Quaking Before God

                                                  Iranian drones intercepted over Jerusalem 

But know that the Lord set apart His faithful.

The Lord will hear when I call to Him

Quake, and do not offend.

Speak in your hearts on your beds, and be still. 

Psalm 4: 4-5 -- Robert Alter translation

I've not been a "fear of the Lord" Christian for a long time now, at least not in terms of living in a constant state of anxiety about the wrath of God for sins real and imagined. I don't like it generally and not specifically the notion that God is in an unending grumpy "don't make me come down there" state of smiteyness so sent his Son to take the heat on our behalf. I do believe I am sinner and the death of Jesus is a "crucial" aspect of my faith, but sweating before a wrathful deity just doesn't seem to be Good News. 

That said, the past few days and today the lectionary psalm is the fourth and it does some serious soul-searching. As I often do I turned to the translation of the Psalms by Robert Alter, a preeminent Hebrew scholar. He regularly offers perspectives which are not reflected in other translations and paraphrases.  

Alter uses the word "quake" to begin verse 5, unlike other versions. In his commentary he offers this:

The auditors of the poem are exhorted to tremble as an act of conscience that will dissuade them from transgression, then commune with themselves in the solitude of their beds and speak no more...The verse thus moves from a state of troubled agitation ("quake") to silence at the end. 

We live in troubling times when the foundations of our societies are trembling and we wonder what will come next. We need clear, measured leadership yet we see the rise of blustering "strong men" who are actually morally weak. 

 There are days when it seems that few of our assumptions about the way the world works apply anymore. Even the cycles of Creation are in turmoil. 

The warmongerers have seized the moment and rockets fly. Last night the drones exploded over Jerusalem, the Holy City for three religions and people quaked in the darkness, as they have in Gaza for months. Our family members in Israel had an anxious night wondering about what would unfold in the darkness. 

Psalm 4 actually ends on a hopeful note but the clear direction is to be humble and prayerful and let God be God. Human posturing and hubris without God is perilous. Three thousand years later it is advice we can heed. 

You put joy in my heart,

from the time their grain and their drink did abound.

In peace, all whole, let me lie down and sleep. 

For you, Lord, alone, do set me down safely.

Psalm 4: 8-9 -- Robert Alter