mini-reflection

Psalm 45

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“My tongue is the pen of an expert scribe.” (45:2)

To be a mesmerizing public speaker may be an art, but Dale Carnegie taught that anyone can learn to be an effective speaker. A scribe does not become expert without practice, and neither does a speaker. By listening to great speakers one can learn to use language well, and by listening to great comedians one can learn to use the rhythm of speech to good effect. But the secret to being effective is to speak from your own experience, to share your own story. Those who speak with sincere conviction, focusing on the lesson they want the listener to learn, will be compelling speakers.

Psalm 44

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“Our ancestors have told us the deeds You performed in their time.” (44:2)

The sacred texts in our religious traditions are stories that have come to us from our ancestors. Archeology can confirm that there was a King David and draw maps of the city of David, but we can only learn the character of David, both good and bad, from Biblical stories. The Bible, even the Torah, is not as much a book of law (although it contains long passages of law) as it is a book of stories. We learn a set of values from the accounts of Biblical characters, God included, filtered through centuries of Israelite and Jewish life.

Psalm 43

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“Send forth Your light and Your truth.” (43:3)

Israel is described by Isaiah as an or goyim, “light of the nations.” By the example of their behavior, Israel is charged with the responsibility to teach the non-monotheistic world about belief in one God. In the ancient worldview of the Hebrew prophets, there were God-followers and there were idolators. The former were moral because of their adherence to God’s revealed scripture, and the latter were immoral because they ignored God’s instructions to the world. In our world we have multiple monotheistic God-following religions and many ways to follow God, all of them true. The job of religious people is to show that the way we live our lives is illumined by one of those sets of truths.

Psalm 42

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“Why so downcast, my soul?” (42:6)

A brief conversation with the soul: “Hey, soul – it’s a beautiful day and I’d like to enjoy myself. Stop dragging me down with your nagging!”

“No problem. I’ll stop when you give some attention to these issues you’ve been ignoring.”

“Those are your issues, not mine. I just need a break! Let me enjoy myself for once, and I won’t be so angry.”

“Look – your problem is not your co-workers, your spouse, your children, or the driver who doesn’t accelerate fast enough. Your problem is deeper, a spiritual problem. You are looking for ways to experience the rush of anger because it makes you feel alive.”

Listen to your soul.

Psalm 41

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“You have wholly transformed his bed of suffering.” (41:4)

There is a difference between emotional or physical pain and suffering. Suffering entails pain, but not all pain needs to be understood as suffering. Pain has a physical or emotional cause. Suffering is a particular interpretation of pain. We suffer when we decide that the pain is unjust. Complaining magnifies pain into suffering, as does blaming and anger. As a rule, negative emotions magnify suffering, and positive emotions, especially laughter, reduce suffering. Quieting one’s breath through prayer or meditation, a form of embracing the pain rather than fighting with it, can also transform and reduce suffering.