Psalm 142 Who do you call?

Psalm 142

This is another Psalm of David - written when he was living in hiding in the cave.

Probably not the best of circumstances - so unsurprisingly this is not among the more cheerful in the book of Psalms!

In this Psalm David does not suffer in silence - 
I cry aloud to the LORD. 
I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy
I pour out before him my complaint, 
before him I tell my trouble when my spirit grows faint within me.

If there is one thing that is important here, with God I don't have to bottle my feelings - There is permission here to unload your feelings and cares onto God 

The Psalm continues with recognising that God is not aloof from the situation, but is fully aware of what is going on

It is you who watch over my way in the path where I walk
People have hidden a snare for me, look and see, there is not one at my right hand.
No one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge, no one cares for my life.

I say (to God) You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.

When David has no where else to turn, he turns to God.

People say that faith is a crutch - yet if you have a broken leg, a crutch is extremely useful to aid mobility (as Bear Grylls puts it) 

David's foes while he was out hiding were very strong and powerful, and had cornered David.

As we know from the story of David, God did liberate him and raise him as king of Israel.
David wrote a lot of praise psalms after this episode in his life.
God did answer his prayers at the end of the Psalm

Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.

Psalm 141 People not to avoid

Psalm 141

In the last Psalm there was a list of people who David wanted to avoid too much contact.
This Psalm, also attributed to David, is a bit of the opposite - where a rebuke from a righteous person is actually a blessing.

If memory serves, verse 2 of this prayer forms part of a daily office said by those in holy orders.
"My my prayer be set before you like incense, may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice"

Personally I don't go in for "bells and smells" at church, but there is a really nice image of how God finds prayers in the picture of rising incense here in this Psalm.

The next bit of the Psalm is interesting to me - If I am honest with myself, I probably need to pray this more often.
Set a guard over my mouth, LORD, keep watch over the door of my lips.
Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil so that I take part in wicked deeds along with those who are evildoers; do not let me eat their delicacies

What would you do if, for example, the Archbishop of Canterbury were to hit you? Or the Pope? or Mother Theresa of Calcutta? Would you regard it as a kindness? - David did.
Let a righteous person strike me = that is a kindness, let them rebuke me - that is oil on my head.

In my daily bible reading I'm currently reading the letter of St Paul - his letters contain their fair amount of "knocking heads together  in a metaphorical sense. How would I have felt if I received a letter like that? Hopefully as a blessing and a challenge to live better

The end of the Psalm talks about the wicked leaders being thrown over cliffs and their broken bones scattered as if by a plough

David's prayer is that he keeps his eyes fixed on God , and asks God to be his refuge and to keep him safe from traps set by wicked people and more that the wicked would be caught in their own traps, while he passes by in safety.

Psalm 140 Protect me from bad people

Psalm 140

This is another Psalm of David.
It starts with a request to God listing a number of groups of people from whom he would like to be separated from,

I am writing this blog in the aftermath of the UK referendum on EU membership and the lead up to the USA presidential election (which seems to have been going on for EVER - how do the Americans keep up that level of enthusiasm?) but I digress.
The point I want to make is that in the EU referendum in the UK and the USA elections people have (sometimes rather long) lists of people who do the country harm.
In this Psalm, David lists the people who really cause harm - I don't think the lists from the referendum and election campaign are quite the same!

Evildoers
The violent
Those who devise evil plans
warmongers
Serpent tongued with poison on their lips
Wicked
The arrogant
Those who would trap the innocent

Like David, I don't think I can avoid all these people and call out to God
"I Say to the LORD, you are my God, 
Hear my cry for mercy, Sovereign LORD, my strong deliverer, my shield in times of battle"

David goes on to ask
"Do not grant the wicked their desires, or let their plans succeed."

"Those who surround me proudly rear their heads, may the mischief of their lips engulf them.
May burning coals fall on them, may they be thrown into the fire, into the pit, never to rise"

"May slanderers not be established in the land, may disaster hunt down the wicked"

On my more cynical days I can fully understand David's point here. However on my better days I hope to aspire to higher levels of tolerance and kindness, believing that it is never too late to change and become a nice person.

Jesus tells us to love our enemies and do good to those who would not do good to you. 
The burning coals reference in the Psalm puts me in mind of a proverb - "If your enemy is hungry or thirsty give him some food and water - in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head and God will bless you" - not as I once heard a misquote "if you enemy is hungry give him some food THEN pour burning coals on his head" I don't think that God would really approve of that version!

Funny, the list of people David sought rescue from did not include immigrants, benefit claimants, foreigners, or corporate tax evaders! - I wonder when and why our national priorities changed?

Psalm 139 Fearfully and wonderfully made

Psalm 139

I find the end of this Psalm extremely difficult - the truth of it is the end of this Psalm is scary "Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting"

On balance, I think I'd rather not be tested, thank you very much.

The Methodist church has a similarly scary prayer - traditionally it is prayed at the start of the year to commit the following year and life to God.

I am no longer my own, but yours.

Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;

put me to doing, put me to suffering;

let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,

exalted for you, or brought low for you;

let me be full,

let me be empty,

let me have all things,

let me have nothing:

I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things

to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

you are mine and I am yours. So be it.

And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

See what I mean? - this is pretty scary stuff!

However let us put it into context - this Psalm is one of wonder and is very intimate and full of trust.

You have searched me LORD, and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise, 

You perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue you LORD, know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before, and lay our hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain..

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there

If make my bed in the depths, you are there

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, 

if I settle at the far side of the sea, 

even there your hand will guide me, your right hand hold me fast.

If I say "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me"

even the darkness will not be dark to you, 

the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being; 

You knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Your works are wonderful, I know that full well,

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them , they would outnumber the grains of sand - 

When I awake I am still with you.

Still all is not totally rosy, there are still wicked, bloodthirsty, God hating people who act in rebellion and abhorring the ways of God., however God is far, far greater than these people!

With a God as close as this, the scary stuff at the end of the Psalm is actually quite a lot less scary given that God knows me and thinks so much me!

Psalm 138 Whole hearted praise

Psalm 138

This Psalm is listed as one of David's.

For David, God is not just somebody for the Sabbath.

I will praise you LORD with all my heart, before the "gods" I sing your praise.
I will bow down to wards your holy temple and will praise your name.

The relationship with God is not simply one way, there is reasoning behind David's faith.

For your unfailing love and your faithfulness, for you have so exulted your solemn decree that is surpasses your fame.

When I called you answered me, you greatly emboldened me.

There is a joke told about a young man who was tempted to become a Christian, but afraid that becoming a Christian he would have to go out evangelizing.
He talked to an old and wise Christian about his dilemma and the old Christian said "your faith is between you and God, if you want to become a Christian, you can go into your room on your own and invite Jesus into your heart, you don't have to tell another person if you don't want to.
The young man followed the advice and met with God - rushing downstairs he told his family and their friends "Did you know that you can become a Christian without telling anybody?"

May all the kings of the earth praise you, LORD, when they hear what you have decreed.
May they sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great.

One thing that historians are into these days is not so much the lives of the great and the good (or spectacularly brutal, wicked or evil) but the lives of ordinary people.
God is the same, though lofty he looks kindly on the lowly, though lofty he sees them from afar.

One repeating sentence I'm noticing a lot is that God's love endures forever, and one thing that I would like to ask of God is what the Psalm ends with, do not abandon the works of your hands.

Psalm 137 By the rivers of Babylon

Psalm 137

If you think there is a pop song from 1978 in the title, there is.
The song by Bony M was based on this Psalm.

Things in Israel and Judah have gone very badly wrong and the people have been deported forcibly, this Psalm expresses the sadness and anger of the deported refugees.

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of Joy.

How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?

This Psalm is really quite bitter lamenting the end of Jerusalem, going so far as to declare that infanticide against Babylon would be a good thing, as they did it to Jerusalem.

Let me make a few things very clear here - these are my thoughts
The Bible is very clear that we should treat all people with dignity and respect, regardless of race, colour, religion, sexual orientation. Too many people are bitter from ill treatment (real or imagined) and lash out in acts of violence and terrorism.

Revenge is one of the motives given by terrorists "the west is killing Muslims in Iraq and Syria, so we attack the west in revenge" God claims vengeance for himself, and in my opinion he is far better qualified than I am!

The Bible is also very clear "Do not murder" 

When I am in a bad place - this Psalm shows me that you can present things to God with absolutely no holes barred, you can complain to God.

Psalm 136 Everlasting love

Psalm 136

This is possibly a marching song - the kind of thing where the leader shouts out a call and everybody chips in with the response.

This is also fairly common in sea shanties as they encourage a group to cohere as they overcome hard work and difficulties.

This one is God centered though - with a refrain "His Love endures for ever"

Give thanks to the LORD for he is good - join in with the refrain!
Give thanks to the God of gods- 
Give thanks to the Lord of lords-

I'm going to edit a bit - if you want the original, look it up!
Who does great wonders,
Made the heavens and the earth 
Liberated his people from Egypt 
Parted the Red sea

And so on and so forth.

In the Jewish Passover service there is a prayer called "Dayenu" which could be translated "That would have been enough", in which the blessings of God are piled up with after each blessing the people declare "THAT would have been enough"

One thing about the blessings of God is that God is just not finished yet - that would have been enough but God still wants to pour out more blessings.
I really need to say far more often "Dayenu" with wonder at the blessings of God, and "His love endures forever"