Psalm 135-Who is your God

Nearly every day I read a meditation from Fr. Mike Gemignani, chaplain of the Prov. 7 Daughters of the King. Last week he introduced prayer as a topic for discussion. He noted, “Prayer, therefore, is personal. It is what I think enables me to relate to my God…I think it is safe to say that we still have multiple Gods, not in the sense that God is plural, but in the sense that people make of the one God a god as they conceive God to be. They pray to their image of God. Perhaps that is why God commanded that we not make images of God. He knew what would happen, and it did. That is, when people pray, the God to whom they are relating is their image of who or what God is and, just as in ancient times, what they give their God is what they believe their God wants…God makes himself known to us gradually as we grow spiritually….our concept, and experience, of God will change as we change….[and]the way we pray will change.”

Then Fr. Mike asked the zinger: “So, who is your God, the God to whom you pray and does it shape how you pray?” That question is something that I’ll need to do some pondering on, and along those lines, on Sunday I ran across Psalm 135. Unlike Ps. 45 which is for a wedding or Ps. 107, a psalm of thanksgiving for deliverance, Ps. 135 (see below) is all about Praise to the Lord who is greater than all the other nations and their gods.

The Psalm responds to the question of who is your God and what is your image of God by announcing that God is “Great…above all gods.” God “makes the clouds…rain…wind.” God chose “Jacob for himself.” God did this when he “struck down the firstborn of Egypt…[and] killed mighty kings.” Why did God do this? To give “their land as a heritage…to his people Israel.” Further, “the Lord will vindicate his people, and have compassion on his servants.” The Psalm is making a bold claim that God, the God of Israel, is more powerful than all the other nations and gods.

Indeed as the Psalm continues we are told about the idols of the nations (vs. 15-18) who are “the work of human hands…do not speak…see…hear.” Rather scornfully the psalmist states, “Those who make them and all who trust them shall become like them.” In contrast, the people of Israel and especially the priestly houses of Aaron and Levi are admonished to “bless the Lord…who resides in Jerusalem.”

From this Psalm we can build a pretty clear picture of the image of the God worshipped by the Psalmist and people. The God of Israel at this time is the warrior who redeemed the people and gave them a land because God is mightier than the idols of stone that “have no breath.” No matter what, this God will vindicate and have compassion on the people, as long as they offer proper praise. Because the Lord ‘resides in Jerusalem’, we can extrapolate that this psalm was likely written while the Temple was the center of worship for the nation, before the Babylonian exile. (Of course there are no photos of that original Temple, but below is an artist’s rendering of what Solomon’s Temple might have looked like.)

So…if that is the God of Psalm 135, how does that God relate to the God to Whom you pray? How would you define your God and how does that image of God shape the way you pray? Maybe you want to compose a poem or psalm about your God, or draw a Temple that would house your image of God…? Next time, I'll share what I came up with...would love to hear yours.

 

Psalm 135

¹ Praise the Lord!
 Praise the name of the Lord;  give praise, O servants of the Lord,
² you that stand in the house of the Lord,
 in the courts of the house of our God.
³ Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
 sing to his name, for he is gracious.
⁴ For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
 Israel as his own possession.

⁵ For I know that the Lord is great;
 our Lord is above all gods.
⁶ Whatever the Lord pleases he does,
 in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
⁷ He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth;
 he makes lightnings for the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

⁸ He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
 both human beings and animals;
⁹ he sent signs and wonders  into your midst, O Egypt,
 against Pharaoh and all his servants.
¹⁰ He struck down many nations
 and killed mighty kings—
¹¹ Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan,
 and all the kingdoms of Canaan—
¹² and gave their land as a heritage,
 a heritage to his people Israel.

¹³ Your name, O Lord, endures for ever,
 your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages.
¹⁴ For the Lord will vindicate his people,
 and have compassion on his servants.

¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
 the work of human hands.
¹⁶ They have mouths, but they do not speak;
 they have eyes, but they do not see;
¹⁷ they have ears, but they do not hear,
 and there is no breath in their mouths.
¹⁸ Those who make them and all who trust them
 shall become like them.

¹⁹ O house of Israel, bless the Lord!
 O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!
²⁰ O house of Levi, bless the Lord!
 You that fear the Lord, bless the Lord!
²¹ Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
 he who resides in Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!