To the director, with strings. A David psalm.
Answer me in my call, O God of my glory!
When I’m in a tight spot, you make space for me.
Show me grace, and hear my prayer.
Sons of man, how long will you make my glory into disgrace,
and love emptiness, and seek lies?
[...]
Know that the Lord separates the godly for himself.
The Lord hears when my call is to him.
Shake, and do not sin.
Speak only in your heart, upon your bed, and be silent.
[...]
Sacrifice sacrifices of righteousness and trust the Lord.
Many are asking, “Who will cause us to see something good happen?”
Lift the light of your face upon us, O Lord.
Set joy in my heart when their grain and new wine are plentiful.
In peace may I lie down and sleep,
because you alone, Lord, cause me to live in safety.
Thoughts
This is a wonderful little Psalm, a very idiomatic cry for help from the Lord. Each line uses a new image to plead for the Lord’s help. The Psalmist experiences isolation and degradation at the hands of people, and expects no better to come from them. Left on his own among the ungodly, he doesn’t stand a chance. He can only look at them and say pathetically, “How much longer is this going to last?” Amazingly, he also despairs for the sake of his troublesome neighbors. He knows that they are chasing after empty things, and sustaining it by their love for lies. His advice: “Go to your room, sit down on your bed, shut up, and think about where your life is headed!”
The psalm also uses this wonderful little Hebrew idiom for being in trouble and receiving help. Literally, it’s something like: “When I am in a narrow place, you make it wide for me” I translated it above as “When I’m in a tight spot, you make space for me.” I love this idiom, because it has such a tangible feeling associated with it. Ever felt like the world was just closing in on you, and you just needed a little space? I can get with that! Sometimes I just need what this psalm leads me to cry out for—just a little wriggling room.
At the close, this Psalm leads me to being prayerful over the broken world around me. It leads me to cry out for the broken world, even as it hurts me. I bring the world, unwilling as it may be, into my prayer: “Lift the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” It really would make me happy to see the world filled with abundance by God’s hand.
[This is a part of a long series on the Psalms. I want to translate and meditate on each of the Psalms, at about a Psalm every week or two. It should keep me busy for a while.]
I loved this Steven. And I love the new look of your blog. :) I am going thru the Psalms with a few women that don’t know the Bible well at all. We just discussed 4, 5, and 6 so this post came at a perfect time for me. I look forward to reading your thoughts.
I hope that family of mine is treating you well. :) Precious picture of your wife and girls at the top.
Thanks, Megan, on all of the above! Your families here are all treating us so very well, and have been so gracious to us.
The Psalms are tricky little beasts. They lull us in with their seeming familiarity, then viscously ambush me with the ferocious teeth of their complexity. grrrrrrr.
Which is another reason why the picture at the top of the blog is remarkably appropriate!
I should edit that last comment to read “viciously”, but the idea of something ambushing me in a gelatinous sort of way is entertaining even if it wasn’t my original intention.