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Saturday, April 16

Psalms 117, 149, 31 and 143 ”Search for a New Song”

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord, all you nations!
    Extol him, all you peoples!
For great is his steadfast love toward us,
    and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, all you nations!
    Extol him, all you peoples!
For great is his steadfast love toward us,
    and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!

Devotion

The unalloyed, exultant hymn of praise extolling God’s “steadfast love and faithfulness” that “endures forever” in PS 117 stands in sharp contrast to an alleged “new song” in PS 149.  This “new song” of praise, joyously sparkling with dancing accompanied by “timbrel and lyre” is starkly twinned with an imprecation for “vengeance,” which would bind “their kings with chains” and “their nobles with fetters of iron.” Similarly the poet in PS 31 while pleading for “trust in Thee,” and for His “face to shine on thy servant,” offers a grim personal litany, citing “wasted eyes,” “ failed strength,” and a  “life of sorrow,”  whose neighbors view him as “one who is dead.”

Yet again the poet links his release from suffering with the downfall of his enemies, that “the wicked be put to shame…” and the “dumbfounded [sent] to Sheol,” their “lying lips” rendered “dumb.”   These painful songs are patently not new songs as the writers’ ache for God’s “refuge,” “trust,” and “love” rests in part on settling old feuds, old grievances.  “Teach me…lead me, deliver me,” cries the author of PS 143, who then asks God to “cut off my enemies…destroy all my adversaries.”

Easy for this author (me), who has not stumbled out of Dachau alive or emerged wounded from the Vietnam War, not to see salvation in part as wishing to see the enemy crushed.  Christ, however, embodies the “new song,” the new way, a way not without judgment but judgment tempered with love, punishment with forgiveness, this our hope in every age, this our faith – that such love stands mightier than evil over which revenge and death cannot triumph.

Prayer

Dear Lord:  Don’t let me move forward spurred and twisted by anger, old resentments, and fresh outrages. Rather, light me up. Untangle me from fighting those who would do harm. Refocus and strengthen me to worry about and focus on my neighbor, the jobless, the hungry, the prisoner, the refugee. Keep me moving. Keep me inspired. I’m human and know I will mess up. But pick me up. Keep reminding me that I’ve got a spark of You in me –Your unquenchable love and support.  Strengthen me to throw back my head to robustly sing Your New Song, Jesus’ song –  a Song of Justice coupled with Forgiveness, of Justice with Love. 

May I be sustained by Jesus, Your son, who has showed us the way. Amen.

Jack Calhoun