“A kind of resolution”
Meditation – Thursday, April 3, 2025
Psalm 69 (Forward, p. 64) c. 595
Something I have noticed from writing poetry, especially if it takes place over a while with a kind of a stream of consciousness, is that the mere fact of writing and meditating, over a space of time, can produce a welcome resolution, a calming of the mind and spirit. Often just doing so brings about a change in the way that one perceives things. (I would suppose that composing music might well do the same.)
I have a sense that the same thing has happened in today’s psalm by David. He begins with an extensive account of his troubles and woes (verses 1-21) and they are indeed quite overwhelming. Verses 1-2 describe it well:
“Save me, God! I am about to drown. I am sinking deep in the mud, and my feet are slipping. I am about to be swept under by a mighty flood” (He echoes these sentiments in verses 14-15).
But then, in verses 20b-21, he describes the sheer injustice of it all:
“I had hoped for mercy and pity, but there was none. Enemies
poisoned my food, and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar.”
(This is a kind of turning point in this psalm).
And so, as might well be expected—isn’t this natural, human speaking—he describes the vengeance that he hopes that God will visit upon them—and it isn’t nice. (Doesn’t that, if we are honest, how we feel at times!)
Then, with that out of his system (verses 22-28), he returns to his plea for help from Almighty God. And here, he is most confident that this will certainly be his lot in life, so much so that others will take notice and offer praises to God. Indeed, this will be an encouragement to all those who are in need.
To me, this psalm says three things. Firstly, it authorizes us to pour out our feelings, good and bad, to the Lord. Secondly, even while listing what we’d like to happen, that is, our desires for vengeance and retribution, it leaves all of that in the hands of God. In other words, none of this is ours to mete out; it is totally up to God. And then finally, thirdly, it places our confidence, the outcome, fully in the hands of God. We are satisfied that He knows and understands and that He will act in the way that is best. And so we can rest in Him. Thanks be to God.
Forward notes: “Save me, O God, for the waters have risen up to my neck. I am sinking in deep mire, and there is no firm ground for my feet” (verses 1-2).
“If you have time today, read Psalm 69 all the way through. It is a fitting Lenten psalm full of woe followed by prayers for relief from woe. Like a good poem, which psalms often are, this one has an extraordinary shift in line 13a, when the psalmist says, ‘But as for me, this is my prayer to you, at the time you have set, O Lord,’ and then the writer goes on to list prayer requests just as we might when we are praying. Like a good poet, the psalmist uses parallelism by repeating the woes in verses 24-30 (that might explain why they are optional in the readings), but then the writer goes back into the prayers and closes with the conviction that God will save Zion. I think I would benefit from spending more time with the psalms this Lent.”
Moving Forward: “Have you read a psalm lately that struck you as a good model for praying?”