Tag Archives: Trusting God

Psalm 127 The Wisdom of Trusting the LORD

Psalm 127

A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.

¹ Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD guards the city,
the guard keeps watch in vain.
² It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil,
for he gives sleep to his beloved.

³ Sons are indeed a heritage from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the sons of one’s youth.
⁵ Happy is the man who has
his quiver full of them.
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Bolded words have notes on translation below.

Psalm 127 rotates around the basic claim that everything comes from the trustworthy LORD who builds the house, guards the city, and gives the blessing of family. The opening verse introduces the word translated in the NRSVue ‘house’ (Hebrew bayit) which can be used in multiple ways. Nancy deClaissé-Walford illustrates the multiple ways Hebrew uses bayit:

The word house (bayit) has a number of meanings in the Hebrew Bible. It can refer to family dwellings (Gen. 19:2; Judg. 11:31; 2 Kgs. 4:2); to the whole household (Gen. 46:27; Josh. 7:18; Ruth 1:8); to the whole people of Israel (Exod. 40:38; 1 Kgs. 20:31; Ezek. 36:22); to ruling dynasties (2 Sam. 3:1; 7:11; 1 Kgs. 16:3); or to the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kgs. 22:3; Ezra 6:15; Jer. 7:2). (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 918)

Critical to the wordplay in this Psalm is the usage of the term in Nathan’s prophecy to David in 2 Samuel 7: 11-13

The LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house (bayit). When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house (bayit) for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

While the building of a family dwelling or a temple would also be a labor committed to the LORD and the word allows and encourages those meanings, the psalm also wants us to understand the resonance of household, especially when linked thematically and phonetically to the second half of the psalm (see below).

The LORD is the primary actor throughout the psalm as the builder of the house and the guard of the city and the provider of children while the psalmist lives in trust of the LORD. They may participate with God in the building of the house, the protection of the city, and the procreation and raising of a family, but they can trust that the LORD provides that which they need. Instead of anxious toil trying to secure their house, city, and family they can sleep in peace entrusting the LORD to provide that which they need. I am reminded of Martin Luther’s explanation of the petition of the Lord’s prayer on daily bread:

What is this?

In fact, God gives daily bread without our prayer, even to all evil people, but we ask in this prayer that God cause us to recognize what our daily bread is and to receive it with thanksgiving.

What then does “daily bread” mean?

Everything our bodies need such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, fields, livestock, money, property, an upright spouse, upright children, upright members of the household, upright and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, decency, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like. (Luther, 1978, p. 36)

Wisdom is trusting the LORD to provide for the house and the security of the city so that the faithful one can be free from anxiety and worry. The psalmist understands cooperating with God but the idea of securing their own future by working harder or longer is foolishness. For the psalmist God provides for the home, the community, and the family.

As briefly mentioned above there is a phonetic connection between the verses in Hebrew that is not present in English. Nancy deClaissé-Walford is again helpful in showing this:

The word translated here as children (NRSVue sons) is the Hebrew banim, whose acoustic similarity to the Hebrew word build (bana) and house (bayit) in v. 1, coupled with the polyvalent meaning of the word “house” in the Hebrew Bible, strongly connects the two stanzas of Psalm 127. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 918)

The word ‘reward’ (Hebrew sakar) also appears in Genesis 15 when God tells Abram, “your reward (sakar) shall be very great. Within this promise Abram is told to look to the heavens and count the stars…so shall his dependents be. This psalm echoes the story of Abram/Abraham when multiple sons/children are viewed as a ‘reward.’ ‘Warrior’ and ‘man’ in verses four and five are the Hebrew gibbor and its alternate form geber which is an important term often translated “mighty one”[1] which can refer to either military or economic power. Finally, the word ‘happy’ (Hebrew ‘asre) is a term frequently used in wisdom literature. This wise ‘mighty one’ whose house the LORD has built, whose city the LORD has guarded, and whose family has produced many children as a reward from God can live at peace and content because they have trusted in the LORD. The LORD who builds their household, guards them and provides for their family will not allow their enemies to put them to shame.

[1] Hebrew gibbor hehayil which can refer to physical strength or the economic strength to equip oneself and a group for combat. Ruth 4:11 uses this term for economic ability in reference to Boaz.

Psalm 124 Us and God Against the World

Psalm 124

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

¹ If it had not been the LORD who was on our side
—let Israel now say—
² if it had not been the LORD who was on our side,
when our enemies attacked us,
³ then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us;
⁴ then the flood would have swept us away;
the torrent would have gone over us;
⁵ then over us would have gone
the raging waters.

⁶ Blessed be the LORD,
who has not given us
as prey to their teeth.
⁷ We have escaped like a bird
from the snare of the hunters;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped.

⁸ Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

Bolded words have notes on translation below.

The overall meaning of the psalm should be clear to any reader: the LORD is the one who is on our side and who rescues us from the perils of the world. The theme of God as strength, support, shelter, rock, shield, fortress and many other metaphors of protection and comfort occur regularly throughout the psalms and scripture in general. The theme of this fifth song of ascent is not new, but its language (somewhat dulled in English translations) is striking. Israel would not continue to exist without the LORD. Paul’s defiant statement in his letter to the church in Rome echoes the sentiment of this psalm: “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31)

Verse one and two both begin with a statement that seems conditional in English, “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side” but as Nancy deClaissé-Walford highlights,

Verses 1 and 2 both begin with if not (lûlê), forming the protasis of vv. 1-5. Lûlê, however, is only used in Hebrew to express an unreal condition. The psalm-singers are confident that the Lord is on their side. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 907)

This psalm of corporate trust in the LORD begins and ends with a confident assurance that the God of Israel has protected the people of God against her enemies. The enemies identified in verse two is identified with the collective noun humanity(‘adam). Israel and God have all humanity arrayed in opposition to them, and without God Israel would have been overwhelmed.

The psalm then uses several images that indicate that the people of God on their own are powerless before those who oppose them. Their enemy is large enough to swallow them alive, or to sweep over the life of the people,[1] to be devoured in the mouth or captured in a trap. In verse six the word rendered teeth is the same word (lason) rendered tongue in Psalm 120:2

Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.

Compared to the hunter of fowl the people of Israel are like a bird unable to free themselves from the traps their enemies have laid. On their own Israel is small and weak before the mass of humanity arrayed against them. Yet here, as in Psalm 121, their help is in the name of the LORD who makes heaven and earth. What was a confession of individual trust in Psalm 121 is now a corporate statement of trust in the creating and protecting God. As a people they ‘go with God.’

In the United States, where I live and lead a congregation, there is a reliance on self-sufficiency that is very different from the biblical faith represented in the psalms and throughout the bible. As J. Clinton McCann, Jr. aptly writes,

To profess that God is our fundamental help means to profess that we are not sufficient to create and secure our own lives and future. In short, we need help. (NIB IV: 1191)

As people of God, we believe that God is on our side and stands with us against the enemies that threaten to consume or overwhelm us. If it were only our own strength that we could rely on we would find ourselves consumed, overwhelmed, and trapped but in our own weakness we know our help comes from the one who created the heavens and the earth.

[1] In verse 4b and 5 the “us” in the verse is the Hebrew nephesh, often rendered “soul” in English translations but in Hebrew thought it is closer to the essence of life, not something that can be separated from life. J. Clinton McCann, Jr. notes the word may have originally meant neck. (NIB IV: 1190)

Psalm 121 Vaya Con Dios

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View from Badwater Basin in Death Valley shared by photographersnature under CC 3.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley#/media/File:Badwater_Desolation.jpg

Psalm 121

¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
² My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade at your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not strike you by day
nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
⁸ The LORD will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and forevermore.

Notes on the bolded words below.

One of my favorite farewells is the Spanish ‘vaya con dios’ which means ‘go with God.’ The English Godspeed is similar, which comes from the middle English ‘God spede you’ which means ‘may God prosper you.’ This short but well-loved psalm may have originated as a song for pilgrims making the journey to mount Zion to worship. The departing pilgrim receives a blessing from the one wishing God’s guarding presence upon the pilgrim. It may have originated as a ‘farewell liturgy’ as James Limburg identified this psalm, (NIB IV: 1180) but for many faithful people this has become a psalm of trust which encompasses the entire life of the faithful one guarded by the God who is both personally available and cosmically powerful.

The first two verses of the psalm are spoken by the pilgrim and is spoken in first person. The individual looks to the surrounding landscape to the hills, and likely to the destination of Zion, but their help for through the dangers of the coming journey do not come from the hills but from the LORD. The LORD is both ‘my help,’ one who is personally concerned for the fate of this pilgrim departing on the journey but also ‘the LORD who made heaven and earth.’ In a common duality seen in scripture God is both powerful and attentive, over all things and concerned about the life of the faithful one who places their life in God’s hand.

In verse three the voice now shifts to the one remaining behind as the pronouns are now second person. Within the final eight verses the word rendered ‘keep’ or ‘keeper’ in the NRSVue is the Hebrew samar. The Hebrew samar is a more active concept than ‘keep’ and has the active sense of guarding and watching over. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, pp. 895-897) Within the movement of the psalm the God who guards will not slumber during his time of protecting and watching over the pilgrim. The LORD guards Israel and the LORD will guard the faithful one. The language continues and intensifies as the LORD guards and provides a shade (Hebrew sel) for the pilgrim. The word for shade (sel) is often used in the psalter in the phrase ‘the shelter (sel) of you wings’ and may reference the image of God extending God’s wing or cloak in protection and shelter in the journey through the wilderness. The sun and moon have sometimes been thought of mythologically as forces which oppose the pilgrim’s journey but this is not necessary for the psalm for a journey through desert on the journey to Jerusalem (or any other destination).

In the Lord’s prayer the petition ‘and deliver us from evil (or the evil one)’ taps into a consistent theme with the LORD guarding the pilgrim from evil and guarding their life. In a common Hebrew merism[1] the LORD watches over the totality of the pilgrim’s journey, their departures and their returning home for this journey and their entire life.

Psalm 121 has a rich use in the worship life of the church, and it is frequently used with both baptismal liturgies and funeral services. The psalm’s use in these two moments that form the bookends of the Christian life nicely encompass the belief that God guards the person of faith throughout the totality of their life. Martin Luther would have parents teach their children to “fear, love, and trust God above all things.” This psalm echoes the trustworthiness of the God who guards the life of the faithful one. It is a blessing for the entirety of the journeys of life as people of faith go with God. Our entire life is guarded and sheltered by the God who is both personally available and cosmically powerful.

[1] A merism is a literary device which denote the totality or completeness of something.

Psalm 115 Trusting God Above All Things

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The Parable of the Talents, depicted by artist Andrei Mironov. Oil on canvas, 2013 Shared under CC-SA 4.0 http://artmiro.ru/blog/creative_commons/2015-07-04-244

Psalm 115

¹ Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.

² Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

³ Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases.

⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

⁵ They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.

⁶ They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.

⁷ They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; they make no sound in their throats.

⁸ Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.

⁹ O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.

¹⁰ O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.

¹¹ You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.

¹² The LORD has been mindful of us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron;

¹³ he will bless those who fear the LORD, both small and great.

¹⁴ May the LORD give you increase, both you and your children.

¹⁵ May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

¹⁶ The heavens are the LORD’s heavens, but the earth he has given to human beings.

¹⁷ The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any that go down into silence.

¹⁸ But we will bless the LORD from this time on and forevermore. Praise the LORD!

Martin Luther when talking about the first commandment explained the commandment on having no other gods by stating, “We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things.” Psalm 111 ended with “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” Now Psalm 115 centers on trusting the LORD. Chris Tomlin’s contemporary Christian song “Not to us” takes the first verse of this song and constructs a song around the first half of the verse, but if we were to construct a modern song based on the central idea of this psalm it would use verses nine through eleven as the chorus. Structurally this psalm centers on the call for Israel, the house of Aaron, and those who fear the LORD to trust the LORD who will help and protect them.

The psalm begins with a call for the name of the LORD to be given its proper glory, honor, and respect. On the one hand, this does reflect the proper posture of humility for the worshipper of the LORD and calling on the actions of God and the actions of the worshipping community to be solely for God’s glory. On the other hand, throughout the Hebrew Scriptures when the people call upon God to act for the sake of God’s name they have frequently been unfaithful and unworthy of God’s redemption and rescue. The argument is frequently made by the people that the disaster that has come upon them has brought dishonor to the reputation of God. The psalmist knows that the LORD is a God of steadfast love (hesed) and faithfulness. Yet the nations look at Israel and wonder where is their God? They may be looking upon the disaster that has occurred among the people and wonder if the LORD is absent or impotent. The psalmist protests that God is able to do whatever God pleases and that God rules from the heavens and unlike their neighbors in Canaan or Babylon they do not need, nor are they allowed to create, images of silver or gold.

The faith of Israel was centered on the God who forbade the constructions of images that would attempt to capture the image of God. The mocking of idols here resonates with Isaiah’s taunts in Isaiah 44: 9-20 which come from the time of the Babylonian exile. The faith of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim creates a worship space that looks very different from many other religions. My congregation sits next to a large Hindu temple and their worship space is configured around the images that are central to their practice. The world of both Canaan and Babylon (and oftentimes the practice inside Israel and Judah) were filled with alternative ‘gods’ and alternative ways of worship and practice. These practices of worshipping other gods also led to a different way of relating to the world and the neighbor. For the Jewish people their faith was a faith tied to the law (Torah) which envisioned a very different society than most societies we are aware of in the ancient world.

The polemic against idols is, as James Mays reminds us, “to chastise and correct the congregation itself in support of the first and second commandment.” (Mays, 1994, p. 367) The congregation of Israel was to focus on its own practices and be an example for the nations. Yet, Israel just like people of faith of all times struggled to trust in the LORD above all things. The psalm takes the people back to the heart of their faith, trusting the LORD who helps and protects them. There will always been temptations to trust in one’s acquired wealth, work, alliances, connections, or physical or military strength. Israel was never a world power with a large enough military to stand against the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, or Roman empires in their times. Throughout their history they were looked upon as an oddity. Both Jews and early Christians were sometimes viewed as atheists because they had no images for their God and they refrained from the practices of their neighbors to attempt to remain faithful to their God.

The heavens are the LORD’s but the earth has been given as a gift to human beings. One of the aspects of biblical faith is the understanding of the earth and our place within it as a gift. The God who created the earth continues to provide for not only the faithful ones but all the people and creatures of the earth. Those who fear the LORD know trust that they will experience God’s blessing of provision in both their fields and their families.

The psalm closes with the note that the dead do not praise the LORD. Throughout most of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) there is no view of the dead going to heaven or hell. When a place of the dead is mentioned, it is often utilized to bargain with God because the dead cannot praise God.[1] The focus of the Hebrew Scriptures is on life being lived in covenant with God and trusting that God will provide for that life.

This psalm is about trust and praise being directed toward the God of Israel. From the perspective of the scriptures this is the way of a wise life. Those who follow idols and their ways are foolish. It is a call for those who have directed their trust and praise elsewhere to repent and return to the path of wisdom. Idols do not need to be the creations of gold and silver that the psalmist references. In the United States we are taught in multiple ways to ensure our security through wealth, power, fame, education, and work. None of these things are evil, but when our trust relies on these things instead of the LORD our faith is misplaced. The psalm shares a similar concern with Joshua at the end of his time leading the people where he challenges the people to choose which path and which gods they will follow. “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15) was Joshua’s challenge which the people answered that they also would serve the LORD. The people of Israel as well as the church continually has to remind itself that serving the LORD is very different from the alternative visions of faith present in the world. The psalm reminds me that we are to fear, love, and trust God above all things.

[1] See also Psalm 6:5.

Sign of the Rose

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