23 February 2025 Psalm 70
O God, make haste to my rescue,
Lord, come to my aid!
Let there be shame and confusion
on those who seek my life.
O let them turn back in confusion,
who delight in my harm,
let them retreat, covered with shame,
who jeer at my lot.
Let there be rejoicing and gladness
for all who seek you.
Let them say for ever: “God is great,”
who love your saving help.
As for me, wretched and poor,
come to me, O God.
You are my rescuer, my help,
O Lord, do not delay.
Reflection
Whatever is going on, it isn’t good. A Bible I’m looking at entitles this as a ‘Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies.’ Plenty of enemies could have been looming. If these words sit within the context of nation and palace it could be the threatening approach of invading armies, the fears for a capital under siege. Maybe it was a more personal threat: rivals plotting, whispers undermining, jealousies and revenge circling. Perhaps some mistake or failure has been met with derision and cruel judgement.
The power of the Psalms is that they are simultaneously windows on a world long gone and into our own souls. Invading armies, plotting rivals and a thirst for revenge are all too familiar for many today as you read this. Add in some of the other damage that sticks around us and these words linger, don’t they? The diagnosis that turns a normal day into a catastrophe. The argument that leaves a bitter taste. The loss that overwhelms us. Anger and hurt we cannot duck or distance ourselves from. Failures and mistakes that keep on hurting. Enemies all, maybe.
The psalmist responds in this prayer in ways worth noticing. The overarching mood begins as desperation. This prayer is pleading for God to act, to do something, to help somehow. We’ll have prayed such a prayer I think. We’ll have prayed it with and for others too. We need to keep doing so, letting our agonies find voice in our praying. Then comes a shift. Now the focus is upon the threat, and the plea is that the threat be undone through retreat and confusion. We can pray this too. Asking that transformation comes and that what strikes fear might be overwhelmed. Now we shift again, and find ourselves praying in thankfulness that God is rescuer even if we don’t feel much stronger. Sometimes, just holding on is enough.
In the life we live and share with others, these moods, and shifts and the prayers they provoke, matter.
Prayer
Living God,
hear us as we pray
from the heart of our lives.
Hear the truth in us;
the fears and confusion,
the faith and confidence.
Hear, and have mercy.
Hold us when all is shaking.
Strengthen us in weakness.
Guide us when everything is unclear.
Restore us when hope shatters.
Work your ways with us, around us and within us.
Be God for us today,
as for ever.
Amen.