Faithful God

¹ Rejoice in Yahveh
all you who trust in him.
Serving God and praising him belong together.[1]
² Give thanks to Yahveh with the guitar—
offer him praise with the violin.
³ Sing him a brand-new song!
Play skillfully and shout for joy.

⁴ For Yahveh’s word holds true
and we can trust everything he does.
⁵ He loves all that’s right and just.
Yahveh’s steadfast love fills the earth.

⁶ The heavens were made by Yahveh’s word—
with a single breath
he spoke whole galaxies into being.
⁷ He pooled the waters together into seas
and poured the oceans into his vast reservoirs.

⁸ Let the whole earth fear Yahveh
and all its inhabitants stand in awe of him.
⁹ For he simply spoke and it came to be—
he commanded and there it was.
¹⁰ Yahveh blocks the nations’ Babel-schemes
and thwarts the peoples’ power plays.
¹¹ But Yahveh’s purposes stand forever—
all his heart intends will last
from now till the end of time.

¹² How happy the nation whose God is Yahveh
the people he’s chosen for his inheritance!
¹³ Yahveh looks down from heaven
and sees all of humankind.
¹⁴ From where he sits enthroned
he watches all of the earth’s inhabitants.
¹⁵ He who made everyone’s heart
understands everything they do.

¹⁶ No sovereign is saved by their military might
no soldier by their superior strength.
¹⁷ A warhorse doesn’t guarantee victory in battle—
such brawn doesn’t even ensure a clean get-away!
¹⁸ But Yahveh watches over all who fear him
and rely on his unflinching love
¹⁹ to rescue them from death
and keep them going through bouts of famine.

²⁰ We wait for Yahveh to come through for us—
he’s our help and our shield.
²¹ Our hearts rejoice in him
for we trust in his holy name.
²² May your unfailing love descend on us, Yahveh
for we put our hope in you.

Starting where Psalm 32 left off, this hymn extols Yahveh’s faithful love[2] and calls his people to praise him with the best music they can make. What sets his people apart is their vision of God, the psalm’s focus. And what sets Yahveh apart from the nations’ false gods is his incomparable greatness, moral goodness, unflinching love and perfect faithfulness. Being committed to all that’s right and just, he fills the earth with his unfailing love, such that his people can’t possibly venture beyond his love’s effective reach.

How do we know this? Yahveh’s spoken word alone accounts for creation’s faithfulness. Not human scheming, but rather God’s sovereignty accounts for human history’s order. Since he reads human hearts perfectly from afar and deals with everyone accordingly, nothing accounts for his blessing on his people Israel but the fact that he’s chosen them. Thus, they’re delivered from human aggression and natural disaster not by military might or human resources, but by Yahveh’s watchful care.[3]

We can thus rejoice in Yahveh even before we see the answers we seek. Because as the final verses tell us, the God we actively trust in, wait on and hope in[4] is faithful beyond all telling.

Lord, since nothing on earth can separate me from your love, how can I withhold my praise? Since you are perfectly faithful, how can I not rejoice in you? O Lord, may your unfailing love rest on me now as I wait on your mercy, trust in your goodness and hope in your faithfulness. Amen.

[1] The two Hebrew words used to refer to God’s people here are usually translated “the righteous” and “the upright.” But those English terms have powerful moral overtones suggesting an exclusivity missing in the psalmists’ usage. In the Psalms, those terms respectively designate those who cling to God’s mercy and his servants, whom he’s in the process of transforming; Jacobson (2014) 312-13. Thus, the Hebrew terms’ morality has to do with what their owners are called to become more than what they already are; Goldingay (2006) 465.

[2] Impossible to translate in a single word, the Hebrew noun hesed always indicates a deeply personal relationship and includes such ideas as covenant loyalty, faithful commitment, unfailing love and solidarity. It occurs 255 times in the Hebrew Bible, more than half of them being in the Psalms.

[3] These four points are made, respectively, in verses 4-7, verses 8-11, verses 12-15 and verses 16-19.

[4] To us, these three verbs (vv. 20-22) typically connote passivity, but their Hebrew equivalents never do to the psalmists.

Amazing Grace

A David psalm.

¹ How fortunate the person
whose rebellion is forgiven—
whited right out of God’s ledger!
² How blessed the person
whose guilt Yahveh doesn’t count against them!
With no reason to hide
their spirit is open and unafraid before him.

³ When I bottled my sins up inside me
they gnawed on my bones
through the endless groan of each long day.
⁴ Your hand lay heavy on me day and night
sapping my strength like summer’s searing heat.
⁵ Then I gave up trying to cover up my sin
and said to myself
“It’s time to confess my rebellion to Yahveh.”
So, I blurted everything out
and you instantly took all my sins away.

⁶ That’s why everyone committed to you
should pray to you while they can.
Then when all hell breaks lose
the tsunami won’t reach them.
⁷ You’re my shelter
protecting me till all danger is past
and filling my ears with joyful cries of rescue.

 ⁸ “I’ll teach you and show you the way to take.
I’ll lovingly counsel you
keeping my eye on you.”

⁹ So don’t be a senseless horse or mule
that won’t come near and submit
without bit and bridle.”
¹⁰ What troubles await
those who rebel against God!
But unflinching love
surrounds all who trust in Yahveh.
¹¹ So rejoice in Yahveh
you who trust and obey him!
Shout for joy
all you who seek to live right!

God created us as not automatons to obey him perfectly, but rather individuals to know the freedom essential to loving him. He never forces either himself or true freedom on anyone. God’s people—prophets included—often fail him. This psalm, St. Augustine’s favorite,[1] presents the right way and the wrong way to manage guilt.

Sin’s false freedom brings guilt, which we instinctively repress, only then for it to eat away at us. David finally abandons the false freedom of his tragic Bathsheba-Uriah episode by confessing his sins freely to God and casting himself on his mercy. God instantly restores him to true freedom by removing his guilt and covering his sins.[2]

True freedom comes with a readiness to listen, trust and obey that complements God’s promise to guide and protect us in the path of submission. David urges us not to be asinine, obeying only when made to. Such rebellion leads to endless trouble, while freely embracing God and his way leads to his unfailing love (v. 10). The forgiveness and guidance that love brings are cause for joyful celebration, no less than the divine rescue from the external enemies so many of David’s other psalms celebrate.

More than correct behavior, Lord, you want my heart. How amazing that you’d risk losing me to false freedom in order to win my love, and then so freely forgive when I return to you. How can I withhold my love from so gracious a God? O, help me to listen, trust and obey you always! Amen.

[1] Craigie (1983) 268.

[2] 2 Sam. 12:13. Contrasting the two ways of covering sins, David uses the same word for “cover” (kacah), rendered “whited out” and “cover up” in verses 1 and 5. God’s covering sin suggests the atonement so central to Israel’s worship.

Safekeeping

A David psalm.

¹ I take refuge in you, Yahveh.
Don’t stand by watching as I’m disgraced.
Rescue me for you’re the God
who always does what’s right.
² Bend low and hear me!
Hurry and save me!
Be my rock of refuge
a mountain fortress to save me.
³ Because that’s what you are—
my rock and my fortress.
Lead and guide me
for the honor of your name.
⁴ Release me from the trap secretly set for me.
There’s no one I can count on but you.
⁵ Into your hand, I entrust myself.
You’ve redeemed me
Yahveh, faithful God.
⁶ I repudiate those who worship bogus gods.
I trust in Yahveh alone.
⁷ I rejoice in you and celebrate your mercy
for you see my pain
you know my soul’s anguish.
⁸ You didn’t hand me over to my enemies—
you planted my feet in wide-open country.[1]
⁹ Be gracious to me, Yahveh
for I’m in distress.
Grief is wasting my vision
wasting my soul and body too.
¹⁰ My life is worn out by sadness
my vitality by groaning.
And my sins have sapped my strength on me
to the point where even my bones waste away.
¹¹ I’ve become a joke to all my enemies
a horror to my neighbors.
A fright show even to my friends—
any who see me in the street run from me.
¹² I’m forgotten like someone dead and gone
unwanted like a broken jar.
¹³ I hear all the rumors swirling around me
spreading terror everywhere!
My enemies conspire against me
plotting to take my life.
¹⁴ But I hereby put my trust in you, Yahveh
and confess that you’re my God.
¹⁵ My entire life is in your hands.
Save me from falling
into the hands of my enemies
who relentlessly pursue me.
¹⁶ Smile down on your servant.
Take pity on me and save me.
¹⁷ Don’t let me be humiliated, Yahveh
because I’ve cried out to you.
Let the wicked be disgraced instead.
Let the silence of the grave take them
¹⁸ and their lying lips lie still
for they speak against God-seekers
with arrogance and contempt.

¹⁹ How lavish the goodness
you’ve stored up for those who fear you!
In front of everyone
you do good to those who trust you.
²⁰ You protect them securely in your presence
from those who plot against them.
You keep them safe
from accusing tongues.
²¹ May Yahveh be praised
for the wonderful way
he showed his unflinching love to me
²² Panic-stricken, I exclaimed
“I’ve been driven out of your sight!”
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
when I pleaded with you for help.
²³ Love Yahveh
all you who belong to him!
Yahveh protects the faithful
but he repays the arrogant in full.
²⁴ Be strong and courageous
all you who wait on Yahveh.

David urgently cries out here for God’s refuge, rescue, release, favor, guidance. He speaks of being hunted, ostracized, aware of his own sins and of rumors magnifying his fears, and the huge toll it all takes on him. Rejected as worthless, his energy ebbing away, he feels diminished in body and soul and sees his life through a darkened lens. With arrogant, deceitful, derisive enemies bent on killing him, it’s hardly surprising that he begs God to put them out of commission once and for all.

David’s issue is that his present reality doesn’t remotely match God’s covenantal promise to honor and bless his servants and shun and take down his adversaries. But David doesn’t rail against God. Instead, he reminds himself of God’s faithfulness and pleads with him to keep his promise. David repeatedly expresses his faith in God and puts himself in God’s hands (vv. 5, 15)—not fatalistically, but rather in confidence that God will hold onto him and not let go.[2] Thus, David depicts the challenge of staking everything on God’s faithfulness, even when everything seems to suggest he’s unfaithful. David concludes by calling his community to respond to God’s past demonstrations of steadfast love by loving him without letting go, no matter what.

Lord, you’re not slack about keeping your promises. And far from being stingy, you are generous, want me to flourish and won’t let anything separate me from your love. Help me to love you as you love me and pray without ceasing—holding you to your word—until you answer me. Amen.

[1] While some scholars consider this psalm a composite, I believe its repetition with variation points simply to David’s deep distress and urgency.

[2] Craigie (1983) 260. Jesus’ uttered these words (Lk. 23:46) in the same spirit and faith: “It’s up to you, God, what becomes of me, and I am willing to have it so.” Mays (1994) 144.

Joy in the morning 

A David psalm. A song for the dedication of the temple.

¹ I exalt you, Yahveh
for you raised me up
refusing to let my enemies
gloat over my demise.
² Yahveh my God,
I cried out to you for help
and you restored me to life.
³ You snatched me out of the grave, Yahveh
stopped my free fall into the pit in mid-air!

⁴ Sing to Yahveh
all you who are loyal to his covenant!
Give thanks at every mention
of his holy name.
⁵ For his anger lasts but a moment
his grace and favor a lifetime.
Weeping may stay the night
but in the morning—joy! 

⁶ Once when everything was going my way
I crowed, “Nothing can stop me now!
God’s blessing has made me
as unassailable as a mountain!”
⁷ But then you hid your face from me
and I was panic-stricken.
⁸ I cried out to you, Yahveh.
I begged the Lord for mercy:
⁹ “What will you gain from my death?
How will my departure
from this life benefit you?
Will my decomposing body
praise you for your faithful care?
And even if it did
how convincing would that be?
¹⁰ Hear me, Yahveh!
Be gracious to me!
Help me, Yahveh!”

¹¹ You turned my mourning into dancing!
You took my sackcloth off me
and dressed me in pure joy!
¹² So now I can’t help but praise you—
can’t keep quiet.
Yahveh, my God
I will give you thanks forever!

We live our lives with God not as spectator in the audience, but rather playing opposite us in every scene we’re in. We’re dependent on him, as the play’s director and lead actor, such that his every smile is joy, his frown distress.

David introduces us to one act in his play before giving particulars, including some of his lines, in verses 6-10. We don’t know his specific context, only that he’d become overconfident, presumptuous. Imagine young David beaming in Saul’s court—everyone’s hero, or so he thought—only later to flee madly from jealous Saul. By turning away from David, God instantly reoriented him, reminding him of who needed whom.

The little guy desperate for the big guy’s help often becomes servile, fawning. But God doesn’t want that from us, and David doesn’t give it. Verse 9 offers a perfect example of the sort of honesty God wants, as David weaves a little black humor into his cry for pity—asking God what possible good he’ll be to him dead.[a]

God’s sudden rescue leads to ecstatic joy, exuberant dancing, grateful praise and this rock-solid truth: God’s anger doesn’t define him. It’s only temporary, long outlasted by his favor. Weeping may stay overnight, but in the morning—joy!

I so soon forget my utter need of you, God. You smile on me, and I think I’m the star of the show. Thank you for revealing myself to me in your occasional withdrawal. Keep me humbly trusting that your anger always gives way to grace, that after weeping comes the joy-filled dawn. Amen.

[a] Brueggemann and Bellinger (2014) 151.