Psalm 5: Falling by Their Own Devices

READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS

PART V

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Psalm 5

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Psalm 4, assumed to be an evening prayer, precedes Psalm 5, a prayer at the morning sacrifice.  The placement of Psalm 5 is, therefore, logical.

Psalm 5, which resembles a temple liturgy, asserts the piety and innocence of the psalmist.  The psalmist has enemies–wicked people–who are also Jews.  Nominal membership in a religious community does not make one devout, regardless of the name and theology of that religious community.  The psalmist regards God as an attentive monarch who protects the loyal subjects from their foes.  Those foes condemn themselves by their actions.

I am no stranger to congregational politics.  The smaller and more internecine the congregation is, the more venomous the political backstabbing is.  Temporal perspective tells me that alleged villains sometimes have legitimate grievances and that alleged victims sometimes bring their fates upon themselves.  Partial knowledge, colored by the heat of the moment, clouds perception.  Nevertheless, I, as an erstwhile United Methodist “preacher’s kid,” recall complicated truths.  My father did cause most of the moves, which were unnecessary.  Nevertheless, I recall that certain members of these churches had been complicit in moving a string of previous pastors.  Congregations frequently harbor pathological and predatory personalities in the pews or chairs.

The congregation I joined in 2021 divided bitterly in 2012.  The Episcopal Bishop of Georgia removed the rector, who had founded a rival, schismatic congregation in town.  This rector, a tyrannical and spiritually predatory priest, had previously prompted a petition for his removal.  The schismatic congregation eventually ousted him when he had driven away too many members of that church and endangered its feasibility.

Condemn them, O God;

let them fall by their own devices….

–Psalm 5:11a, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985, 1999)

If we act in a certain way, we will all fall by our own devices.  Our chickens will come home to roost.  We will reap what we have sown.  We may sow in ignorance or delusion.  In which mental state will we reap?

May we, by grace, sow according to God’s design.  An easy path in life is not a guarantee.  Neither is prosperity.  But being on God’s side is better than not being on God’s side.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 11, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF EL MOZOTE, EL SALVADOR, DECEMBER 11-12, 1981

THE FEAST OF HOWARD CHANDLER ROBBINS, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, AND HYMN TUNE COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF SAINT KAZIMIERZ TOMAS SYKULSKI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1942

THE FEAST OF LARS OLSEN SKREFSRUD, HANS PETER BOERRSEN, AND PAUL OLAF BODDING, LUTHERAN MISSIONARIES IN INDIA

THE FEAST OF LUKE OF PRAGUE AND JOHN AUGUSTA, MORAVIAN BISHOPS AND HYMN WRITERS

THE FEAST OF SEVERIN OTT, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

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