and put all things under his feet:  7. all sheep and cattle, even the beasts of the field,  8. the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, whatever makes its way through the waters.

(The Hebrew says a little less than a god, but the Greek translates it as a little less than the angels out of fear of making human beings too much like God.)  If God is so resplendent, how great must his human creation be.  God comes first, but he lays the world at our feet, and crowns us with glory and honour. (Stuhmueller p16)  I have often wondered whether Shakespeare* had this Psalm in mind when he put into Hamlet’s mouth the words: “What a piece of work is man!  How noble in reason; how infinite in faculty; … in action how like an angel; in apprehension how like a god; the beauty of the world; the paragon of animals!” (Hamlet II.ii)  Shakespeare knew his Bible thoroughly, as his plays attest.

9. O Lord, our God, how wonderful is your name though all the earth.

We come back to where we began: the glory of God and the power of his name.  There is something very humbling but satisfying about this Psalm.  In a world where human beings are inclined to think of themselves as self-sufficient (is this increasingly so, or am I just being old fashioned?), we do well to remind ourselves of our place in relationship to the Creator.

(* Shakespeare’s Bible may have been the Geneva Bible - although Shakespeare did grow up in a Catholic family - as it was for John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), and for the Puritans of the Seventeenth Century,.  The Geneva Bible, 1560, was translated by English Protestant exiles in Geneva during Mary Tudor’s Catholic restoration period, 1553-8.  It was Calvinistic in its approach and anti-Catholic in its notes.  In many ways the best of the English Bibles before the King James 1611, it was the Bible for the common man for private reading, though never authorised for use in the parish churches.)

Psalm 34 – I will bless the Lord at all times

This is a thanksgiving psalm, and in the original Hebrew it was an alphabetical psalm, each line beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, but this feature is rarely captured in translations.  It addresses the just and invites them to join with the psalmist in praising God who rescues those who trust him.  It purports to be written by David after he had pretended to be mad so that he might escape capture by the Philistines (the story is told in 1 Samuel 21:11-16).  The psalm also contrasts the fates of the good and the wicked.  As human beings who share both good and evil in our lives, we must be wary of being too smug and aligning ourselves with one and condemning the other: as Dylan Thomas said in Under Milkwood, “We are not wholly bad or good, who live our lives under Milkwood”.  So let’s leave the judgement to God, and strive in our own lives to be more good than evil.

1. I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall always be on my lips.  2. I will praise the Lord from my heart, that the poor may hear and be glad.  3. Praise the Lord’s greatness with me; let us praise his name together.  4. I sought the Lord and he answered me; from all my terrors he set me free. 

Verse 3 reflects Mary’s song of praise, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.” 

5. Look to the Lord and be radiant; let your faces never be ashamed.  6. In my distress I called and the Lord heard me, and he saved me in my distress.  7. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who revere him and he rescues them.  8. O, taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.  9. O fear the Lord, you holy people, for those who fear him will want for nothing.  10. The young lions will suffer want and go hungry, but those who fear the Lord lack nothing good. 

In the Christian tradition the words “taste and see” have long been applied to the Eucharist, the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ.  The reference to the “young lions” has been adopted into our own language – the young movers and shakers in money or industry or the entertainment world: the irony is obvious.  Mind you, we can all be young lions in our own way: there is little room for complacency in our personal lives!  The recommendation to “fear the Lord” does not sit so well with today’s trendies, who fear nothing, no one: that is why “revere”, “respect”, “honour” or “acknowledge the place of” may make more sense to non-Bible reading people.

11. Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.  12. Who among you loves life, longs for many years to enjoy prosperity?  13. Then keep your tongue from speaking evil, your lips from telling lies.  14. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.  15. The eyes of the Lord are turned towards the upright, his ears towards their cry;  16. but his face is against evil doers, to wipe out their memory from the earth.  17. When the just cry out, the Lord hears, and delivers them from all their distress.  18. He is near to the broken hearted, he saves those whose spirit is crushed.  19.  Many are the troubles of the upright, but the Lord delivers us from them all.  20. He keeps guard over all our bones and not one of them will be broken.  21. Evil will destroy the wicked; those who hate the just will be condemned.  22. The Lord will redeem his faithful servants; no one who takes refuge in the Lord will be condemned.

The reference to us as children reflects the Old Testament Wisdom tradition: it is in the home that parents instruct their children in right conduct.  It also reflects that long Hebrew and Christian tradition that we are all children of God, especially that lovely phrase of Jesus: “Unless you become like little children, you will not enter the Kingdom of God.”  It reminds me of a wonderful phrase I once heard a Scottish Sister use with a beautiful familiarity – “We’re all Jock Thompson’s bairns”, ie, we’re all God’s little children. 

The psalm concludes with an instruction on the relative fates of the good and the wicked.  It is a wonderful expression of the presence of God in our personal and daily lives.

Psalm 42-43  As the Deer Yearns for Running Streams …

 These two psalms were originally one and should be read as one, simply because of the logical development of the sense of healing through memory that they convey.  The author may be in exile in the north (Jordan and Mount Hermon) but is certainly missing the solemn worship of the Temple: he is homesick, hurt but hopeful, as the three elements of the refrain (42 vv5, 11; 43 v5) suggest – cast down, groan, will praise again.  The unity of imagery, as well as the psychological insights into grief and healing, makes this one of the finest poems in the Bible.

 The heading includes the phrase “Of the sons of Korah”.  The context of the Psalm may well be that the Korah Guild of Psalm Writers, closely associated with the liturgy and good music of Temple worship, were demoted to lesser roles like preparing the ritual loaves and keeping the gate.  Let us look at it like losing a job, being overlooked when we care so much about something and someone else gets the job; or perhaps losing a parent, a child, a wife or husband or a deep friendship; or just growing older.  It is easier to understand the Psalm in that light.

 Ps 42  1. As the deer yearns for running streams, so my soul yearns for you, my Lord.  2. My soul thirsts for God, the God of my life; when can I enter and see the face of God?  3. My tears have been my food, by night, by day, as I am taunted all day long: “Where is your God?”  4. These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I would lead the rejoicing crowd in procession into the Temple, among loud shouts of joy and thanksgiving, the throng wild with joy.

 We cannot overlook the power of the words yearn and thirst, made all the more powerful by the image of the “hart that patneth after waterbrooks” (1611 King James version).  The experience recounted in the other verses is familiar enough to need no comment.

 5. Why are you cast down my soul, why groan within?  Hope in God, I will praise him once again, my saviour and my God.

 The refrain suggests that memories bring sorrow and tears, but also the possibility of new understandings, as, but it is too early for peace yet – we are enjoying the tears too much!

 6. My soul is cast down within me, as I think of you from the land of Jordan and Mount Hermon, from the very foothills of Hermon [my interpretation of an obscure phrase].  7. Deep calls out to deep in the roar of your cataracts; all your waves and your breakers have rolled over me.  8. By day the Lord sends out his steadfast love; even in the night I will sing to him, a prayer to the God of my life [or: the God who gives me life].  9. I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me?  Why must I go about in mourning, harassed by the enemy?  10. With taunts that cut me to the quick, my enemies mock me; all day long they cry to me: “Where is your God?”

 The second part of the Psalm moves from the dryness of the desert to the tumultuous torrents of waters that threaten to overwhelm and drown, the cataracts of the upper Jordan or the terrors of the open sea (the Sea of Galilee was threatening enough for the Israelites, to say nothing of the waters beyond whatever they called the Straits of Gibraltar).  It reminds us of those who took the job we cherished so much and continue to mourn, of those who by their apparent good fortune silently mock the seemingly irreparable loss we have suffered.

 11. Why are you cast down my soul, why groan within?  Hope in God, I will praise him once again, my saviour and my God.

 The refrain moves from memories to the tears that begin the healing process. 

Ps 43  1. Defend me O God and plead my cause against a godless people; from the deceitful and the unjust rescue me, O Lord.  2. You are the one in whom I take refuge, so why do you abandon me?  Why must I go about in mourning, harassed by the enemy?  3. Send out your light and your truth, let these be my guide.  Let these bring me to your holy mountain and to your dwelling place.  4. Then I will go in to the altar of God, the God of my joy; and I will give thanks to you upon the harp, O God my God.

 Memories bring healing: light and truth begin to return; hope in God, giving thanks become again a part of our way of doing things.  (The pre-Vatican II Mass used to begin with the words Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meum: I will go in to the altar of God, the God who gives joy to my youth.)  Stuhlmueller (p117) points out the beautiful symmetry of this prayer, detailing the elements of each of the three sections: past recalled, present sorrows, future hopes; timidity, strength, triumph; yearning for God, deserted by God, calm awaiting of God’s presence; water life-giving, water destructive, light after storm; desert, mountains, temple sanctuary.

 5. Why are you cast down my soul, why groan within?  Hope in God, I will praise him once again, my saviour and my God.

 Psychologically the Psalm is spot-on: how frequently do we need to deal properly with depression and anger before we can move to joy and hope.  Sacramentally the Psalm reflects the Christian journey from Baptism through Reconciliation to Eucharist.  In the church of San Clemente in Rome there is an astonishing mosaic representation of the deer supping the waters of a stream: it is a constant reminder of the presence and power of Christ in the church and in our personal journey.  I cannot pray the psalm without seeing the mosaic.  For me, this is one of the most beautiful Psalms in the Psalter.

Psalm 51 – Have Mercy on Me, O God, in Your Kindness

I want to say again that the versions of the Psalms I offer in these articles are not personal translations.  I make the point with this Psalm because the Hebrew words for mercy and compassion, so prominent at the beginning of the Psalm, have overtones involving personal relationships which no English translation can do justice to, and my version lays no claim to do so.

This psalm is one of the Seven Penitential Psalms of the Christian tradition – Nos 6, 32,38, 51, 102, 130 (the De Profundis) and 153.  They are worth your acquaintance.  It is closely linked with the prophetic writings of Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah, and while Psalm 51 has its own satisfying unity, much of it can be found reflected in these prophets.  Its Latin opening word Miserere has entered our language.

Heading: A Prayer of Repentance.  A Psalm of David.  When the prophet Nathan came to him after his sin with Bathsheba.

This story of lust and murder is found in 2 Samuel 11-12.  David commits adultery with Bathsheba then contrives to have her husband Uriah murdered.  Nathan the prophet tells David a story about a wealthy man who took a poor man’s only possession; David is filled with righteous indignation; Nathan says, “You are that man”.  And David turns to repentance.  This Psalm is about personal responsibility and guilt, but is also firmly placed in the prophetic tradition.

1-2. An introductory call for mercy

Have mercy on me, O God, in your steadfast love; in your great tenderness wipe away my offences.  Wash me thoroughly from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.

The psalm begins with a humble, poignant and repeated plea for God’s mercy.  The Hebrew word for “mercy” [hesed] suggests God’s steadfast love and faithfulness and is closely related to the family bond.  What is translated here as “tenderness” is the Hebrew word rahamim which means compassion, but in its singular form refers to the womb – God forgives in the loving, tender, slow, nourishing way of a pregnant woman (Stuhlmueller p171).

3. Consciousness of sin

For I am well aware of my offences and my sin is always before me.

4. Confession of sin

Against you, and you alone, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgement.

Although sin may be an injustice against one’s fellow humans, it is of the essence of sin that it is an offence against God, who is present in all things, even in our sin: that is why every offence against our neighbour is an offence against God.

5-6. Maturity comes with honest recognition

Indeed, I was born in guilt, a sinner even in my mother’s womb.  You delight in sincerity of heart, so in the depths of my heart teach me wisdom.

7-9. Plea for forgiveness and restoration to the worshipping community (of the Temple)

Purify me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.  Let me hear the sounds of joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

Hyssop is a small bush whose twigs were prescribed in the Mosaic Law for use in ritual sprinklings.  Here, the hope is that one might be genuinely made clean (“un-sinned”).  Once again, our sin is never committed in isolation, and our repentance is always as a part of the worshipping community.

10-12. Prayer for personal renewal

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from your presence, nor deprive me of your holy spirit.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation; with a willing spirit sustain me.

While the reference to the “spirit” here is not specifically to the Christian understanding of the Holy Spirit, surely as Christians our reading of the Psalm is richer for such an understanding.

13-17. Thanksgiving

Then I in my turn will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.  Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will ring out your goodness.  O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise.  For you take no delight in sacrifice; if I were to make a burnt offering you would not be pleased.  The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a humble, contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.

“Bloodguilt” seems to refer to David’s murder of Uriah.  The essence of these verses is that no ritual will ever take the place of a genuine personal relationship with God and, when necessary, a deep repentance for our failures and transgressions.

18-19. Additional verses: prayer for the city and the temple

Show favour to Sion in your goodness, O Lord; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.  The you will be pleased with due sacrifices, burnt offerings and holocausts [whole oblations], and young bulls offered on your altars.

Verses 18 and 19 may be a later addition after the Israelites’ return from their exile in Babylon (538BC).  The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem is seen as a sign of divine favour.  Similarly the restored Temple sacrifice reclaims its original value, being offered with sincerity and devotion.  There is always a danger that ritual will lose its heart.

This Psalm is about the intimate bond of love that exists between God and his people, and the serious rupture that sin causes to the relationship.  Honest admission is required on our part when we disturb or destroy that relationship.  Psalm 51 invites us into the process of healing and reconciliation though humble and honest admission of where we stand before our God.  In his turn, our God responds I am the Lord, your God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6).

Those of you with a taste for classical music might enjoy the Allegri setting of the Miserere (Psalm 51), especially the King’s College Cambridge version.  It is choral music at its most sublime.

Psalm 62 - For God alone my soul waits in silence

As well as being a psalm of trust this psalm is also a didactic psalm, one that sets out to teach us a significant human message: the prevalence of human malice, the hollowness of created things, the impartiality of God’s judgement.  There is a refrain of verses 1-2, 5-6 and 13-14: the last repeat is not in the normal translation but I have added it for the sake of completeness.  I have also given two versions of the first verse – I prefer the bracketed version because I believe in the value of silent waiting for God, of allowing God the space to speak to us.

1. In God alone my soul finds rest [For God alone my soul waits in silence], from him comes my salvation.  2. He alone is my rock and my stronghold, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.  3. How long will you continue to attack me, all of you, trying to break me down, like a tottering wall, a leaning fence?  4. Their only plan is to destroy, to knock me down; they delight in lies; they bless me with their mouth, but in their heart they curse.

This is a psalm of trust and contains some of the most powerful language of trust in God in all the Psalter.  The psalmist urges us to place our trust in God in spite of harassment from our enemies (which may not always be people: our enemies are often from within); and he warns us not to trust in fragile human beings or in the acquisition of great wealth – themes that are reinforced by the message of Jesus in the Gospels. 

5. In God alone my soul finds rest [For God alone my soul waits in silence], from him comes my salvation.  6. He alone is my rock and my stronghold, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. 

7. God alone is my safety and glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.  8. Take refuge in God, O you people; pour out your heart to him.  9. Common folk are merely a breath, great ones only an illusion; put them on the scales together, they are lighter than breath.  10. Do not trust extortion, put no vain hope in robbery; though your wealth may increase, do not set your heart upon it 

The unreliability of human nature is contrasted with the continuing steadfastness of God’s love.  In these days when we see super-rich companies and their directors taking the tumble, we do well to be reminded of age old wisdom of this psalm.  It is a lesson we are condemned to learn afresh in every age, alas!

11. Once God has spoken, twice have I heard this: power belongs to God.  12. To the Lord belongs steadfast love, he repays us according to our deeds.

“Once … twice …”: this is a common device in the psalms: the numbers are not to be taken literally, they are for the sake of variation and emphasis.  The notion of God repaying us according to our deeds is a strong feature of the psalms and of the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament and it is reinforced in the New Testament (Matt 16:27).  While there is another strand of the New Testament that suggests that we do not earn our salvation, that we are justified by faith and that God’s ways are not our ways, I think the jury is still out on the issue; meantime, I’m not taking any chances!

13. In God alone my soul finds rest [For God alone my soul waits in silence], from him comes my salvation.  14. He alone is my rock and my stronghold, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. 

The fine old Lutheran hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” finds its origin in the words of this psalm.  While Catholics would never have sung this hymn once upon a time, it is now more familiar in Catholic churches, an indication of how the Churches have come together as well as of a growing Catholic interest in the Scriptures.  This psalm is well worth praying frequently.

Psalm 84 – How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place

This is a lovely, simple psalm, depending on images that are easily accessible, even today: sparrow, swallows, nests, pilgrimage, springs of fresh water, early rains, doorways, tents – there is almost something Australian about the setting.  It is also a psalm of great yearning: it is the song of the pilgrim who longs to reach the greatly awaited place of peace and comfort, the goal that is attained through many difficulties.  It is the song of the soul eager to enjoy the presence of God.

1. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!  2. My soul is yearning and pining for the courts of the Lord.  My body and soul cry out for joy to the living God.  3. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.  

The words “yearning and pining” are very powerful and go to the depths of the human heart, of human existence.  The familiarity of sparrow and swallows making their nests around the house and altars of God give this psalm a particularly charming approach to God.

4. Happy are those who dwell in your house; they will never cease to praise you.  5. Happy are those whose strength is in you [who find refuge in you], whose hearts are set on their pilgrimage.  6. As they go through the Valley of Tears, they find it a place of fresh water, and early rains replenish the springs.  7. They go from strength to strength, and will see the God of gods in Sion. 

The word “happy” is sometimes translated as “blessed”, but I think “happy’ is a more familiar word, one that sits well with modern spiritual thinking.  It occurs three times in this psalm, vv 5, 6 and 13, and helps set the tone of the prayer.  The longing for water is only too familiar to us Australians, especially of late; so we have little trouble relating to finding fresh springs of water in dry places – literally or figuratively.  The phrase the Valley of Tears is an attempt to make familiar the original: the Valley of Baca, or the Balsam or Bitter Valley – that last stage of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the junction of the roads from the north, west and south.  The phrase the Valley of Tears is familiar to older Catholics who know the prayer Hail Holy Queen: “to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.”

8. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; listen, O God of Jacob.  9. Turn your eyes, O God our shield, look on the face of your anointed one.  10. One day within your courts is better than a thousand days elsewhere.  I would rather dwell at the threshold of the house of God than make a home in the tents of the wicked.  11. For the Lord is a sun and a shield, he will give us his favour and his glory; he withholds nothing good from those who walk without blame.  12. O Lord God of hosts, happy are those who trust in you.

God is addressed as Lord of Hosts, as Sun and Shield, as well as King (the anointed one): while these may not be such familiar ways of addressing God today, nonetheless we should have little difficulty in understanding them.  We live in a world where the monarchy is almost irrelevant to most people, but God as King is an idea that probably will not go away easily, and we are intelligent enough to translate the significance of the image into our own experience – which is what we need to do with much Church language if it is to impact on us and change our lives.  This psalm is a fine prayer, and its central message of yearning for the goal is a universal one.

Psalm 91 – You who Dwell in the Shelter of the Most High 

Psalm 91 is the Psalm traditionally sung at the Church’s Office of Compline on Sunday nights.  It is a Psalm that expresses God’s protection of the upright person.  It puts forward a series of wonderful images that speak of the benefits of trusting God.  There is something very touching and very simple in the concept of the Psalm, and in an age of doubt we may be forgiven for wondering whether life is really like this.  But that is the very point of faith.  While we all know that cancer or leukemia or migraines can strike us at any time, that none of us is proof against the oncoming truck we do not see, nonetheless the point behind the Psalm seems to me to be that whatever happens to us physically, mentally or spiritually we are still under the protection of God.  If, however, our personal experiences are so devastating that they destroy our confidence and maybe even our belief in God, we have to ask the question whether God himself loses his belief and confidence in us.  If the terrors of the night and the arrow that flies by day, the plague that prowls in the darkness and the scourge that lays waste at noon, have devastated us to such a degree that we can no longer believe, perhaps that is when God really proves himself God.  Perhaps that is the point of emptiness which only God can fill.

1. You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shade of the Almighty,  2. will say to the Lord “You are my refuge and my stronghold; my God, in whom I trust. 

3. For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence [or: the fowler who seeks to destroy you];  4. he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge.  His faithfulness is a shield and a guard. 

5. You will not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day,  6. nor the plague that prowls in the darkness, nor the scourge that lays waste at noon.  7. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right, but it shall not come near to you. 

8. You need only look with your eyes to see how the wicked are repaid.  9. Because you have made the Lord your refuge, made the Most High your stronghold,  10. no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. 

In many of the Psalms there seems to me to be a degree of smug satisfaction that the “good man” displays that sits ill with the Twenty-first Century and with down to earth Aussies.  Verses 8 and 9 have that sense for me, and I always have to pull myself up sharp lest I believe I’m good and the others are bad.  Christ gives us that warning often enough judge not and you will not be judged; the first shall be last and the last first; prostitutes and tax collectors make it to the Kingdom ahead of the self-satisfied professional God-people.

11. For he has given his angels a command about you, to guard you in all your ways.  12. Upon their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.  13. You shall tread on the lion and the adder, you shall trample down the lion and the dragon. 

Leaving aside any superstition which these words may suggest, we have always found comfort in the thought of angels and their wonderful protection.  They seem to be in many religious traditions, and have recently made a comeback in the popular imagination (they’re a good selling point in the shops!)  Walking safely amongst lions and poisonous snakes is also a popular concept – it is found in the Old Testament, especially Isaiah, as well as in the Gospels, and hints at a return to the Garden of Paradise where man and beast were on friendlier terms than we are at the moment.  Is there a human yearning to be like St Francis of Assisi?

14. Those who cling to me in love, I will rescue; I will protect them because they know my name.  15. When they call to me I will answer; I will be with them in them distress.  I will rescue them and glorify them.  16. With long life I will delight them and I will show them my salvation.

The last three verses are spoken by God, hence the grammatical change from second person to third person [you to they/them].  In these verses God assures us that, however tested we might be, he will deliver us in the final event.  The Psalm is rich in imagery, which is partly what makes it so appealing; but it is also very rich in a sense of trust in God, which is what makes it such a fine prayer.

Psalm 95 – An invitation to praise God

 This is the psalm which begins the Divine Office, a prayer form structured around psalms and scripture readings; used mainly in monastic orders of men and women, it is traditionally sung at set times during the day and night, and is split up into Matins, Lauds, the Little Hours (Prime, Terce, Sext and None), Vespers and Compline.  [I would remind you that the version of the psalm that appears here is taken from a selection of translations.]

 1. Come, ring out your joy to the Lord, acclaim the Rock who saves us.  2. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving, with songs let us praise the Lord.

 We are invited to join in a community of praise of our God.  We come with those great positive elements, joy and thanksgiving, which enliven our lives and balance the bleakness of much that surrounds us today.  We see God in traditional terms as a Rock of salvation – a phrase with overtones that remind us of the Israelites’ forty year journey through the desert, and the rock that Moses struck to provide water for the thirsting people.

 3. For the Lord is a great God, a great king above all gods;  4. In his hands are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.  5. The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

 We are reminded that God is the creator of all things, that his power is greater than that of any earthly ruler or any false god like money, power, sex, or pleasure.  There is a suggestion also that whether we are in the depths of despond or at the peak of happiness, our loving God is present.  Nothing lasts forever – the psalm calls us to trust in the stability of God and to move onwards.

 6. Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the God who made us.  7a. For he is our God, we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.

 As human beings we are all called to worship, and not only is worship God’s due, but it is best performed in community – within the flock.  I have avoided using the traditional word “sheep” to describe us; but we cannot escape memories of that centuries old favourite Psalm, The Lord is My Shepherd (Ps 23), arguably the best known and loved of all the Psalms, and Jesus’s own reference to himself as the Good Shepherd (John ch10).

 7b. O that today you would hear his voice:  8. “Harden not your hearts as at the day of Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the desert,  9. when your fathers put me to the test; they tried me even though they had seen my works.”

There is a sudden change of direction at 7b – a warning.  This is a prayer for today, and the key to the psalm is “listen to my voice today”.  We are called to trust the Lord in the events of today, not to doubt his power as the Israelites did at Massah (the place of ‘dispute’) and Meribah (the place of ‘testing’) where, after the Israelites’ complaints, Moses struck the rock to bring forth water (Exodus 17).  Maybe our biggest challenge in life is to find our God in the ordinary events of each day, on the heights as well as in the depths.

 10. “For forty years I loathed these people and said ‘They are a perverse lot who will not accept my ways’,  11. so I swore in my anger ‘They shall not enter my rest’.”

 These final words of the Lord are harsh words, and it is all too easy to see them as God’s rejection of those who do not follow his ways.  They seem so absolute – the Israelites will not enter the Promised Land, those who question the Lord will not find rest in him.  (It is passages like this that seemed to give Christians permission to persecute the “perfidious Jews” – a phrase used in the Good Friday liturgy until post-Vatican II liturgical reforms.)  But so much in the Hebrew Scriptures, and indeed the whole message of Jesus Christ, tells us that God does relent – he relents after the episode of the golden calf (Exodus 32); and in the whole of Isaiah 63:7-64:11 the prophet recounts “Yahweh’s acts of faithful love”.  The Isaiah passage is a parallel passage which deserves our attention and reflection.

 This Psalm is a very rich prayer for every day use.

Psalm 127 - Unless the Lord Builds the House

This is another of the Songs of Ascent sung by pilgrims on their way up the last hills before Jerusalem.  It is a psalm of wonderful trust in the Lord’s providence.

It was also Father Champagnat’s favourite Psalm.  It became so around about 1827 after he had experienced the most severe trials: the man he trusted so much had let him down badly and had to be dismissed from the house, several of his early Brothers left him, some of his fellow priests lost their faith in him, and he had undergone a life-threatening illness.  It was in the “dark night” that he –like any true mystic – learnt to abandon himself to the power and love of God, and the protection of Mary, our Good Mother.

1. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it.  Unless the Lord watches over the city, in vain does the guard keep watch.

2. In vain do you get up earlier, or go later to your rest, eating the bread of anxious toil – for he provides for his beloved while they sleep.

In the following verses the word “sons” is an indication of the greater welcome accorded to sons rather than daughters in Israelite families.  While the attitude is still not uncommon around the world, it is preferable to read the following verses as being about the preciousness of children, and indeed the family.  Once again we could read the words as suggesting the importance of belonging to a community of whatever kind: we are in this together, never alone.

3. Behold, sons are a gift from the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward from him.  4. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are the sons of one’s youth.

5. Happy the man who has a quiver full of them; he will not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

The last sentence of this psalm means something like “If a man has a large family he has more prestige amongst his fellow citizens in the public arena” – down at the local, at the club, in the village square.  It would be wise to overlook the macho overtones of the verse and find gratitude to God in all things.

Psalm 130 – Out of the Depths I Cry to You, O Lord

For the Jewish people Psalm 130 is one of the Songs of Ascent – Psalms 120 to 134 – which were probably sung by pilgrims on their way up to Jerusalem (whatever way you get there, you have to go up).  Known as the De Profundis from its Latin opening, it is another one of the Penitential Psalms of the Christian Church.  It features prominently in the Office for the Dead and in prayers for the dead, though we do not hear it at funerals much any more with the new emphasis on resurrection.  The phrase De Profundis has entered the language.

While it is a Psalm of repentance it is equally a Psalm of trust in God’s mercy and “plentiful” [fullness of] redemption. 

1. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice.  2. O let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleading.

3. If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt, Lord, who would survive?  4. But with you is found forgiveness; for this we revere you.

We believe God’s forgiveness is freely given, otherwise we would have no hope of salvation, so we not only revere the Lord for his forgiveness, but we aim to avoid offending him in the future.  The Greek is “because of your law” – “for this we revere you” is less legalistic and suggests a warmer relationship with the Saviour.

5. My soul is waiting for the Lord, I trust in his word.  6. My soul is longing for the Lord, more than watchmen for daybreak.  More than watchmen for daybreak 7. let Israel hope in the Lord.

For with the Lord there is steadfast love and fullness of redemption.  8. And he will redeem Israel from all her iniquities.

(I have chosen to say her iniquities rather than his, its, or their, because I believe it is clearer and certainly it is more conventional to refer a country as feminine).

The Psalms are never simply personal prayers, never intended for “navel gazing”, and with the reference to the watchmen the Psalm moves us from a personal cry to God to a wish and prayer for the community, the Church.  We have to see “Israel” not just as the faithful soul that yearns for forgiveness from our Redeemer and unity with our God, but as the devout community of believers – we are never in this alone and the Psalms want us to be aware of that.  If we insist on reading “Israel” as that Middle Eastern country that figures in the news so much of late, we miss the point of the Psalm, as well as overlook the faithful Jews and the Arab Christians who also long for “daybreak”.  Somehow the Psalms always contrive to bring us back to the community, and back to the prophets’ insistent pleas for

Psalm 131 - O Lord, my Heart is not Proud

Another of the Psalms of Ascent, this has to be one of the gentlest, calmest Psalms in the Psalter, a Psalm of utter trust in the saving power of God.  It is not necessarily a Psalm for every day, for some days it will not make sense, some days we have to fight a lot harder for our existence; but in the long run, it is to this that we return.

It is a Psalm of complete abandonment to God, putting aside not only anxiety but also ambition.  In an age when the idea is Go for it! often at whatever cost to ourselves and to others, the Psalmist’s attitude towards ambition may not go down too well, but it is an attitude appropriate to us at particular stages of our lives which we ourselves will recognise.  The Psalm also has its communal side: as the People of God we have to develop a childlike trust in our Father.

1. O lord, my heart is not proud, nor are my eyes raised too high.  I have not gone after things too great for me, nor for marvels beyond me.

2. Truly I have set my soul in stillness and peace; like a child quietened at its mother’s breast, so is my soul within me.

3. O Israel, hope in the Lord both now and forever.

This is a Psalm of great humility for an age that believes that humility, like virginity, is for dimwits and losers. 

Psalm 139 – O Lord, you search me and you know me

There is a belief that the Psalms were written by King David, who lived about 1000BC.  They were, in fact written over a period of hundreds of years, and they are simply gathered under the heading Psalms of David because they are in the tradition of David’s writings.  Psalm 139 is from about 200BC, and reflects much of the Book of Job (5^th c. BC).  Among other concepts it presents a break from the orthodox Jewish position about life after death: the psalm suggests that God dwells among the dead, so the spirits of the dead are alive and at peace, and can praise and thank God.  Furthermore, the psalmist also strongly suggests life before birth.  I believe this to be a very beautiful and rich Psalm. 

 1. O Lord, you search me and you know me; 2. you know when I sit and when I rise.  You know my thoughts from afar.  3. You know when I walk or when I lie down; you are familiar with all my ways.

 Here is a God who is ever present and all-knowing, and this is the God that the Psalm praises.  This is not a prying God who sticky-beaks into our every moment and every action, but rather a God who walks with us as a support and an encouragement.

 4. Before ever a word is on my tongue, you know it, O Lord, through and through.  5. Before me and behind me you protect me, you rest your hand upon me.  6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is too much for me to grasp.

In the Wisdom books, Wisdom is seen to reside with God before the creation: it is the same in Psalm 139 – God knows us through and through, and knew us even before we were created.  This is not a God to be afraid of; he is a saving God.  I struggled with the phrase “you protect me” – the translations say “you besiege me”, “you fence me in”, “you hem me in”.  I wanted something less violent.

 7. Where can I go from your spirit?  Where can I fly from your presence?  8. If I ascend to the heavens, you are there.  If I make my bed in Sheol [the nether world, the grave], you are there.  9. If I take the wings of the dawn, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,  10. even there your hand shall lead me, your right hand will hold me fast.

 This is such a wonderful acclamation of the omnipresence of God that nothing I can say would add to its beauty.

 11. If I say “Let darkness cover me and the night wrap itself about me”,  12. even darkness is not dark to you, and the night is as clear as day.

I find great comfort in these words.  Nothing is hidden from God’s light, so I have no need to be afraid of even the darkest corners or moments of my life: God shines his healing light into the deepest recesses of our hearts, and heals them if we let him.

 13. You formed my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  14. I thank you for the wonder of my being, for all the wonders of your creation.  You know me through and through,  15. my being holds no secrets from you.  …17. How precious to me are your thoughts, O Lord, how vast they are.  18. If I try to count them, they are more than the sand; when I awake, there’s even more.

 I am omitting part of verse 15 and all of verse 16.  The message is that God is deeply acquainted with us from conception, and all our days are written in his book.

 The next four verses are curses and I was going to omit them, but I believe they need looking at.

 19. If only you would slay the wicked, O Lord, that violent people would keep their distance from me,  20. those who maliciously defy you and take no account of you.  21. Lord, do I not hate those who hate you and loathe those who defy you?  22. I hate them with a passion and regard them as my enemies.

 Since Vatican II the cursing verses of the Psalms are missing from the Church’s liturgy.  That is a good thing in many ways, because the verses – even with good explanations – remain disturbing.  Nonetheless we cannot overlook their presence in the Bible.  First of all, it is unwise to take them literally, but evil is a reality in the world and God knows it better than we do.  Let’s face it, the reality is that sin and any abuse of the body or the mind or the emotions or talents inevitably brings sorrow (Stuhlmueller p150).  So perhaps these verses might be seen as one way of saying to ourselves “Let’s turn our back on evil and do good instead”.

 The Psalm finishes calmly:

 23. Search me, O Lord, and know my heart.  Test me and know my thoughts.  24. See if there is any wickedness in me and lead me along the path of eternal life.

Psalm 146 – Praise the Lord, my soul.

Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord, my soul.  Hallelujah or Alleluia means “Praise the Lord”, so some versions of the psalm begin and end that way.  The psalm is a wonderful morning prayer, and the faithful Jew prays these five psalms daily.

1.  Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord, my soul.  I will praise the Lord all my days, sing praise to my God while I live.  3. Do not put your trust in princes, in mere mortals who are powerless to save.  4. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth; that very day their plans come to nothing. 

5. How happy those who are blessed by the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord God  6. who made heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them.  The Lord keeps faith forever,  7. he gives  justice to the oppressed; he provides  food for the hungry, and sets prisoners free.  8. He opens the eyes of the blind, he raises up those who are bowed down.  He loves those who are just; 9. he protects the stranger; he watches over the widow and the orphan.  10. He protects the upright and thwarts the ways of the wicked. 

11. The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Sion, from age to age.  Hallelujah!

This is the first of the last five psalms of the Psalter: all of these psalms are hymns of praise of God and bring the Psalter to its conclusion on a powerful note of praise.  One thing that strikes me about the psalm is its familiarity: “He gives  justice to the oppressed; he provides  food for the hungry, and sets prisoners free.  He opens the eyes of the blind, he raises up those who are bowed down.  He loves those who are just; he protects the stranger; he watches over the widow and the orphan.”  These phrases pervade the Gospels and are the substance of Jesus’s personal manifesto: this is how he chose to live his life on earth, and he takes his cue from the prophets, particularly Isaiah, and the psalms; this is how he spells out his understanding of his calling.  And the same phrases are found in Mary’s personal manifesto, the Magnificat: that is how the early Church summed up Mary’s role in those early years of the Church, trying to establish itself as a profound means of change in society.  May we be as conscious of our own role in changing our society by adopting these same values as our personal manifesto.

So many of the phrases of the psalm are familiar wisdom to us: do not put your trust in worldly princes; only God has the power to save; when we go, we’ve gone, and we can’t take it with us (except the man who said “Well, if I can’t take it with me, I’m not going”!)  If we were more prepared to live this way, we’d get things into better perspective, as well as doing our bit to make the world a better place for those who do not have what we have.

The last verse is sometimes translated as “The Lord will reign forever, Sion’s God from age to age”, rather than “The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Sion, from age to age”.  I have chosen to use the latter because it gives a better sense of the community to whom the psalm is addressed: the move from the individual to the community, which we always need to do in our lives.