LHC Midday Word: PSALM Eighty Three

A song. A psalm of Asaph.

O God, do not remain silent;

do not turn a deaf ear,

do not stand aloof, O God.

See how your enemies growl,

how your foes rear their heads.

With cunning they conspire against your people;

they plot against those you cherish.

‘Come,’ they say, ‘let us destroy them as a nation,

so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.’

With one mind they plot together;

they form an alliance against you –

the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

of Moab and the Hagrites,

Byblos, Ammon and Amalek,

Philistia, with the people of Tyre.

Even Assyria has joined them

to reinforce Lot’s descendants.

Do to them as you did to Midian,

as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the River Kishon,

who perished at Endor

and became like dung on the ground.

Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,

all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

who said, ‘Let us take possession

of the pasture-lands of God.’

Make them like tumble-weed, my God,

like chaff before the wind.

As fire consumes the forest

or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

so pursue them with your tempest

and terrify them with your storm.

Cover their faces with shame, Lord,

so that they will seek your name.

May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;

may they perish in disgrace.

Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord –

that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

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Word by Word Meditations

by Fred Ursell

Psalm 83: “tumbleweed” (v.13)

This is the final Psalm in the group of 11 written by Asaph. His cry, which epitomises our own in many a difficult predicament, is for God to intervene, “do not keep silent, be not quiet … be not still” (v.1).

We’ve all been there, and it’s not easy to feel positive. We just want something to happen that will remove the problem we’re facing. Asaph wants it all to ‘blow away’: “make them like tumbleweed … like chaff before the wind” (v.13).

It reminds me of desolate landscapes in Westerns, or of the classic Humphrey Bogart film ‘Treasure of the Sierra Madre.’

Is it too farfetched? Can God act in such a way?

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READINGS

PSALM 83

Read by Sir David Suchet