#psalm reflections

Psalm 23 and its prominence highlights the value of repetition. I've seen people turn to it as a go-to passage when they've been feeling down and have wanted something to call on that acts as a lift and an assurance. To be able to call to mind such things is really valuable.

I did do a short stint in a set liturgical church environment when I was younger (for various reasons I've pretty much experienced all denominations and expressions in New Zealand through my life) and I remember not being engaged by it. In my adult years I've spoken to many people who grew up in liturgical churches, largely repeating the same liturgies week after week for years. Many of those people are now in churches that express themselves in other ways, if they're in church at all. With some of them I've had the pleasure of administering communion in informal settings and to do so I've used sections of the New Zealand Prayer Book (Anglican). For each of them they've found it very familiar and for each, the words have come flooding back when I've used it. As those internal memories have surfaced and they've prayed along with me from memory they've sensed the richness of what they learnt and have re-engaged those words in a deep and meaningful way. It's the years of repetition that sparked it. What was boring as a youngster has proved to be very meaningful and rich when a spark has brought it all back. Clearly it won't be true of everyone who grew up with such practice, but it's true of enough to demonstrate its significance.

Are there times when repetition is boring and feels meaningless? Yes, but there is real value in it. Growing isn't about being entertained and always having great feelings. Repetition ingrains stories, values and truths within us. Just as learning the alphabet, multiplication and so many other things we take for granted gives us valuable things to draw from in our functional lives when needed, so liturgies, scriptures, songs and prayers repeated over and over give our soul something to draw on in those times when we need it but the written words aren't readily accessible and we don't have anything else to bring to the moment spontaneously.

There's that old saying, 'repetition is the mother of learning' and it's true for classical education, but it's also true for the learning our inner being needs to do in order for us to be shaped towards the image of Christ. Let's embrace it as a way of strengthening who we are and who we are becoming.

Read more of my reflections on the Psalms.

Here's why I'm walking this journey through the Psalms.

It's the presence and activity of God that enables the praise that causes me to bow. God has acted and continues to act as the rhythm that under-girds all things, drawing us forward. I like the metaphor of music and song to capture that. Sometimes that music is profoundly evident, other times it's drowned out by other noise. Psalm 21 reminds me to stop and listen to see where the music of God can be heard and where it has been heard before. Sometimes that's easy and other times it is extremely difficult, but at all times I can turn to scripture and see where the music truly cut through the other noise through the life of Jesus.

The scriptural account offers a sense of the song I want to tune into and it's the story I'm a part of, continually reminding me that though the music can often seem dim, history is full of times when the music has been clear and true and for this, as with Psalm 21, I stop to offer praise to the God who is.

May we be people in tune with the music of God; able to pause and hear that song both in our own lives but also in the world around us - for it is a rhythm that is ever present and ever active. May our lives become one of the instruments in that song.

Read more of my reflections on the Psalms.

Here's why I'm walking this journey through the Psalms.

'Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound.'

The NRSV has captured the way it is translated in most English versions ever since the King James Version:

'You have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and new wine abound.'

This second translation is the dominant one across most English versions. It sets a contrast between David's joy which is seen to be greater than what comes from the people's grain and new wine, and the joy that comes from their prosperity.

When I noticed how these two translations differ so drastically I went looking at what other versions say and I have to be honest, I thought the translators of the latest version of the NIV had quite plainly got it wrong. Their translation of the verse didn't sit with my understanding of the whole psalm and it doesn't line up with most other English translations.

I was wrong.

Much of Psalm 4 can be understood a number of ways but it seems that with this verse in particular, which can be argued to be the key to understanding the rest of it, there are a number of different ways to read it but the way the NRSV translates it as inherited from the KJV probably isn't it. The phrase 'more than' is an addition based on assumption - probably the same assumption I made as I read the new NIV rendering of the verse.

That said, it looks like the NIV is slightly off base too, but closer. It renders the verse as a request - 'Fill my heart...'

Here is the Hebrew as it appears in the Hebrew Study Bible נָתַ֣תָּה שִׂמְחָ֣ה בְלִבִּ֑י מֵעֵ֬ת דְּגָנָ֖ם וְתִֽירֹושָׁ֣ם רָֽבּוּ׃ which most closely translates in English as 'have put gladness my heart when their grain new wine abound' according to Strong's dictionary. It's a statement, not a request. So the most literal translation that would read the most smoothly is simply 'You have put gladness in my heart when their grain and new wine abound.'

Now I'm aware that there may be textual issues I'm missing as I'm not a Hebrew scholar but it's very clear that this translation is closer than the one in the NRSV, which stems from the KJV. It's this more literal rendering that the Septuagint and Jerome's Vulgate head towards as well.

You can see where the original addition in the KJV that has lead to the same addition in so many other English translation creates a whole other meaning and sense of what the Psalmist is saying. It doesn't look good for KJV-only buffs and it should also make us very cautious of arguing for inerrancy when it comes to ANY English translation.

What the more literal rendering could be understood to mean and what the Psalmist was trying to express are another discussion. Feel free to let me know what you think.

Read my reflections on the Psalms.

'Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.' (NIV)

It would be naive for anyone to extrapolate out of this that they therefore didn't have chariots and horses (weapons of war) though I desperately wish I could, but that these things are ultimately not what they put their faith in. Their trust went above these things.

There is a lesson in that for me (and you too maybe). Where we do I ultimately put my faith? Where do we believe our sense of fulfilment is going to come from? Is it going to come from the next thing that might give us that sense of 'victory' - a pay rise? An affirming word from that person we've been trying to impress? That thing we've wanted to buy? That piece of legislation that we want to get through Parliament that might validate us? That next drink or drug hit? Sex? Money? Power? If the answer to those things or any other that sits in the pursuit of something material is yes then it will be fleeting and our life will be gripped by their pursuit.

We need to find something deeper, something that transcends those fleeting pursuits - for me that's the simple truth that I am loved by God and He is calling me to love him back. That truth stands no matter what fleeting happenings are moving in and out of my life. It's that truth that I wish my life to flow from.

May we be people who find fulfilment in the deep things of life, who place our trust above the things that rust, rot and ultimately come and go.

Read more of my reflections on the Psalms.

'They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world.' (NIV)

The Message puts it slightly differently:

'Their words aren't heard, their voices aren't recorded, but their silence fills the earth; unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.' (MSG)

'But their silence fills the earth...' Brilliant!

Many view silence as passive and apathetic... a capitulation if you will.

There is another powerful story of silence in scripture. The gospel of Matthew gives us Jesus' silence at two very important times in the lead up to his crucifixion. One is when he is before the Sanhedrin being falsely accused in an illegal trial. The high priest, via a question, demanded that he answer to the accusations being brought against him. The response in Matt 26:63 was 'Jesus kept silent.' He answered the next question, but that silence in the face of false testimonies and accusations was neither passive or apathetic - it was born from strength and a voluntary embrace of weakness... and that's not an oxymoron.

The next instance of Jesus' silence before his crucifixion is in front of Pilate. Jesus was willing to answer Pilate's questions, but again, when faced with the false accusations the Sanhedrin was bringing against him he remained silent to the amazement of the governor. 

He answered every question that did not demand that he defend himself. He made statements about who he was/is but he would not defend himself against false accusations. That silence said everything. That silence was strong. That silence has filled the earth for around 2000 years now and it has revealed a lot about who God is. 'But HIS silence fills the earth...'

Silence is strength and while it is inherently apophatic in that it seeks God in what is not rather than in what is, it still reveals God and it reveals who we are. The question is, do we really want to know what will be revealed? Silence carries a message not easily heard, it brings us to the still, small voice but don't underestimate the strength of that voice. It's the voice of the one who stood before his accusers and made himself heard so powerfully by remaining silent when their noise was at its loudest and most deafening.

May we be people who hear the voice of the divine in the silence that fills the earth. May we know the voice of the one who remained silent in the face of his accusers as they sought his demise. In embracing silence may we hear the voices of the voiceless in our world because of injustice. God dwells in that silence. When we utter words and pursue action, may they be accepted by God and be part of his voice in the world; may they give voice to those who are voiceless.

Read more of my reflections on the Psalms.