Facing relentless opposition

God’s enemies bitterly oppose his people for submitting to his sovereignty over the world. In response, the psalmist celebrates God’s protection and asks him to totally nullify his foes’ opposition.

A song of ascents.

¹ Though they’ve brutally attacked me
ever since I was young—
let Israel say it.
² Though they’ve brutally attacked me
ever since I was young
they’ve never managed to destroy me.
³ Plowers drove their plow down my back
cutting long furrows in it.
⁴ But Yahveh the Just
cut away the fetters
the wicked had bound me with!

⁵ May all who hate Zion
be driven back in disgrace.
⁶ Make them like grass on a rooftop
scorched by a desert wind
before it can grow
⁷ big enough to fill a reaper’s hand
or be put into a farmer’s sheave.
⁸ And let no passersby say to them:
“Yahveh’s blessings be on you!
We bless you in Yahveh’s name!”

With Pharoah determined to hold onto his slaves, Yahveh divided the sea before the Israelites. Thus, Israel was a people born under attack. Ripping the Israelites’ backs open with inhuman floggings, the Egyptians had tamed them like a plow tames a stubborn field. Then, bursting their bonds, Yahveh set his people free. As surrounding nations viciously attacked them in the following centuries, God defended them similarly. From the first, Israel’s patriarchs had faced hostility too. Because God’s enemies always oppose those representing his claim over the earth.

Facing similar opposition, the psalmist asks God to defeat his enemies again, making them like grass so stunted and scorched the reaper doesn’t give it a second glance. She ends praying that no one will wish God’s blessing on his enemies when they try to harvest the fruit of their labor.

While the New Testament calls us to bless our enemies, Jesus taught us to pray for God’s reign to come also. This involves his ending all his enemies’ efforts to oppress and dehumanize others and block his gracious rule. Thus, prayers for the forgiveness of God’s enemies—as Jesus prayed on the cross—are compatible with prayers for their resounding defeat. We must hold these prayers in tension.

Submitting to your rule, Jesus, means facing the world’s opposition, taking up my cross and following you. Grant me grace to await your judgment of evildoers and to lavish your love on them even while praying against their evil attempts to block your just rule over the earth. Amen.

During your free moments today, meditate on these words:

Plowers drove their plow down my back
cutting long furrows in it.
But Yahveh the Just cut away the fetters
the wicked had bound me with.

How a man lives well

Many believe it’s entirely within their power to create the life they want—for example, work gainfully, marry, have kids who grow up to lead happy lives. This psalm tells us all these things are gifts from God.

A song of ascents.

¹ Blessed is the man who reveres Yahveh
who walks in his ways.
² You’ll enjoy all the benefits
of what you work for.
You’ll be content
and all will go well for you.
³ Your wife will be
like a beautiful vine in your home
richly laden with grapes.
And your children will thrive around your table
like young olive shoots.
⁴ This is how the man who reveres Yahveh
will be blessed.

⁵ May Yahveh grant you
this blessed life from Zion!
May you see Jerusalem prosper
your whole life long!
⁶ And may you live to see your children’s children!
May Israel flourish
under God’s gracious rule!

This psalm presents the good life and how to attain it, specifically for men. Such male-oriented guidance may seem out of place in the modern West, where we may deem models of women’s achievement more needful. But men need God’s guidance no less than women, especially men in strongly male-dominant societies like the psalmist’s.

While the psalm presents the life male believers may seek from God, we shouldn’t understand it as guaranteeing it to every godly man. As many other psalms show, serving God often involves self-denial, hardship, and suffering. The psalm simply presents the norm for men—akin to Proverbs 31 for women—when it pictures them providing for their families through their own labor, leading to their contentment and prosperity. The psalm’s agricultural images convey the idea of a home bursting with life and blessing. The previous psalm pictured a man with many supportive sons. This one pictures his wife as a vine bearing the children they long for, children thriving around their dinner table like olive shoots.

The psalmist prays for blessings cascading from God in Zion down through the generations. Clearly, the blessings she describes are for men who partner with God. Their God-blessed lives together produce their society’s wholeness. She thus concludes with a prayer for Israel’s well-being and peace.

Lord, the ability to benefit from my work, have healthy kids, and watch them grow to maturity—all these are gifts from your loving hand. Make me gratefully dependent on you. And help me make my entire community flourish until the day you fill the earth with blessing and with peace. Amen.

During your free moments today, meditate on these words:

Blessed is the man who reveres Yahveh
who walks in his ways.

Partners with God

Secularism has made self-reliance more attractive than ever, but people have always been tempted to take charge and rely on their own smarts and strength. Solomon says we were never meant to live like that.

A Solomon song. A song of ascents.

¹ Unless Yahveh builds the house
the builders are just wasting their time.
Unless Yahveh protects the city
the sentries may as well go on home to bed.
² There’s no point
getting up early and staying up late—
running yourself ragged to provide for yourself
when God gives sleep to those he loves.

³ Our sons come to us as a gift from Yahveh
those we produce as his reward.
⁴ The sons God gives us in our youth
are like the arrows in a warrior’s hand.
⁵ How fortunate
the man whose quiver God has filled with them!
They won’t have to back down
when they stand up to his foes at the city gate.

Most people rely on their own planning and hard work to make things happen in their lives. Solomon warns that all we do—from building a house and providing for ourselves to protecting a city—is futile unless we do it in partnership with God. No amount of vigilance, self-effort, or self-sacrifice can make up for his blessing, guiding and empowering. Without him, we can never do enough. And the intolerable burden autonomy puts on us robs us of peace and drives us to workaholism and other forms of self-medication. Every self-made man or woman around is living proof of that. By contrast, God wants us to rest (and sleep!) in the knowledge that he’s the only one who can bring our work to fruition.

No less jarring to modern ears than Solomon’s advocating dependence on God, against self-reliance, is his wisdom regarding families. Ancient Israel’s patriarchy made having strong young men in a family vital. For they could back their father up when people falsely accused him or his family of wrongdoing at the city gate, where such disputes were launched. Boys, like girls, are a gift to us from God, who partners with us in families too, forging the sort of strength that contributes to making a healthy, resilient society.

Without you I can do nothing, Jesus. Help me to surrender my will to you, trusting that you want what’s truly best for me and can help me long to please you. Your purposes cannot fail. Help me to rest in the knowledge that in partnership with you, I can do everything you want me to do. Amen.

In your free moments today, meditate on these words:

Unless Yahveh builds the house
the builders are just wasting their time.

Sowing with tears

Sometimes our pain and grief make us so desperate to find a way out that we resort to self-centered “positive thinking” or name-it-and-claim-it techniques. This psalm models a far different approach.

A song of ascents.

¹ When Yahveh restored Zion’s fortunes
we felt sure we were dreaming.
² Our lives became
wild torrents of laughter and song.
Our pagan neighbors saw it and said:
“Yahveh’s done amazing things for them!”
³ Yahveh did such amazing things for us
our joy overflowed.

⁴ Restore our fortunes again, Yahveh
like the wadis in the Negev—
from bone dry to brimming with life.

⁵ Those who sow with tears
will reap with joyful songs.
⁶ Those who carry their seeds out weeping
will dance the harvest home to songs of joy!

The psalmist begins with a backward glance, possibly at the Jews’ astonishing return from Babylon. For any empire to free and send its slaves back home is the sort of crazy we meet in dreams or, if in reality, it brings such joy outsiders can’t help seeing it. But memories of such miracles can mock us later when unanswered prayers leave us in pain and hope seems out of the question. Some Jews who returned felt overwhelmed when they saw the colossal challenges facing them in their homeland.

Situations like this often make us struggle desperately to find a solution. We may even try to strong-arm God through some name-it-and-claim-it scheme, as today’s “prosperity gospel” does, redefining faith, holiness, and more. Such distortions are easily mistaken for truth when mashed together with historic creeds. But however urgent our need, biblical faith is radically God-centered and allows that some of God’s best gifts look like anything but gifts.

What we need most is a heart yielded to the God of all truth and all hope—which is itself a small foretaste of heaven, however daunting our present circumstances are. While God may allow us to weep as we sow our seeds, he’ll assuredly make the day come when we bring the harvest home to joyous song.

Lord, I need only the abundance you bring me, the kind that keeps you front and center. Deliver me from all my attempts to turn you into a glorified heavenly vending machine. Help me know you’re with me and will yet fill me with joy, even if my tears are all that water the seeds I now sow. Amen.

During your free moments today, pray this prayer:

Restore our fortunes again, Yahveh
like the wadis in the Negev—
from bone dry to brimming with life.