Till kingdom come

It’s easy to become cynical about our politicians’ love of power and the pig’s trough, but to no avail. Far better to pray, as this psalm teaches us, that goodness and justice will flourish throughout our government.

A Solomon psalm.

¹ Endow the king with your just rule, God
righteousness to your royal son
² enabling him to judge your people rightly
and your poor with justice.
³ May the mountains yield well-being
the hills justice for all.
⁴ May he defend the downtrodden
advocate for the children of the poor
and crush their oppressors.
⁵ May he reign for untold ages—
for as long as the sun shines
and the moon lights up the night sky.
⁶ May he be like rain falling on new-mown fields
like showers moistening the earth.
⁷ May the just flourish under his rule
and everyone know well-being
till the moon shines no more.
⁸ May he reign from sea to sea
and from the River[1] to the ends of the earth.
⁹ The Bedouin tribes will submit to him[2]
and all his enemies lick the dust at his feet.
¹⁰ The kings of Tarshish and other far-flung lands
will bring him tribute
the kings of Sheba and Seba offer him gifts.
¹¹ All the kings will bow before him
and all nations will serve him.
¹² He’ll rescue the poor when they cry out to him
the oppressed who have no one to help them.
¹³ He’ll look with compassion on the poor and lowly
and will save the lives of the needy.
¹⁴ He’ll redeem them from violence and oppression
because their blood is precious to him.
¹⁵ Long may he live!
May gold from Sheba be given to him
prayers ascend on his behalf continually
and blessings be invoked on him all day long.
¹⁶ May there be abundant grain in the land
right up to the mountaintops.
May its fruit thrive like the fruit of Lebanon
and his people flourish in the city
like grass in the field.
¹⁷ May his name be blessed forever
outshining the sun.
May every people be blessed by him
and all nations call him blessed.

¹⁸ Blessed be Sovereign Yahveh
Israel’s God, who alone performs miracles.
¹⁹ May his glorious name be blessed forever
and the whole earth be filled with his glory!
Amen and amen.

²⁰ Thus end the prayers of David, son of Jesse. [3]

Charged with maintaining order for the common good, political leaders and their police, judicial, military and other backers have always found it easy to abuse their power. In every political system, they’re easily seduced to embrace self-serving politics, justified by an ideology of entitlement that renders the poor dispensable. They thus disenfranchise people, exploit them through unfair taxation and turn their youths into cannon fodder for their military adventures—all to support the governing elite’s lust for wealth and power. The old seer Samuel had warned about this. And one king after another, from Saul to the end of David’s dynasty, proved Samuel right.[4]

Likely written for Solomon’s coronation, this psalm spells out what God called Israel’s monarchy to and prays that it may be so. The king must share his divine master’s moral values, protecting the poor from injustice and creating an environment where everyone can prosper equally. By so doing, he moves in sync with both God and creation, as the land helps make wholeness, peace, prosperity and righteousness pervasive.

Israel realized a bit of its destiny over the nations in Solomon’s day. But by the time they’d returned from exile, the Jews realized that the psalm’s ideal and universal dimensions would be fulfilled only by God’s promised Messiah.

Grant us just government, Lord, with your blessing. Help me to want what you want, to value the lives of the poor and disenfranchised as I do my own life. Help me step back from the trough long enough to learn how I can help right any evils I’m complicit in. May your kingdom come. Amen.

During your free moments today, pray this prayer:

May his glorious name be blessed forever
and the whole earth filled with his glory!

[1] That is, the Euphrates.

[2] Being nomadic, Bedouins have earned the reputation of being the most unmanageable tribes of all.

[3] Verses 18-19 give the concluding doxology for not just the psalm, but also the second book of Psalms and the collection of David’s psalms in Books I and II. David’s other psalms are scattered throughout the other three books.

[4] Walter Brueggemann, “Wake-Up Call for Nation-States,” in S. Heinrichs, ed., Wrongs to Rights: How churches can engage the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, (Winnipeg, MB: Mennonite Church Canada, 2016) 71, 73.

God of my whole life

Some people think we praise God to put him in a good mood before making our requests. This gets it all wrong. Praise helps open us up to more of God’s infinite power by enabling us to see him more clearly.

¹ I’ve taken refuge in you, Yahveh.
Don’t ever let me be shamed.
² Rescue me, deliver me
since you’re the God who sets things right.
Turn your ear my way and save me.
³ Be my rock of refuge
where I can always go
my stronghold offering me safety
for you’re my rock and fortress.
⁴ My God, rescue me
from the power of the wicked
from the grasp of ruthless evildoers.
⁵ You’re my hope, Yahveh
the God I’ve trusted from childhood on.
⁶ I’ve depended on you since birth
when you brought me out of my mother’s womb
so you’re the one I always praise.
⁷ I’ve become a warning[1] to many
but you’re my strong refuge.
⁸ I praise you and proclaim your glory
all day long.
⁹ Don’t cast me off in old age—
don’t abandon me when my strength fails me.
¹⁰ For my enemies talk about me
they watch my every move
and consult together.
¹¹ They say, “God’s forsaken him!
Chase him and seize him—
no one will save him!”
¹² God, don’t stand aloof!
My God, hurry to help me!
¹³ May those who attack me
be dishonored and destroyed.
Cover those who want to hurt me
with defeat and disgrace.

¹⁴ As for me, I’ll keep on hoping in you
and praise you more and more.
¹⁵ I’ll announce your saving acts
your acts of deliverance day after day
though I can’t begin to count them all.
¹⁶ I’ll come announcing the incredible deeds
of Sovereign Yahveh
paying tribute to your saving acts, yours alone.
¹⁷ God, you’ve taught me from my youth.
and to this day I tell others
about the wonderful things you’ve done.
¹⁸ Even when I’m old and gray
don’t desert me, God.
Give me another chance
to proclaim your power to this generation
your might to all those yet to come.
¹⁹ Your saving justice
reaches to the heavens, Lord.
You’ve done awesome things—
who is like you, O God?
²⁰ Though you’ve made me endure
many disasters and hard times
you’ll restore me to life again—
pull me back up out of the gaping abyss.
²¹ You’ll make my honor
even greater than before
and comfort me again.
²² I’ll praise you for your faithfulness
with the lute, my God
and sing to you, Holy One of Israel
with the lyre!
²³ I’ll shout for joy when I sing your praise
I’ll sing to you with all my heart
because you’ve ransomed me.
²⁴ Yes, all day long I’ll tell others
about your power to vindicate
when those who are trying to hurt me
have crept off disgraced and discredited.

With enemies whispering and plotting her ruin, the psalmist repeatedly asks God for rescue and refuge. With the psalmist aging, she knows others consider her an easy mark, a has-been. So she asks God not to discard her, but rather to let her once more proclaim his faithfulness to future generations, so they too can know and believe in the God who keeps his word.

The psalmist also emphasizes praise, starting with a 2:1 petition-to-praise ratio and reversing the ratio in the psalm’s second part. She doesn’t praise God to stroke his ego or make him more open to her petitions. Because God has none of the ego issues that plague us children of Adam and Eve. No, praise is a corrective we need most when in trouble. Urgent need seemingly demands nonstop petition. In fact, it calls for continual praise, so we can see that God, who sets things right by faithfully rescuing the weak, reigns over all we’re going through and always will. Praise corrects the psalmist’s vision, opening her up to heaven’s infinite resources and the hope of a future even brighter than her past. Even in old age. Seeing that, the psalmist imagines herself singing and shouting for joy, her rescue complete.

Lord, you’d free me from a mindset of scarcity and want to one of abundance and joy. Lift me on the wings of prayer and praise to soar through the stratosphere of your love on the jet stream of your power, dwarfing even my biggest problems. Let me yet tell others how faithful you are. Amen.

Pray this prayer in your free moments today:

Your saving justice reaches to the heavens, Lord.
You’ve done awesome things—who is like you, O God?

[1] People are saying, “Don’t do as she did unless you want things to turn out like this!”

Help me now!

Our world’s evil and oppression  sometimes threaten to overwhelm us. Since God is determined to rid our world of evil, he welcomes all our prayers for deliverance from it.

A David psalm.

¹ Rescue me, God!
Hurry, Yahveh, and help me!
² Let shame and confusion overtake
all those trying to destroy me.
Rout in humiliation
all who want to see me hurt.
³ May all who revel in every hit I take
shrink back in shame.

⁴ But may everyone who seeks you
be glad and rejoice in you.
May all who love what you’re doing
to save humankind
say, “God is great!”

⁵ But I am poor and wasted.
Come quick, God!
You’re my help and my deliverer.
Don’t delay, Yahveh![a]

David begins and ends begging God to save him from enemies bent on destroying him. God promised to protect his people from harm in the Mosaic covenant, and earlier to curse all who cursed Abraham. So David naturally asks God to protect him. He tells him everything’s messed up and asks him to fix his situation immediately since he’s got no other hope. We might expect all this even in a breathlessly brief prayer.

But two things are surprising here. People usually respond to serious threats by hitting back even harder. David asks only that God leave his enemies in disarray, disgraced and red-faced when their hopes are dashed and their nefarious plans fall flat.

Even more surprising is the fact that David anchors his prayer in joy. He’s knows God dwarfs the evil and oppression he’s up against and will yet overcome it. He prays it will happen—that all who seek God and love what he’s doing to put things right in the world will rejoice in him and celebrate his greatness. Though we’re weak and helpless without him, joy will yet triumph over pain. David is determined to declare that truth for however long it takes for the darkness to give way to God’s light.

God, I long for the day when your light dispels every last shadow and you wipe every tear from our eyes. I believe it will come. But sometimes it seems such a long way off. You’re my help and deliverer. Don’t delay! May all who seek you be glad and rejoice in you. Amen.

In your free moments today, pray this prayer:

May all who love what you’re doing to save humankind say, “God is great!”

[a] This psalm was incorporated into Psalm 40 (vv. 13-17) with minor changes in wording. But these lines of poetry work differently on their own, just as a gemstone looks very different when taken by itself, as opposed to being surrounded by other jewels in a necklace.

Seeking God’s kingdom

Suffering for God’s sake rarely appeals. Yet he uses such suffering to turn evil into good in both our lives and the lives of those around us and to move us toward his new creation, where suffering will be no more.

A David psalm.

¹ Save me, God—
the water’s come up to my neck!
² I’m sinking into deep slime
with no foothold anywhere to be found!
I’m in deep water
the current sweeping me away.
³ My throat is hoarse
worn out from calling
my eyes strained
from looking for my God.
⁴ More people hate me for no reason
than I’ve got hairs on my head.
My treacherous enemies
who would destroy me are powerful.
Must I now give back
what I never stole?

⁵ God, you know
what a fool I’ve been—
none of my sins are hidden from you.
⁶ Yahveh, God of heaven’s armies
don’t let those who hope in you
be humiliated because of me.
God of Israel
don’t let those who seek you
be disgraced because of me.
⁷ It’s because of you
I’ve been insulted
and am totally disgraced.
⁸ I’ve become an outcast
to my own family
a pariah to my own flesh and blood.
⁹ My passion for your house has consumed me
and the insults of those insulting you
have fallen on me.
¹⁰ When I humbled myself, fasting
they scoffed
¹¹ and when I wore sackcloth
they ridiculed.
¹² I’ve become the talk of the town
the taunt of the town’s drunks.

¹³ But me, I keep on praying
that you’d make me flourish, Yahveh.
In keeping with your amazing grace, O God
answer me with your faithful deliverance.
¹⁴ Rescue me from this quagmire—
don’t let me go under!
Save me from my enemies
and the deep water I’m in!
¹⁵ Don’t let the surging tide sweep me away
and the ocean deep swallow me!
Don’t let the Pit close its gaping mouth on me!
¹⁶ Answer me, Yahveh
in your unfailing love.
In the overflow of your tender mercy
turn to me.
¹⁷ Don’t hide your face from your servant.
Answer me quickly
because I’m in dire straits!

¹⁸ Come to my side and rescue me.
Save me from all my enemies.
¹⁹ You know how I’ve been insulted
disgraced and dishonored
and who all my enemies are.
²⁰ Their insults have broken my heart
and left me in despair.
I looked for someone to take pity
but found no one—
someone to comfort me
but got only blank stares.
²¹ They gave me poison to eat
sour wine to slake my thirst.
²² Let their banquets be their own undoing—
their abundance their downfall.
²³ Make their eyes grow too dim to see.
Shake them uncontrollably to their core.
²⁴ Vent your fury on them
till your burning anger overtakes them.
²⁵ Make their camp desolate
their tents deserted.
²⁶ For they harassed the one you struck
and doubled the pain of the one you wounded.
²⁷ Charge them with one crime after another—
don’t let them off the hook!
²⁸ Blot their names
out of the register of the living—
don’t count them
among those who trust in you.[1]

²⁹ But as for me, wounded outcast that I am
raise me up by your saving power, O God.
³⁰ I will praise God in song
and honor him by giving thanks.
³¹ This will please Yahveh more
than sacrificing an ox or bull
horns and hooves.
³² When the downtrodden see it
they’ll be glad.
You who seek God
take heart.
³³ For Yahveh listens to the destitute
he doesn’t despise captives.

³⁴ Praise him, heaven and earth
the seas and everything that moves in them!
³⁵ For God will save Zion
and build up Judah’s cities.
His people will live there
and make the land their own.
³⁶ His servants’ descendants will inherit it
and those who love his name will live there.

Powerful oppressors have alienated David from his community and family, a terrible fate in the Middle East. Now everyone gossips about him and makes him the butt of their jokes. Totally isolated, he’s convinced he’ll die unless God acts swiftly, decisively. Hence, his urgency-bordering-on-panic.

David knows he’s a sinner and has done foolish things, but he’s done nothing to harm his enemies. They insult him simply because he’s passionate about “God’s house”—that is, about pleasing God—and that commitment has cost him everything.[2] Hating God, his enemies attack him instead, which explains their cruel lack of compassion. Interestingly, David accepts that his suffering comes from God’s hand, yet he holds his persecutors responsible for their part in it.

Seeing it as either him or them, David asks God to rescue him and take his enemies down—to exclude them from the faith community’s protection and show no leniency. He believes he’ll do this because God cares for his servants in distress. David anticipates his own joyful praise after being rescued and calls creation to join in celebrating the God who cares for the oppressed. Finally, David imagines the day when everyone in Zion flourishes, just as God always intended.

Lord, it’s often hard to imagine a world where everyone flourishes. Yet that’s what your kingdom will be. Help me to believe that wholeheartedly and seek your reign and way of living passionately. Break every form of oppression. I rejoice to know you care for the needy. Including me. Amen

In your spare moments today, pray this prayer:

Make me flourish, Yahveh. In keeping with your unfailing love
O God, answer me with your faithful deliverance.

[1] These prayers mirror David’s enemies’ evils. But instead of trying to implement the Torah’s eye-for-eye provision himself, he asks God to repay his enemies for their evil. Though we struggle with such verses, Acts 1:16, 20 quotes verse 25 in relation to Judas and Rev. 16:1 echoes verse 24 and Rev. 21:27 echoes verse 28 in relation to those who have no part in the new Jerusalem.

[2] Many assume this was zeal for pure Israelite worship in the Tabernacle, as in Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple. Pure worship was likely part of David’s concern, but we can take the words “your house” more broadly. As Marvin E. Tate says, the house of God wasn’t just a building, but rather “extended to the whole household of God”; Psalms 51-100 (Dallas: Word, 1990) 196. Thus, in David’s mind, God’s house may have been pitted against the rebellious “house of Saul.”