“Too good to be true?”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Tuesday, September 6, 2022
Psalm 47 (Forward, p. 39) CEV p. 583
I’m not sure just what circumstance or situation inspired someone from the clan or people of Korah to pen this psalm, but it must have been a time either when Israel felt particularly powerful and exulted or when God had intervened in its life in a spectacularly splendid way. Anyway, the doings and activities attributed to God seem almost too good to be true.
First off, there is what the psalmist says about Israel itself:
The Contemporary English Version puts it this way in verses 3-3, “God has put every nation under our power, and he chose for us the land that was the pride of Jacob, his favourite”;
Whereas the Good News Bible says, “He gave us victory over the peoples; he made us rule over the nations. He chose for us the land where we live, the proud possession of his people, whom he loves”;
And, the Revised Standard Version (as found in the Book of Alternative Services) says, “He subdues the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet. He chooses our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves.”
But when, if ever, did Israel rule over the nations as so described? If it ever did, it was for a very short time, a mere fragment of time when both Egypt and the nations of the Middle East (Assyria, Babylon and Persia) were weak and in decline. It really does seem too good to be true.
But then, let’s look at what our psalm says about God Himself. (This, perhaps, will give us a backdrop and a context for the glorious things suggested for Israel itself):
Verse 7 describes Him as ‘king of all the earth” or ‘king over all the world’ or ‘ruler of all the earth’;
Verse 8 says, “God rules the nations from his sacred throne’ or ‘God reigns over the nations’;
And verse 10 says, “The rulers of the earth belong to God’ or ‘More powerful than all armies is he; he rules supreme’ or, rather surprisingly, ‘All rulers on earth surrender their weapons.’
Yes, it does indeed seem too good to be true. But then, is this not our hope and our dream when Jesus returns? That all nations and all rulers will be subject to Him and His loving and powerful rule, and that all wars and all injustice and tyranny will cease? Maybe our psalmist was just a ‘wee’ bit ahead of his time, describing his (and our) hopes and dreams for a yet unseen, distant time. And is that not what we work for, and pray for as well (‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’)? So, we continue to hope, pray and work for what will indeed come—but in God’s good time, not ours. Amen.
Forward notes: “Sing praises to God, sing praises” (verse 6a).
“The saying ‘To sing is to pray twice’ is often attributed to Saint Augustine of Hippo.
“I have a friend at church who loves to sing. She even has a bumper sticker that declares it so! I love singing (and whistling) too. These words of the psalmist remind me of transcendent moments of praise I have experienced in church over the course of my life: singing ‘Lift High the Cross’ when Archbishop Desmond Tutu visited our parish, witnessing the ordination of seven priests—all women—at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, hearing the solo at the beginning of the Christmas Eve service with ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ as the congregation waits to join in, listening to the first notes of ‘Welcome Happy Morning’ on Easter, and remembering my late husband as he sang the bass part of the Hyfrydol tune used in so many familiar hymns.
“I love to sing praises to God surrounded by others or even just by myself. May you sing praises to God today wherever you are.”
Moving Forward: “Share your favorite hymn with us at #ForwardDaybyDay.”