Читать книгу The Psalms - Herbert O'Driscoll - Страница 24

Psalm 17

Keep me as the apple of your eye;

hide me under the shadow of your wings.

as we read some of the psalms, we find ourselves searching for a contemporary equivalent to the world in which the psalmist lives. His society is one where stark lines are drawn. The psalmist feels there are those who are for him and those who are implacably against him. We search in vain for any middle ground.

For the psalmist there are “his people” and “the others.” For those others, no word or phrase is too harsh. They are “the wicked who assault me.” They are “deadly enemies who surround me.” They speak “proud things.” (We can assume that “proud” means arrogant.) They are “greedy for … prey,” and they are “lurking in secret places.” Their “portion in life [all they think about] is this world.”

Allowing for the fact that not one of us is without those who dislike us, sometimes intensely; allowing that everyone of us may sometimes have bitter rivals, even enemies—it remains true that there are few times in life when we would be prepared to describe our situation in the siege terms the psalmist uses.

One cannot help but detect a strong streak of envy against those who have obviously prospered. Are these people unscrupulous, and do they therefore merit the psalmist’s condemnation? Is their prospering and having children and leaving them well off reprehensible in itself (verse 15)?

Are we listening to a personality who needs to project a dark shadow on to others, so that he himself can be one whose prayer “does not come from lying lips,” who offers a confident “plea of innocence” and can say “I give no offence with my mouth as others do; I have heeded the words of [God’s] lips?”

In this psalm we may be hearing a self-justifying approach to God, the kind that Jesus sternly dismisses in his parable of the two people in the temple. One person informs God of his utter righteousness when compared with others; the other person offers himself without the least illusion about the poverty of his spiritual state.

Our Lord makes it quite clear that a simple plea for acceptance and forgiveness is infinitely superior to a recital of the sins of those around us.

We are often tempted to blame our unpleasant experiences on others. In the event, we need to ask ourselves if we are entirely without fault. Ask God to help us be honest with ourselves, understanding toward others, and courageous in the face of evil.