Psalm 7 - Refuge and Rise
There are two major “R” words in Psalm 7 - Refuge in the first verse and Rise in verse 6. I have been wrestling (Restling?) with this Psalm the last few days becuase I was trying to lean to one or the other. But this morning, I realized that it isn’t one or the other but it is both and it was the “both” of this moment that spoke it to me.
Two paths. Two disposal bins. And one of the two directions where color was filling the sky (this was facing west and the bright morning sun was behind me - always a good reminder that a beautiful sunrise isn’t always looking east, just as a beautiful sunset isn’t always facing west).
This is the first of the Psalms that Fischer skipped in his paraphrase so I went to the NRSV and other retaliations but I also went to a book of poetry called Words of Her Mouth: Psalms for the Struggle that guided me through the Psalms in the first months of Covid in 2020. Rev. Mihee Kim-Kort wrote a poem about Psalm 7 which led me down one of the two paths. Her poem “Do I Have To?” spoke to a sense of not wanting to “rise” just because God rises. She ends the poem with this:
do I have to face the day
just because you rise1
Beautifully and powerfully honest. And for a bit with this Psalm, that’s where I went - focus on the refuge and the looking on from a distance.
But then there was an instragram video from Valarie Kaur (Shared with me by
) that brought in the “rise” side of things but also honored the refuge. Here’s that video. She spoke to the need for places of refuge but also to continue to press on in the bold work for justice, love, and welcome.And then came this moment this morning. It isn’t just trash or just recycle. It is both. It isn’t just a path off to the left or the one to the right. It is both. It isn’t just beauty in the East but beauty in the West.
But one more thing - what is at the center of the photo? A single tree right in the middle of it all. Source. Root. Divine. God.
Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed
PS - Dramatic Scout photo for the Scout lovers out there...
Kim-Kort, Mihee “Do I Have To?” (Psalm 7) in Spong, Martha. The Words of Her Mouth: Psalms for the Struggle (Function). Kindle Edition. 11%