Read: Psalm 69

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
-Psalm 69:1-2

Three of the four years I was in high school, I went whitewater rafting on the South Fork of the American River with my parents and twin brother. There were so-called “swimmer’s rapids” where you could jump out and float the river, and it was an interesting experience. You jumped into cold water and were then carried down the river at a decent clip while the raft followed nearby. Your life vest held you up, and it was the closest I have ever felt to being completely weightless.

I did have one experience of falling out of the raft, and that was a bit different. We hit a rapid and I had not braced myself correctly, so I tipped out of the raft. I remember going under and fighting to get myself into position to get back to the raft. I knew that if I didn’t fight, bad things could happen. One of the men in the boat pulled me back in and all was well, but it was still a frightening few minutes.

That experience of tipping out of the raft and going under is what comes to mind in the first two verses of this psalm. While I did not have the problem of being mired in something, the water sweeping over me was very fast, and I imagine it would be similar to being swept away by floodwaters. I can feel the psalmist’s anxiety and fear and they ponder being swept under by everything going on. It is one of those cases when the only way they were going to survive was to trust that the Lord would pull them out of the turbulent metaphorical waters… just as I was plucked out of the American River.

Comfort us, Lord, when the waters are rising around us and we fear being swept away. You made the waters to flow the way they do, so bring us through the flood. Amen.
-Jen McCabe

Read: Psalm 86

The arrogant rise up against me, O God, and a band of violent men seeks my life; they have not set you before their eyes.
-Psalm 86:14

No, it’s not just paranoia. Think of the first children: Abel really did find favor with God, and Cain did kill him.
We are living through a difficult time politically. Especially notable is the inability for the people of this country and our elected leaders to deal with each other with respect and a willingness to cooperate. Rather than that, we seem to have grievances: you are my enemy and you treat me badly/unfairly/dishonestly!

Seeing others as “enemies” and oneself as victims of those enemies – has it always been thus? And if so, how are people of faith supposed to deal with that?

The psalmist in Psalm 86 wants us to know that there are really bad people out there and they are out to get him. They are arrogant. Violent. Have not set God before their eyes.

So how do we see those “others?” Are they the problem? Are we the reasonable ones who are just seeking God’s will? Confession? It’s oh so much easier to confess the sins/faults/damage of others than it is to confess the sins of oneself. In fact, telling about the evildoers seems to be pretty satisfying to our psalmist. I know I fall into a similar rut of grievance and blame all too often.

The “I” of the psalm establishes himself as the innocent victim. Then he enlists God’s help with a litany of all that he is doing to be on God’s side. Contrast those evildoers with myself, suggests our psalmist. “I am faithful.” “To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.” “I will thank you, O LORD my God, and I will walk in your truth.”

And without hesitation, the psalmist praises God’s qualities: good, forgiving, great, gracious, full of compassion, full of kindness and truth.

God is all that. I am not; perhaps even you are not. Our great teacher once told us to remove the log from our own eye before we fret with someone else’s eye splinter.

Lord, the affairs of humankind seem difficult. We need your saving actions to open us up and draw us into your purposes and dreams. Amen.
-Tom Worrell

Read: Psalm 35

For they do not speak peace, but they conceive deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.
-Psalm 35:20

One of the hard parts about living in small Midwestern towns is the rumor mill. Everyone knows everyone else’s business, and I would hear things about me that were not even close to being true. For example, I was at the grocery store while six months pregnant, and my shirt rose an inch when I reached for something. Apparently, an inch of my baby belly was visible, and one of my former husband’s parishioners saw me. They mentioned it to one of our church treasurers, and the treasurer called my former husband to accuse me of flashing the parishioner who saw me.

…

Um, excuse me? Have they met me?!?!? There are nuns that show more skin than I do on a regular basis, and I don’t think I owned a dress, skirt, pair of pants, or shorts shorter than knee-length at that time. When I told my boss, she fell off her chair laughing. Our ELCA bishop thought it was the funniest thing ever, as did pretty much everyone who was told what the treasurer had said. Still, I was (and still am) irritated that she (the treasurer) tried to ruin my reputation in the community maliciously.
I can really understand the psalmist’s pain and why he is calling for God to judge those who are hurting them. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can be really stinging to me. I have to remind myself that nothing anyone can say to me or stay about me can diminish my worth in God’s eyes, and God’s opinion of me is the only one that matters.

In those times when words wound our spirit, be present with us, Lord, and remind us that You created us to be worthy of dignity and respect. Amen.
-Jen McCabe

Read: Psalm 5

But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
-Psalm 5:11

Years ago, a manager to whom I reported in my Silicon Valley job told me something that seemed odd at the time. “Your problem is that you don’t have any enemies,” he said. While I’ll certainly cop to the charge that my insecurities have tended to make me a “people pleaser,” I also have to confess that never in my life have I held the conviction that anyone ever woke up in the morning with the sole intent of making my life miserable. As a consequence, I have a difficult time relating to the psalmist’s frequent diatribes against their perceived foes. Still, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they ain’t out to get you — I’ve just never believed that anyone who thought ill of me was a greater risk to my spiritual well-being than my own desire for retribution.

Lord, in knowing that “you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness,” and that “the arrogant cannot stand in your presence,” help me be ever mindful of the enemy that lurks within, and that my best protection remains, as the psalmist sings, “the shield of your righteousness.” Amen.
-Michael Boss

Read: Psalm 137

For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
-Psalm 137:3

As I read the first part of this psalm, I was reminded of an episode of the NPR show “On Being with Krista Tippett” where she was interviewing Joe Carter, who spent years educating people worldwide about the meaning of African-American spirituals:

And sometimes I imagine how some of those songs were used and I imagine someone on the plantation, the master, who is always very happy when he hears the slaves singing because he knows where they are, he knows they’re not escaping, as long as he can hear them. An old master comes out one day. He says, “Hey, Joe. Big Joe. I don’t hear nobody singing down there. You guys strike me up one of them good, old spiritual songs. You know how I like them. Give me one of them good, old songs.” And often when I go to the schoolchildren, I have them sing with me. I say, “OK. Now pretend you’re going to be — you’re all slaves, OK? And master wants us to sing a song, but we don’t really want to sing for master, do we?” “No. No, we don’t.” I say, “Well, I’ll tell you something. Master loves our singing, but he doesn’t listen to the words we say. He doesn’t have a clue. So we can say anything we want. So, let’s give the master a good old song.” (Joe Carter, “The Spirituals”, May 9, 2003)

There is a very strong parallel between slaves in the antebellum South and the Israelites. Both were taken from their native lands to a foreign one, both were forced to work in inhumane conditions, and both were mocked and told to be cheerful even when they were living a miserable life. Is it any wonder that the slaves created spirituals out of Old Testament stories?

This is an “imprecatory” psalm, meaning that it calls out God to judge the psalmist’s enemies, which is why it ends with the words “O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!” (vv. 8-9) One could say that this anger is overkill, but we have to remember that it comes from a place of great pain. The anger that got BLM started is similar. It moves people to act, and if tempered, it is useful. God works in our anger, and sometimes the pain behind that anger is how God gets our attention.

Lord, be present with us in our hardships and give us your aid in tempering our anger at injustice that we might use it for better things. Amen.
-Jen McCabe

Read: Psalm 52

I will thank you forever, because of what you have done. In the presence of the faithful I will proclaim your name, for it is good.
-Psalm 52:9

This psalm is a recounting and commentary by David, the psalmist, of the terrible events recorded in 1 Samuel 21 and 22. As he runs for his life from Saul, David seeks refuge from the priests at the tabernacle of God in the city of Nob. Doeg the Edomite informs Saul that David has been provided assistance by the priests. An angry Saul sends for the priests and Doeg kills 85 priests, and women, children, and animals in the city of Nob. The psalmist, David, condemns this massacre and prophesies what will happen to Doeg. In verse 9, David praises God for what God has not yet done. David trusts that God’s love will outlast Doeg’s evil.

Similar evil deeds exist in our world. There are those who “love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking the truth,” and who “trust in abundant riches, and seek refuge in wealth!” The Psalm calls us to “trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.” We are called to trust and we can only do it with God’s help.

Dear God, help us to have the faith and trust that we need to know that your love transcends evil. Guide us and direct us. Amen!
-Cathey Frederick