Psalm 38 - Not Going There

So today is a reflection on a labyrinth that I tried to walk and pray today but Scout definitely did not want to. After trying to stop at the labyrinth in the park along the Ohio River this morning (I realized when I parked downtown that I had forgotten Scout’s leash so no walking downtown at that time), I did get to do a quick stop down there on my way home this afternoon. But Scout was having none of it. The first path in goes right up around the center of the labyrinth and Scout got totally drawn in by some scent on the “stand” in the middle and I could barely pull her away and then when we finally started to walk, Scout was not going for it. She plopped down and would not move. If I was in a differnet place rather than downtown, I might have just let her sit there but where we were (there were lots of other people walking dogs around there), I didn’t feel comfortable leaving her. After some tugs and pulls and a dog being completely and utterly stubborn, I gave up and as we went to walk out, Scout popped up and happily walked alongside.

Psalm 38 is a Psalm that no one wants to be able to relate to. It is a rough one to take in with the depth of pain described. Phrases like “there is no soundness in my flesh” or “my wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness” or “for I am ready to fall and my pain is ever with me.” The writer of this Psalm is attributing the trials that have come upon them as God’s punishment for something - “Your hand has come down on me” (verse 2)... “no health in my bones because of my sin” (verse 3). And it ends with a plea...

Do not forsake me, O LORD;
O my God, do not be far from me;
make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation.

I would push back with the writer about seeing these trials as God’s punishment because goodness knows there’s plenty of people who seem to have a lot more “outward sin” who seem to be doing just fine (seemingly no punishment from above whatsoever). But I think of the times that I have experienced in my life or times that I have seen in the lives of others where it feels like God has abandoned them and it feels like trial piles upon suffering upon difficulty. And the thing is, no one wants times like those. If given the choice of entering into a time of suffering or finding another way, I am pretty sure most folks would be like Scout and plop ourselves down and say, “nope, not going there. Let’s go that other way...”

But those times do come and try as we might to plop down and try to find another way, we cannot avoid what has come. The wisdom of Tolkien in the Lord of the Rings speaks to this once again. This exchange between Gandalf, the wizard and Frodo, the Hobbit and bearer of the ring.

‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo. ‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.¹

Here’s the clip of it from the movie (although placed in a very different spot)

Amazing how a Psalm, a labyrinth, a stubborn dog, and a fantasy novel come together…

But most of all the wisdom of Scout shows up again...

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

1. Tolkien, J. R. R.. The Lord of the Rings (p. 51). (Function). Kindle Edition.