Psalm Project

Psalm 103

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“A wind passes by and it is no more.” (103:16)

Matter cannot be destroyed, let the mightiest features of the earth will eventually be worn away by the action of the wind, water, and the movement of the tectonic plates. I remember flying in and out of New York City back in the 80’s and 90’s and taking in the stunning view of the skyscrapers of Manhattan. I used to fantasize about New York being allowed to go back to its natural state of forest and meadow, and wonder how many years it would take before the twin towers of the World Trade Center would be overtaken by vines and slowly collapse in decay, never dreaming that one day soon the evil of human beings would taken them down in a matter of hours.

Psalm 102

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“May this be recorded for a later generation.” (102:19)

I do most of my writing on a laptop and the content of my thoughts is saved as a series of electric impulses, magnetic bits of data, on a Solid State Drive. Those bits are backed up to an external spinning hard drive and also to several data centers located at various points around the United States. Your ability to read my reflections depends on the ability of my website to translate those bits into text or speech. In contrast, one hundred years ago, the scribe who wrote the Torah from which we read used a feather and some ink on animal skin. Sometimes I wonder … whose technology is more likely to be read by a later generation?

Psalm 101

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“May a crooked heart be far from me.” (101:4)

A well known company which purports to make business decisions based on its Christian values was caught illegally buying antiquities on the black market and importing them into the United States using questionable shipping labels. Most famously, this company successfully sued the United States government to avoid including birth control coverage in their employees’ health insurance. Schadenfreude aside (for those who think they should have obeyed the Affordable Care Act mandate), this demonstrates how easy it is to compartmentalize and behave one way on the outside and entirely differently on the inside. The gold standard is tokho k’boro, one’s inside and outside should perfectly match.

Psalm 100

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“God’s/His steadfast love is eternal.” (100:5)

If we measure love as a feeling, our love towards our siblings, spouse, parents, and children waxes and wanes. Psalm 100, however, does not consider love to be a feeling but rather a connecting strand. Our model for love is that no matter how God might “feel” about Israel at any given moment — exasperated, angry, joyful, loving, betrayed, happy — the connection of love is unbroken. If we behave with this understanding, then even when we are disciplining our children, we will temper it with love. When we are exasperated with our parents, we will respond with love. When we are angry at our spouse, we approach him or her with love.

Psalm 99

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“You exacted retribution for their misdeeds.” (99:8)

“Frier” is Israeli slang for a sucker, a pushover, a chump. No one wants to be the person whom everyone walks over or gets the best of in a deal. When someone hurts us, insults us, or takes advantage of us, we want to get them back. If we can’t do it ourselves, we might say — or at least think — God will get you for that! As hard as it may be, be the mature one in the schoolyard fight. Stand proud and decline to continue the engagement. The cost of fighting the fight to the end is usually more than you expect.