Suffering With Joy

Praying the Psalms – Psalm 28

July 24, 2010

On Saturdays we join Jenny at Just a Minute to pray a new psalm each week. This week we pray Psalm 27 where we learn the reward of trust in the Lord.

I think often of Jesus, Mary and Joseph praying these psalms in the synagogue and at home; of the apostles praying them with Jesus.  The psalms are the prayer of Christ to the Father, and our prayer to the Father in Jesus’ name as members of His Mystical Body.

Psalm 28 illustration by Moshe Tzvi HaLevi Berger. From a series illustrating all 150 psalms. Artist's comment: "His estate is the world. He made it round like the pupil of His eye or, like the womb pregnant with existence, His world is surrounded by emanations precipitated in the middle of nothingness and supported by His power. For the world would not endure for a second without His care. And His people would not exist for a moment without His blessing."

1.  To You, O Lord, I call; O my Rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you heed me not, I become one of those going down into the pit. [The realm of eternal death and defeat is not ours when we call on the Lord.  The proof of God's mercy and love for us is eternal happiness, but we must call on our Rock who stands firm, never moves, and is always accessible in the storms and ravages of life.]

2.  Hear the sound of my pleading, when I cry to you, lifting up my hands toward your holy shrine. [We lift up our hands to His sanctuary, holding in them our hearts.  The work of our hands is the repression of evil in this world through fulfilling our vocation - to "do whatever He tells you" as Mary instructed the stewards at the wedding of Cana.]

3. Drag me not away with the wicked, with those who do wrong, who speak civilly to their neighbors though evil is in their hearts.

4.  Repay them for their deeds, for the evil of their doings.  For the work of their hands repay them; give them their deserts.

5.  Because they consider not the deeds of the Lord nor the work of his hands, may he tear them down and not build them up. [God is the just judge, the one who tries every heart. We are right to beseech deliverance from the wicked, to not be identified with their deeds, but in charity we must pray for their conversion and forgive them as Christ forgave his tormentors.  Only Satan and his fellow fallen angels are beyond hope and we must pray against them to the Father that they not overcome us.  For us, until we draw our last breath, we hope in God's mercy and justice.]

6.  Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard the sound of my pleading; [God always hears us and always gives us what we need.  We must pray that we recognize the gifts and blessings He is giving us, even when they come disguised as suffering and adversity.]

7.  the Lord is my strength and my shield.  In him my heart trusts, and I find help; then my heart exults, and with my song I give him thanks. [In this great declaration of dependence, we decry any strength of our own and avow a childlike trust in God.  His power and loving care for us is cause for joy and thanksgiving.  This espousal of the truth of our relationship with Him reaches complete fruition in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.]

8.  The Lord is the strength of his people, the saving refuge of his anointed. [Jesus' strength is in His Father - "the Father and I are one," - "Philip, he who sees Me sees the Father".  Anointed at Baptism and Confirmation and finally in Extreme Unction, we profess with Jesus that the Father is our strength.  Fleeing to Him, seeking His face always in the midst of death and destruction around us, we share in the victory of Christ, the Anointed of the Father.]

9.  Save your people, and bless your inheritance; feed them, and carry them forever! [We are the inheritance of Christ, all of us who bow down before the Holy Trinity, who confess Jesus to be our savior and live that confession daily.  We are fed with His Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist, and we are carried in the arms of the Father forever.]

Sometimes I, the wriggling child, try to wrench myself from the arms of my Father to go off and do what I want, rather than peacefully resting on His shoulder.  This psalm tells us that our reward for trust in God is to live shielded in His arms and fed on His Word eternally, safe from all disturbance.  The final peace of soul we receive is the rest in absolute Truth and perfect relationship with God.  Lord, that I may stop wriggling and reaching away from you and settle myself in your arms forever!

Tags: psalms

1 Comment to Praying the Psalms – Psalm 28

1. 

   Your metaphor of the wriggling child is a perfect one and one I won’t soon forget, Barb! I join you in praying I would settle in His arms at all times. Thanks for sharing a beautiful reflection!
Natalie on July 24th, 2010

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