on them. In this light he is able to do more than simply assert that God is good; he is able to give thanks (v.17). From his dark situation has emerged the virtue of gratitude. This is a virtue that begins with choosing to see a situation as a gift, and that then has a knock-on effect on how we act and feel: the ability to make music (v.17) is a sign that the dark mood is lifting.
Reflection by Joanna Collicutt
Refrain:
Give judgement for me
according to my righteousness, O Lord.
Prayer:
Lord, your justice turns evil on itself:
move us to examine our hearts
and repent of all duplicity;
for the sake of Jesus Christ,
our Judge and righteous Saviour.
Psalm 8
O Lord our governor,how glorious is your name in all the world!
‘… praised out of the mouths of babes’ (v.2)
Astronomy was a brand new science when this psalm was written. In Babylon, astronomers were beginning to map the sky, and they already had tables accurately predicting lunar eclipses. However, they had no concept whatever of the vast numbers and distances that we know are involved, now that present-day astronomers can turn their gamma-ray telescopes toward the void. To the believer, then as now, gazing upward results in awe at the majesty of God and his love for humanity (vv.4-5). To the sceptic, it affirms the impossibility of a Creator being responsible for such an insignificant thing as human life on planet Earth.
However, regardless of whether the scale of the cosmos strengthens a belief in God or does the opposite, there is someone whose thoughts are even more powerful than a psalmist or a scientist. That is a baby. A baby doesn’t attempt to explain God, nor measure him, nor reject him. A baby just wonders (v.2).
Nobody – not even the world’s most aggressive atheist – would tell an infant that it’s ridiculous to be in awe of what is just a random evolutionary blip in the great godless progress of the cosmos. Instead, a child is encouraged to marvel.
Baby one; atheist nil.
Psalm 8 is a reminder that a little more childish astonishment would be good for us all from time to time.
Reflection by Peter Graystone
Refrain:
O Lord our governor,
how glorious is your name in all the world!
Prayer:
We bless you, master of the heavens,
for the wonderful order which enfolds this world;
grant that your whole creation
may find fulfilment in the Son of Man,
Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Psalm 9
I will give thanks to you, Lord, with my whole heart;I will tell of all your marvellous works.
‘… let not mortals have the upper hand’ (v.19)
All is well, it seems at first. The psalmist’s enemies have been defeated. The wicked have been destroyed. God is to be praised, his miraculous deeds recalled and recounted.
But then the tone changes. ‘Have mercy on me,’ the psalmist pleads. What we have read so far has been more a statement of faith than an account of experience. It has told us what ought to be true.
Believing in God while living in God’s world can be a frustrating experience. There is too much that is wrong with the world. It gives unbelievers a rod to beat us with. If there is a god, why does he not sort the world out? In particular, why do good people suffer and the wicked get away with it? And why does this happen on a global as well as an individual scale? There are too many dictatorships, too many places where people live in unnecessary poverty, too many of our sisters and brothers displaced from their homes and living in fear.
When we do not know how to pray for them, the psalmist’s prayer can be ours too: ‘let not mortals have the upper hand’ (v.19). Despite all evidence to the contrary, God is indeed the one who will rule the world with righteousness and govern the peoples with equity. In the final contest between God and mortals, there can be only one winner.
Reflection by Gillian Cooper
Refrain:
You, Lord, have never failed those who seek you.
Prayer:
Remember, Lord, all who cry to you
from death’s dark gates;
do not forget those whom the world forgets,
but raise your faithful ones to Zion’s gate,
with your all-conquering Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 10
Why stand so far off, O Lord?Why hide yourself in time of trouble?
‘… forget not the poor’ (v.12)
There are two questions posed in this psalm. We know the answer to one; we don’t know the answer to the other.
The question to which we have an answer is: how do people get away with exploiting those who are poor? (v.2). It happens because the rules for trade between rich countries and poor countries have largely been set by the rich ones, who have most of the power. It’s sobering to realize that the psalmist describes us who benefit from the unjust ways of the world’s economics as ‘wicked’. But it only requires one glance at the adverts that drive our media to confirm that we are people inclined to ‘boast of [our] heart’s desire’ (v.3).
The question to which we don’t have an answer is: why doesn’t God intervene to stop injustice? (v.1). The writers of the Bible wrestled with this as much as we do. The psalm doesn’t give an explanation, but it does show us how to pray on behalf of the world’s poorest people. We start by acknowledging that we need God, because
