Psalm 55:4, 16-18 (antiphon: Psalm 55:22)
Psalm 55 –
Trusting God against a treacherous enemy
The title of this psalm is To the Chief Musician. With
stringed instruments. A Contemplation of David. The psalm describes a time of
some kind of rebellion or power struggle against David, and a key leader in the
struggle was a trusted associate who betrayed David. The city is dangerous
because of the rebellion, and David cries out to God. Most commentators fit
this psalm to Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel 15-18) and the trusted associate as
Ahithophel. Parts of this psalm seem to fit Absalom’s rebellion, but some parts
don’t. It’s hard to imagine David wishing Absalom to hell (Psalm 55:15) when he
didn’t even want him to die. It may be that the events connected with this
psalm are unrecorded in the sacred history of the life of David.
The antiphon reads, “Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you;
Cast your
burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you: There are few greater burdens to bear than a one-time friend who
becomes a treacherous and dangerous enemy. David knew that even this was a
burden that God could and should bear.
God imposes burdens, to see what we will do with them.
We may carry them to our undoing, or we may cast them on Him for his blessed
countenance.
The word burden is too restrictive: it means whatever
is given you, your appointed lot (hence in New English Bible, ‘your fortunes’).
And the promise is not that God will carry it, but that he will sustain you.
He shall sustain: The experience of
suffering was not taken away from the servant of God, but he was sustained, and
so made strong enough to resist its pressure, and through it to make his
service more perfect. This is how God ever sustains us in the bearing of
burdens.
If I cast my burden upon the Lord, what business have
I to carry it myself? How can I truthfully say that I have cast it upon him if
still I am burdened with it?[2]
The 40 days after the resurrection are drawing to a
close. On Thursday we will observe Ascension where we remember that Christ
returned to the Father bodily/physically and He will return again as judge and
king. During these days, we look backward at the empty tomb and forward to the
day of Pentecost, 50 days after the resurrection.
A vision into the
future may very well be the theme for this coming week. In the first lesson
Acts 16:9-15 we have Paul’s vision of a man from Macedonia begging Paul and his
companions to come to him. In the epistle lesson Revelation 1:9-14, 21-27 John
is given a vision of the perfect city our new home in heaven. In the Gospel
lesson John 16:23-33 Jesus predicts the time in which He will be return back to
the Father and the believers will be scattered. We need not fear however
because the believer has a true and genuine faith. In this world there is never
a lack of trouble, unhappiness, stress, sadness, marital strife, addictions,
family complications, and even death itself. Yet we need not fear for Christ
has overcome the world. The suggested hymn for the weeks tells us of the
Father’s plan of salvation and its completion in the life death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. The woodcut is a depiction of this coming week’s
Epistle lesson.
[1] The New Heaven and New Earth, Schnorr von Carolsfeld woodcuts © WELS for personal and congregational use
[3] Collect for Psalm 55, For All the Saints, A Prayer Book For and By the Church, Vol. I © 1994 The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Delhi, NY
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