Читать книгу Reflections on the Psalms - Steven Croft - Страница 17

O Lord, rebuke me not in your wrath;neither chasten me in your fierce anger.

‘Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak’ (v.2)

To read this psalm is to go against the flow of our culture. These days we are continually pressed to boast of how well we are, how well we cope, how fit, how rejuvenated, how much improved by our current diet or exercise regime. We are even tempted to tweak our Facebook pics to prove it. The psalmist does just the opposite. He is frank about the fact that he is not a ‘well’ man. Indeed the confession ‘I am weak’ is followed by: I am ‘weary … wasted … worn away’ (vv.6,7). In some ways it’s a relief to be able to say that, to be licensed by our liturgy to make that confession, and to make it in good company. For if the psalmist suffers and feels cut off and rebuked at the opening of the psalm, by verse 8 he knows that in spite of his weakness, he has got through to God. If he has, then so have I, who take his words on my lips and make them mine.

And what of these enemies, put to shame and confusion? Whoever his enemies were, ours are just those voices in our culture that want to shame us with our weakness, that only credit the young, the fit and the strong. Here God rebukes those voices and turns them back, so that we need never feel ashamed of our weakness with him, but rather bring it swiftly and simply to his mercy.

Reflection by Malcolm Guite

Refrain:

Turn again, O Lord, and deliver my soul.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ,

may the tears shed in your earthly life

be balm for all who weep,

and may the prayers of your pilgrimage

give strength to all who suffer;

for your mercy’s sake.