‘If the psalm prays, you pray; if it laments, you lament; if it exults, you rejoice; if it hopes, you hope; if it fears, you fear. Everything written here is a mirror for us’ said Saint Augustine. The Book of Psalms is an almost all-embracing reflection of the complexities of human life. The problem is that in negotiating this world, many preachers and writers have flattened it. That is not an unusual strategy, of course. Gerardus Mercator did exactly that to our own planet in 1569 and produced the world map with which we are most familiar.
Western European countries, including his own (Netherlands), were rapidly colonising Africa and America, but too often sailors would get lost en route. Mercator flattened the globe to make navigation easier. The problem, though, is that his map does not accurately reflect the size of countries. I think over the years we have done something similar with the psalms. Before we begin to think about how to use them in turbulent times, let’s think about how our reading of them has been simplified.
Sympathy and Strength
I have spent the last thirteen years helping to train people for ministry – lay and ordained. The flattened map of the psalms that many carry with them highlights the uplands of sympathy and strength. Psalm 23, the most well-known of all psalms, assures the troubled that the Lord is their shepherd; Psalm 139 lets those who feel unloved know that God knew them and formed them from the beginning; Psalm 30 asks the Lord for help. Psalm 91 is offered to the weak as encouragement to be strong. Here already is a significant problem. Is it right to encourage everyone to believe that they need not fear the pestilence or the terror of the night, when it is quite clear that one or other of them is very close? Carelessly used, the psalms can feel like broomsticks being used to beat those in distress. Yet used wisely, the psalms can be faith-building. What words could be more comforting than these from Psalm 91 (NRSV), ‘those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble; I will rescue them and honour them. With long life I will satisfy them and show them my salvation’?
