£±. Be calm despite difficulties

We are reading the book of Psalm in accordance with the Bible study program and today¡Çs reading part is 62. The poem has the caption, ¡È For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.¡É Jeduthun is a Levite and one of the three masters of music appointed by David.*1 It means merely that the choir sang a melody composed by Jeduthun without indication about the contents of the lyrics. For that reason it is difficult to guess the writing time. At least, it is well known as a poem which teaches faithful persons how to conduct when they face the evil of the world. It begins this way; - My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.(Psalm 62:1-2)

The poet says that his soul finds rest in God alone because the salvation comes from God. However, it doesn¡Çt mean inertness or passive resignation. The poet is under harsh situations as following verses imply ; - How long will you assault a man? Would all of you throw him down— this leaning wall, this tottering fence? They fully intend to topple him from his lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse. (Psalm 62:3-4)

¡ÈA man¡É should be the poet and ¡È you¡É and ¡Èthey¡É indicate his colleagues or neighbors. If we receive similar aggressions from familiar persons it must be more painful than from simple acquaintances. It might be the case for him. They suddenly turned into enemies and are trying to throw him down from a lofty place, like a leaning wall or tottering fence. They might even intend to kill him. Nevertheless they still pretend to be friendly by blessing him with mouths to conceal cursing hearts.

The poet could have blamed severely their hypocrisy but he prays God instead. Then the prayer calms his heart which was upset and full of anger. That way, he trusts himself to God with serene mind. The verses are his witness to God. Then he continues ; - Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.(Psalm 62:5-6)

He won¡Çt be shaken because he can keep hope thanks to the faith in God. Therefore he has no fear of the future ; - My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.(Psalm 62:7-8)

¡ÈPour out your hearts to him¡É means to trust one¡Çs existence entirely to God. God sees exactly what you are and judges you fairly. When you accept the judgement of God, the path to the life opens before you. Human efforts and powers are worthless, which can give any tangible result. The poet teaches us so.

For ; - Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath. Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.(Psalm 62:9-10)

All human beings came from the dust of the ground (adama) so that they are called ¡ÈBen Adam¡É(see Genesis 2:7) *2. Such existences are nothing but a breath or a lie. They are never willing to do something for others¡Ç sake. The poet knows well that he must not rely on powerless egoists, or humans. Therefore he trusts only in God. ¡ÈBut and alone - (גרדא (ak) in Hebrew)¡É is repeated several times in this short poem : rest in God alone, He alone , in God alone , He alone is my rock. It is the key word which emphasizes the strength of his faith. And the last verses are the essence of the poem ; - One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done.(Psalm 62:11-12)

When we believing sincerely, ¡ÈGod is strong and is loving,¡É we arrive to have the serenity in God who is the power and mercy. In contrast, when we try to struggle with emergencies by relying on human efforts alone, we forget the ruling power of God. Now the poet push us to face the question, ¡ÈWhich way must we choose to live?¡É

*1 Jeduthun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeduthun
*2 Ben Adam (human being) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Adam

2. Placing Psalm 62 in the current contexts

The poet of Psalm 62 says not to rely on human powers and not to be involved in earthy competitions. Besides, he tells that even if enemies resort to aggressions, you must ignore those provocations. The essence of his wisdom is reflected in Paul¡Çs letter to the church of Rome. ; - Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ¡ÈIt is mine to avenge; I will repay,"says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.¡É Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.(Romans 12:19-21)

Paul teaches ¡ÈLeave room for God’s wrath, for it is written ¡ÆIt is mine to avenge,¡Ç¡É because God is the ruler of the whole universe. Therefor the poet of Psalm 62 tells us to trust our entity to God alone. Nonetheless humans yield very often to the impulse of taking human revenge. The reaction of US to September 11 attacks, which ignored the lesson, shows us a catastrophic example of the result.

I presented before the book ¡ÈPrayers from Ground Zero¡É by James R. McGraw*1. The book is the compilation of prayers given in John Street Church just after the attacks on the Twin Tower. The church finds in the same blocks of the building and the site itself is now called ¡ÈGround Zero.¡É The special prayer meetings were hold from the 16 September for 10 weeks in John Street Church. At that time many of victims were still under debris. The electricity of the blocks were not yet restored so that attendants of the meetings observed worship services in light of candles.

All participants should understand that the same tragedy as in Hiroshima or in Berlin happened to American people. They sorrowed and prayed God for souls of victims. I try to extract the essence of prayers:
— The cries for the revenge come from the destructed place till the altar. They claim a law which legalizes retaliative acts ¡Ä But we must pray and remain faithful to Jesus. Jesus taught us to love enemies and pray for our offenders. —

Nonetheless, the nest week the star and stripes covered all over the town and numerous Muslims were arrested on the suspicion of assistance to terrorists. On that background, the President of US gave a speech to American citizens ¡È Those who won¡Çt demonstrate the loyalty to the country must be our enemies.¡É But, in parallel, the church continued to pray for the peace. They prayed that the God would send them the breath of the Holy Spirit to turn wrath and desire of revenge into the aspiration to the peace. Thus they called on God to change the belligerent tendency.

Nevertheless, retaliative attacks against terrorists were carried out. American air forces raided Afghanistan which was considered to be a home base of terrorists led by Osama Ben Ladin. But the christians prayed that God for the Holy Spirit who must fill American citizens with compassion and love for all humans, regardless of religions, including Afghan children, women and men.

Though the majority of Americans were furious and vindictive against terrorists, the christians in the church prayed for all of them. Because Jesus Christ laid down his life to save all humans, without exception. Any deadly bombardments must not please God. Those christians knew that the decision of the country was wrong. Therefor they prayed that God would change these hostile acts into the good.

But American army intensified attacks and, besides, began to raid Iran too. So, were the prayers powerless? Numerous American soldiers were killed and the war seems deadlocked. US is culminating military expenses, which is making American economy decline. Now US armies seek how to retreat from battling fields under critical situations. US will recognize the cost of the revenge. They must listen to Psalm 62 now. ;- Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. They could have remained serene in God.

Now, many christians commence again to pray from the Ground Zero to show that prayers are not at all powerless. I¡Çm sure that they will realize the power of prayers. After all, the church must achieve the task of being ¡Èthe salt of the earth, the light of the world.¡É

*1 Prayers from Ground Zero, by James R. McGraw ISBN 1890569518, 9781890569518
Publisher General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church, 2001

3. Be serene in God

Todays¡Ç invocation verse is Isaiah 30:15 ; - This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: ¡ÈIn repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.¡É

In 701 BC, Assyria sieged Jerusalem with crushing military forces and made the kingdom Judah surrender. At that time, Assyrian generals mocked God of Israel ; - “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them: the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?"(2 Kings 19:10-13)

Naturally the Jewish people were upset strongly by the insult and Isaiah said them today¡Çs invocation verse. However, God acted ; - That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.(2 Kings 19:35-36)

Herodotus, a Greek historian of the 5th century BC, described the siege in his famous work ¡ÈThe Histories.¡É And today¡Çs scholar William H. McNeill analyzed the wiring of Herodotus and speculated that the accounts of mass death among the Assyrian army might be due to an outbreak of cholera or other water-borne diseases.
Respecting Isaiah¡Çs words, Hezekiah rested quiet in God and his kingdom was saved. Then Assyria lost the dominating power afterwards and Babylon took over the hegemony and tried to subdue Judah in its turn. At that time, prophet Jeremiah taught that Babylon was a whip of God and if the Jewish people accepted Babylonians as rulers, the kingdom could survive. Nonetheless, Jehoiakim, the king of the time, chose another policy which seemed to him more pragmatic and advantageous to the nation. He intended to fight against Babylonians with supports of Egyptian army. In other words, Jehoiakim thought that tangible human forces would prevail invisible God¡Çs power. Thus he made a big mistake. Judah was defeated by Babylonians. Egyptian troops retreated before Babylonian overpowering forces. Egyptians were not willing to save Judah at high expenses of their own army. US¡Ç stance toward Japan must be the same. The event in ancient history teaches us that we must now mull over Japanese self-defense systems to protect our own country .

The Bible tells stories which happened in the ancient world. But it embraces accounts of us who live in the 21st century. Because God is eternal and always acting. The defeated people prayed ; - Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless.(Psalm 60:11)

¡ÈThe help of man is worthless,¡É as the poet of Psalm 62 repeats, ¡ÈMy soul finds rest in God alone¡É and ¡ÈHe alone is my rock and my salvation.¡É We face sometimes harsh conditions, for example, collapse of a lifelong business, betrayal of trusted friends, desperately jobless situation or life-threatening illness. Under those circumstances, we must learn to be serene in God. Psalm 62 teaches us that such an attitude is very important for us. Because it opens a new path before us, the path which leads us to the authentic faith.

*Siege¡¡of Jerusalem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_Siege_of_Jerusalem#Herodotus.27_account