Read
(A song for worship.)
A Prayer for Protection
1Since the time I was young,
enemies have often attacked!
Let everyone in Israel say:
2“Since the time I was young,
enemies have often attacked!
But they have not defeated me,
3though my back is like a field
that has just been plowed.”
4The Lord always does right,
and he has set me free
from the ropes
of those cruel people.
5I pray that all who hate
the city of Zion
will be made ashamed
and forced to turn and run.
6May they be like grass
on the flat roof of a house,
grass that dries up
as soon as it sprouts.
7Don't let them be like wheat
gathered in bundles.
8And don't let anyone
who passes by say to them,
“The Lord bless you!
I give you my blessing
in the name of the Lord.”
Reflect
This pilgrim song runs head-on into reality – their harsh reality. God’s people have enemies! Enemies within and enemies without. Enemies that would crush and destroy them. Enemies that have kicked them around since they were birthed as God’s people. They are exhausted, beaten down, sore and shredded by tongue lashes as sharp as a flesh-ripping whip. Long, cruel, bloody scars down their backs.
Like a wave cresting to heights of song then crashing into craggy rocks at ocean edge, this pilgrim song is crashing onto sharp, painful crags. Their enemies hate God, hate good, live in comfort, expanding their power and wealth, immune to fairness, mercy or kindness. The pilgrims who have been pounded against the rocks, drag themselves upright and exclaim in a sudden emotional outburst: let them grovel in humiliation; let them wither before reproducing themselves; let them die before they feed anyone else on their own wickedness. Let them grovel in humiliation before anyone can bless their wickedness!
Yay – you go pilgrims . . . but is it okay to wish such destruction on those who are wicked? I don’t know. But I do know that such thoughts come to my mind when I watch news of another horrific rape or murder, of innocent students killed while writing exams. Perhaps the question is: is it okay to be human and to feel what we feel? To express what boils within us at times?
Seems that it was okay for the psalmists to explode in passionate response to cruel, harsh accusations and treatment. Perhaps it is also okay for us to be honest in our own humanness.
In the end, God’s enemies do not win. God rips off the harnesses that were placed on the backs of his people – and tears them to shreds. Setting his people free!
Respond
Father God, thank you for this psalm! So human, so passionate about the misuse of power and position . . . and that you receive this psalm as it is. Thank you that you receive us as we are – especially when we verbally explode at what is wicked and evil in our world. Thank you. In the name of Jesus who overcame the evil one. Amen.
Elaine Pountney
Integration: a key word in Elaine’s life. Integrating a Science Degree into Counselling; integrating healing and wholeness into effective team building in an international business context (e.g. Sony Canada, Ontario Hydro, Schonbek LIghting); integrating counselling concepts with a Biblical understanding of what builds healthy communities and relationships with groups in the Caucasus, Africa, Brazil and the Arctic. Is it any wonder that she now works with leaders across Canada ‘bringing the pieces together’ toward Spiritual Integration? Publications: Reclaiming the Wonder of Sexuality. Trafford Pub: BC, Canada. 2008; “Reclaiming the wonder of sexuality: toward a Biblical understanding of male & female” teaching manual.