Psalms 12-14

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POST IV OF LX

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The Book of Common Prayer (1979) includes a plan for reading the Book of Psalms in morning and evening installments for 30 days.  I am therefore blogging through the Psalms in 60 posts.

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 226

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In TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985), the fool of Psalms 14 and 53 tells himself that God does not care, not that, according to most English-language translations,

God does not care.

The real issue is not theoretical atheism, but practical atheism.  God is real and active, the author of Psalm 14 affirms.  God cares, the Psalmist argues.  God must care, for caring is part of the divine character, as the Bible depicts God.  YHWH, according to the Torah, cares deeply–even jealously–and experiences mood swings.  The YHWH of the Torah is a passionate character.

This I know from reading and thinking.  So what do I make of the sense, recurring frequently in the Book of Psalms, that God is distant at times?  I know the feeling of divine distance as well as that of proximity.  I do not pretend to possess answers I lack, so I will not afflict you, O reader, with easy and false answers to difficult questions.  I can tell you, O reader, at least one truth, however:  I have felt the closest to God during my darkest hours.  Perhaps the reason for this is that a light on at all times shines brightest in the darkness.  Or maybe it is true that God drew nearer to me when I needed more grace.

As for the other questions–the ones I cannot and therefore will not answer–I ask them of God, of whose character caring is a crucial component.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 31, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA, FOUNDER OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS

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