Psalm 8: 1-4

Text
O thou Presence, our guide, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, which hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, as the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, What is humanity that thou are mindful of them? And the child of humanity, that thou visitest?

Text Notes

• The KJV1611 differentiates two different Hebrew words in the first verse by capitalizing one of them, YHWH. In the Psalms for Meditation, the K-JIV distinguishes the two by using "Presence" and "guide".
• Likewise, the older phrase "son of man" is here "child of humanity".

Reflection
Babes and sucklings are one of the best witnesses to the glory of this connecting Presence in creation. In the presence of an infant, even a robust one (!), I feel stillness. The Psalmist's use of anthropological language, as in "thy fingers", brings intimacy to the sense of divine love and power in creation and within my soul.

Psalm 7: 12-17

Text
If wickedness turn not, thou wilt whet thy sword. Thou hast bent thy bow and made it ready! Thou hast also prepared the instruments of the death of wickedness. Thou ordainest thine arrows against the persecuting spirit. Behold the way of evil: they travail with iniquity, and conceive mischief, and bring forth falsehood. They made a pit and dug it, and are fallen into the ditch which they made. Their mischief shall return upon their own head, and their violent dealing shall come down upon their own pate. I will celebrate thee, O inward guide, according to thy rightness, and will sing and celebrate to thy name most high!

Text Notes

• The abstract word "wickedness" continues to be the focus in these psalms for meditation. It is the death of the principle of wickedness that is in view.
• Similarly, it is the "persecuting spirit" that our inner light struggles against in our lives.

Reflection
To engage in warfare is important! The battle rages within. Should I capitulate to sectarian impulses? Should I spread hate speech? The Psalmist says that we all, in effect, get pregnant. In the language above, we conceive, we travail, and we bring forth! What will I be pregnant with? Self destructive thoughts? Or plans of inclusive justice? May I, indeed, celebrate the best within me, thou inward light!

Psalm 7: 9-11

Text
Oh let the wickedness of our ways come to an end, but establish justice! For the right-living, divinity trieth the hearts and emotions. My defense is from divinity which maketh whole the upright in heart. Yea, divinity judgeth the right! But, is divinity angry with the presence of wickedness every day? If wickedness turn not, thou wilt whet thy sword. Thou hast bent thy bow and made it ready. Thou hast also prepared the instruments of the death of wickedness, thou ordainest thy arrows against the persecuting spirit.

Text Notes

• In these meditative psalms, "wicked" (in the 1611KJV) is "wickedness", an abstract quality within us rather than "the other".
• And, the Psalms for Meditation understand the Psalmist to be asking, "is divinity angry" rather than stating"God is angry" as in the KJV1611. It is a question to sit with in our meditation of our divine center.

Reflection
In our text above, the opposite of wickedness is justice. What is my role in furthering justice in this society? Yes, I am made whole in divinity, but not as an end in itself. I want to be able to say with the Psalmist: wholeness leads to working for the death of wickedness, injustice, around me. The persecuting spirit must perish.

Pslam 7: 1-8

Text
O guide my divinity, in thee do I put my trust, make me whole from all those who persecute me, and deliver me. Lest they tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver. O guide my divinity, if I have done this, if there be iniquity in my hands, if I have rewarded evil unto one who was at peace with me (yea, I have delivered a person who without cause is mine enemy), then shall the enemy within persecute my soul, and take it! Yea, it shall tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honor in the dust. Selah. Arise, O guide, in all this anger, lift up thyself from amidst the rage of my struggles. And awake for me to the judgement that thou hast commanded. So shall the gathering of the people encompass thee about, for their sakes therefore return thou on high. The divine center shall judge within people. Judge me, O my guide, according to my rightness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.

Text Notes

• The word "within" is added twice in the passage above, as elsewhere in the Psalms for Meditation, to clarify the nature of the internal struggle.
• Thus "enemy within" as well as "judge within" (specifying the location of judgment).
• Where the 1611KJV has "thine anger", the K-JIV is less anthropomorphic with "all this anger".

Reflection
Real righteousness ('rightness') is not tribalistic, not used to demean others. Too often my sense of offended justice focuses on the faults of someone else. Rather than only rage at perceived injustice, I need the judgment of this divine center within. In that way I can learn to act from my own integrity!

Psalm 6: 6-10

Text
I am weary with my groaning, all the night I make my bed to swim, I water my couch with my tears. Mine eye is consumed because of grief, it waxeth old because of all mine enemies within. Depart from me all you works of iniquity, for the guide hath heard the voice of my weeping. The guide hath heard my supplication, Love will receive my prayer. Let all these enemy thoughts be ashamed and sore vexed, let them return and be ashamed suddenly.

Text Notes

• The phrase "enemies within" makes explicit that, in personal meditation, our primary enemies are within us.
• "Love" is used occasionally as a translation of YHWH in Psalms for Meditation. This is at least as accurate as using an Anglo-Saxon title of nobility ("Lord").

Reflection
In my experience, the normal struggles of life have been made much worse by fundamentalist religion. When religion falsely amplifies feelings of guilit or anger, then it is destructive and punishing. Allowing all of this simply to "depart" (as in the text above) is the best solution. True religion and true prayer are a joy! Enemy thoughts return whence they came and I am free to live in Love's presence.

Psalm 6: 1-5

Text
Dost thou rebuke me in anger? Or chasten me in hot displeasure? Thou hast mercy upon me even when I am weak. O guide, heal me for my bones are vexed. My soul is also sore vexed, but thou, O guide, how long? Return thou, deliver my soul, oh make me whole for thy mercies' sake. For in death there is no remembrance of thee, in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

Text Notes

• Here again is another example of how, in the Psalms for Meditation, context determines whether a sentence is a question or a statement.
• Thus the first verse above consists of two questions which are then answered in the next line: "Thou hast mercy..."

Reflection
I join with the Psalmist in questions about anger. And, I join in the affirmation of mercy as well! Often the cause of my outward affliction is my inward turmoil. That is, my bones are "vexed" because my soul seems "sore vexed"! But, life feels very full and rich when I am "whole", in right relationship with the light and with others.

Psalm 5: 8-12

Text
Lead me, O guide, in thy rightness because of mine enemies, make thy way straight before my face. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth, their inward part is very wickedness, their throat is an open sepulcher, they flatter with their tongue. They destroy themselves, O divinity, they fall by their own counsels. They are cast out in the multitude of their own transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee. But let all those who put their trust in thee rejoice, let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them. Let them also who love thy name be joyful in thee. For thou wilt bless the right, with favor wilt thou encompass as with a shield.

Text Notes

• As noted earlier the wonderful word "righteousness" has accumulated some theological baggage over the centuries. In Psalms for Meditation "rightness" is typically used to convey the original sense.

Reflection
Self destructive behavior is again noticed in this text. It is characterized by a lack of faithfulness and by flattery. Perhaps one of our greatest temptations is to be less than genuine. To be a fake is to transgress. To trust our inward light and be real: that is something to love and shout about!