The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Psychology and the Psalms

(Very interesting Cindy :smiley: ^^^)

I don’t think this one is quite as bad as it seems if we take the structure into account

**
The speaker is falsely accused either by slander or in an actual court of law.**

Do not keep silent,
O God of my praise!

2
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

3
They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me without a cause.

4
In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.

5
Thus they have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.

Now we are given the words of false accusation as indirect speech - this is indicated by 'Thus they have’

6
Set a wicked man over him,
And let an accuser[a] stand at his right hand.

7
When he is judged, let him be found guilty,
And let his prayer become sin.

8
Let his days be few,
And let another take his office.

9
Let his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.

10
Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg;
Let them seek their bread** also from their desolate places.

11
Let the creditor seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder his labor.

12
Let there be none to extend mercy to him,
Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.

13
Let his posterity be cut off,
And in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

14
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

15
Let them be continually before the Lord,
That He may cut off the memory of them from the earth;

The speaker asks the Lord to turn the curses back upon his accusers

16
Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the poor and needy man,
That he might even slay the broken in heart.

17
As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.

18
As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
So let it enter his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.

19
Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.

20
Let this be the Lord’s reward to my accusers,
And to those who speak evil against my person.

**
The speaker turns to God as the true and merciful judge as a refuge from false accusations**

21
But You, O GOD the Lord,
Deal with me for Your name’s sake;
Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.

22
For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.

23
I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like a locust.

24
My knees are weak through fasting,
And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.

25
I also have become a reproach to them;
When they look at me, they shake their heads.

26
Help me, O Lord my God!
Oh, save me according to Your mercy,

27
That they may know that this is Your hand—
That You, Lord, have done it!

28
Let them curse, but You bless;
When they arise, let them be ashamed,
But let Your servant rejoice.

29
Let my accusers be clothed with shame,
And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.

30
I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth;
Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.

31
For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor,
To save him from those who condemn him.1**

Which is to say that the speaker does not live up to the highest ideals of returning blessings for curses - but the speaker is not the originator of the curses here IMHO.

it’s interesting that in the last section when the speaker finally takes refugee in the Lord the counter cursing stops; he merely asks that he will be vindicated and his accusers will be made ashamed and will know that this was the Lord’s doing. His description of the Lord as the source of blessings rather than curse points forward to a the more complete understanding given by Jesus - that we are to imitate God (but we can only do this because Jesus is the clear image of God whom we can imitate) IMHO :slight_smile:

Great choice, Paidion.

I remember a few times that I’ve prayed this psalm or something very like it. :blush: In fact, at the moment it sounds pretty good for purposes I won’t elaborate on. :laughing: I find great encouragement in knowing I don’t have to walk on eggshells with God. He knows what’s in me anyway, and He can take it. Others maybe not so much, but He always knows just what to say to me to pull all the poison out and replace it with peace. In truth I think maybe He’d rather we be real and in the process, even a bit spiteful, than stand on false piety and pretend to be something we’re not. I’m pretty sure He ignores all that fire and vitriol stuff when we pour it out to Him. He looks and sees a hurting child, and unlike us sometimes (alas), He knows just how to heal His angry injured little ones.

The great thing is, of course, to let go of it once we’ve poured it out at His feet. If we cling to our anger it becomes sin rather than honesty. He will take it, and while at the moment I may not feel like letting it go, I never fight very hard. I WANT that person to pay, but I don’t want it badly enough to go on being miserable – besides, it could be worse! I could BE that person and might become so if I don’t yield to Father’s ministrations as David always does in the end. :slight_smile:

Here is a book on the first 40 Psalms, Cindy.

The Genesis Book of Psalms
gods-kingdom-ministries.net/teac … of-psalms/

Jones relates the Psalms back to Genesis building on E.W. Bullinger’'s work.

I read it a few years ago…So some day when you have time you can take a looksee.

Hello, Cindy. I just made this same comment to Cole. As one who has a graduate degree in psychology, I would take issue with using the term psychoanalyze. As you are probably aware, it is a methodology started by Freud. And all his inner circle of fellow physicians, went on to develop their own methodologies. Can you please substitute another term? Perhaps a better word term might be “psychologically evaluate”?

The title was just intended as a “hook,” Randy; not as anything like a deep statement, but I don’t mind changing it if anyone finds it misleading or objectionable. Is this better?

Cloud, Thanks. :slight_smile: I’ll have a look!

Much better. Thanks