God, you are made known in Judah;
in Israel your name is great.
You set up your tent in Jerusalem
and your dwelling place in Zion.
It was there you broke the flashing arrows,
the shield, the sword, the armor.
You, O Lord, are resplendent,
more majestic than the everlasting mountains.
The warriors, despoiled, slept in death;
the hands of the soldiers were powerless.
At your threat, O God of Jacob,
horse and rider lay stunned.
You, you alone, strike terror.
Who shall stand when your anger is roused?
You uttered your sentence from the heavens;
the earth in terror was still
when you arose to judge,
to save the humble of the earth.
Anger will serve to praise you;
survivors surround you with joy.
Make vows to your God and fulfill them.
Let all pay tribute to him who strikes terror,
who cuts short the breath of princes,
who strikes terror in the kings of the earth.
Reflection
Today’s Psalm poses difficulties with four references to God striking terror (as well as threat, anger and general violence). As we grapple with the threat of violence, could we imagine Sophie Rayworth pointing out that the Almighty leads a proscribed organisation?!
The Psalm also starts with an unrepentant statement of Zionist aspiration. God has made his dwelling place in Zion. God is known in Israel and Judah. Is God taking sides in human conflicts? Surely these very ideas are the source of division in our world today and the cause of the terror we dread?
One way that helps me reconcile myself to these difficulties is that the story of Israel is, and always has been, a story of failure. Not least in their failure to realise their high calling to be a light to the Gentiles – those outside. God chose this nation, originally very small and insignificant, peopled by aliens and wanderers, to, hopefully, show how communal living (and relationships to other nations) should be done. The Psalmist ends with a reminder that God longs to save the humble, not just of one nation, but the whole earth.
A question is begged. Where does God really dwell? No longer within the borders of one (nor any) nation but, by the Holy Spirit, in the lives, the very bodies, of those who trust in Christ and come to Him via the reconciling work of His cross. And our task, likewise, is to call those outside, on the margins, excluded, alone, “insignificant” and isolated to also be citizens of this open-doored Kingdom.
As I write these words, many leaders hover anxiously between peace and war. The Psalm points to a King who will also fight, sometimes against those leaders’ plans and always through and behind the earthly conflicts, to achieve His purposes. And our understanding, now, is that He uses very different weapons and methods. Despite “wars and rumours of wars” – even through tumult, our hope is that all things are moving towards the consummation of His Kingdom – Perhaps this is how, even “anger serves to praise”…
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ,
we praise you
for your reconciling work upon the cross.
putting our hostility to death
and breaking down our walls.
You made Jew and Gentile one;
a pattern of reconciliation for humankind
calling those both near and far away.
Forgive and heal the failings of your people
both now and in the past.
Forgive us when we have put up barriers
instead of opening doors
and have not welcomed the outsider.
Amen