Psalm 30 and Psalm 70

Comment:

PSALM 30 (NRSV): 1 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up,      and did not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,      and you have healed me. 3 O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,      restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. 4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,      and give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment;      his favor is for a lifetime.    Weeping may linger for the night,      but joy comes with the morning. 6 As for me, I said in my prosperity,      "I shall never be moved." 7 By your favor, O Lord,      you had established me as a strong mountain;    you hid your face;      I was dismayed. 8 To you, O Lord, I cried,      and to the Lord I made supplication: 9 "What profit is there in my death,      if I go down to the Pit?    Will the dust praise you?      Will it tell of your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me!      O Lord, be my helper!" 11 You have turned my mourning into dancing;      you have taken off my sackcloth      and clothed me with joy, 12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.      O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.   COMMENT: You've asked about a number of different psalms; let's look at two of them as an indication of the powerful love and guidance we find when we approach all the psalms from a metaphysical understanding.   Psalm 30 is a song of thanksgiving for a healing. As with all the psalms, we begin by recognizing that the Lord being addressed is the Christ—the indwelling presence of God that is the true identity of each of us. In this case, the more fear-based ego voice had been dwelling on the illness, filled with the kind of gloomy, depressed thoughts that we are often susceptible to when we feel sick. That voice keeps us in “the Pit” of self-pity. It is when we turn to the Christ Light within us that healing can happen. It may not happen all at once—"Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning"—but it will happen. Our illness will become spiritual radiance; our depression will become joy, and we will give thanks forever.   PSALM 70 (NRSV):   Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.      O Lord, make haste to help me!  2 Let those be put to shame and confusion      who seek my life.    Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor      who desire to hurt me.  3 Let those who say, "Aha, Aha!"      turn back because of their shame.  4 Let all who seek you      rejoice and be glad in you.    Let those who love your salvation      say evermore, "God is great!"  5 But I am poor and needy;      hasten to me, O God!    You are my help and my deliverer;      O Lord, do not delay!   COMMENT: This psalm seems to begin in a consciousness of good guys/bad guys duality that is contrary to the spiritual truth that we are all one in God. It is that very human sense of resentment against those who seem determined to hurt us. But, as with many of the psalms, we really see a spiritual progression begin to evolve. By the second stanza there is a more accepting wish that "all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you." Those seeking anything other than the Christ are making their own troubles. I must resist joining their negative energies, but my focus and commitment must remain on my own spiritual purpose. My limited human consciousness feels "poor and needy"—and, by itself, it is. It is when we turn within to the Christ Presence of God that we receive deliverance.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed