If you have ever felt that you have been treated unfairly and you need to vent, wow, do I have the psalm for you!
Our Psalm for today is Psalm 17. Of the five categories of psalms, this psalm fits into the “psalms of lament” category because the psalmist is lamenting at being treated unjustly.
Now, this topic of being treated unjustly can be a little tricky because it’s prone to subjectivity. We can easily get bent out of shape over what we consider to be someone’s unjust treatment toward us when in reality, it might just be that we have misunderstood the situation or that we are too quick to judge someone.
For example, and I can’t believe I tell you these stories of things that I have done of which I am embarrassed, but here it goes.
The following round-about chart helps us to see how these things are supposed to work with a little humor thrown in. Let’s start with car “A” at the top of the round-about. This car is yielding properly. If it enters now, it will cause an accident. Don’t be car “A.”
Next is car “B” located at the bottom of the round-about. This car is entering properly. There is no one to yield to.
Next is car “C,” the red car located on the left of the round-about. This car is yielding to nobody for no reason because it things is has to yield if ANY car is in the circle ANYWHERE. Don’t be car “C.”
And finally, there is car “D” which is also on the left of the round-about. This car hates car “C.”
I know that roundabouts are not everyone’s favorite way of dealing with intersections in Athens. I actually don’t mind them because I think that it keeps traffic flowing. If you have questions about how to use a roundabout, I think Penny has the best answer. All you need to remember is once you’re in the circle, you’re in. When you’re in, you’re in. You have the right-a-way. And you can drive around that circle as long as you like. When you’re in, you’re in.
But once in a while, and I’m sure this has happened to you, you are in the roundabout driving behind a car who doesn’t understand how this works, and they end up slowing down at each entry point to let people into the roundabout. This is not how roundabouts work. Once you’re in, you’re in. Usually when someone ahead of me stops to let people in, I do not lay on my horn, but one day I did.
I got in the roundabout on the Richland bridge one day, and the car ahead of me in the circle all of the sudden completely stopped to let a car enter into the circle. I thought to myself, “Buddy! Really?” And I don’t know why this annoyed me, but I decided to lay on my horn. I also mouthed the words, “Keep it moving!” Don’t worry, I didn’t say any bad words.
But in that moment, I was upset. This guy in front of me was slowing me down. I had places to go. People to see! And c’mon, learn how to drive through a roundabout. These out-of-towners! I’m tell’n ya! I was venting and employing some of this Psalm 17 language. “Rise up, O Lord, and confront them!”
As I was getting worked up about this and feeling that I had been treated unjustly, that’s when I realized that the car in front of me had stopped in that roundabout for a very good reason. It was because he was letting a funeral procession enter into the circle. When I saw that, I realized that I was being a “you know what” for laying on my horn. I felt absolutely terrible! I waved my hand at the person in front of me to indicate that I was sorry.
Now as a pastor, I have been the passenger of that funeral procession lead car many times and I have often complained how cars can be disrespectful when it comes to funeral processions, and here I was being “that guy.” In that situation, Psalm 17 did not fit the situation. I was not being treated unfairly. I was just plain wrong.
So, let’s be clear as we look at using Psalm 17 in our own prayer lives. This psalm is assuming that we aren’t being “that guy.” It’s assuming that we have taken the time to reflect on if we have truly been treated unfairly or if we have maybe misunderstood the situation.
This is why the Psalmist begins by saying, “let your eyes see the right” and “try my heart” to see if there are any transgressions in him. So, there is humility in the way this psalmist begins the prayer. “I’m really upset with what this person has done to me, but Lord, let me know if there is something not right within my own heart.” That’s my wording, but this sounds like the intent of how the psalmist begins Psalm 17.
Now, that’s a sign of spiritual maturity when you can start complaining about how you are being treated unfairly, and at the same time admit that maybe you are not seeing the big picture. Maybe I’m part of the problem. So, it is with this spirit of humility that the Psalmist continues to vent to God about what has been done against him.
Psalm 17, along with the many other psalms of lament that we find in the Book of Psalms, gives you and me the permission to vent our frustrations to God. Long before modern day psychology, these psalms help us to process our frustrations, our anger, our rage, and our disappointments and let God know how we truly feel.
We all can probably name several unhealthy ways for us to vent these feelings. We can take it out on those closest to us. We can use passive-aggressive behavior. We can let these feelings bottle up but that only lasts so long. They will come out in some way. This psalmist is giving us permission to let God know how we have been treated unjustly. Sharing our feelings with God in prayer is a very healthy way for us to process these feelings.
This is the only time during the three-year lectionary cycle of Sunday scripture readings that Psalm 17 appears. It’s not a long Psalm, but the lectionary only offers us a portion of this Psalm to read in worship. Notice that it leaves out verses 13 and 14.
These are verses in which the Psalmist tells the Lord to rise up and put these slanderers in their place. It tells the Lord to punish their accuser’s children, and their children as well. This is not the Psalm that any of us probably learned when we were children in Sunday School.
But think of it this way. Is it better to vent your feelings of vengeance in a prayer, or to take matters in our own hands? The answer is to vent your feelings through prayer.
Unfortunately, many of us, myself included have been taught to keep our feelings inside, especially our feelings of anguish and disappointment. But that’s just not healthy and it’s unrealistic. I had a theology professor in seminary tell our class that God is big enough to take on any question or frustration that we might be dealing with in our lives. God wants us to be our authentic selves and how we are feeling in any given moment.
That was such a freeing thing for me to hear my seminary professor make this point. God is big enough to take on any question or frustration that we might be dealing with in our lives. The Psalmist of Psalm 17 reminds us that it’s OK. It’s not like he was holding back. But again, as long as we vent to God in a spirit of humility, and knowing that our hearts need to be examined as well, this Psalm can help us to become even stronger in our faith and in our trust in God.
This Psalm is paired with our Old Testament reading from the Book of Genesis. It’s the story of Jacob who wrestles all night with a messenger sent from God. Jacob has been on the run from his brother, Esau who has been his adversary since childhood.
This night of wrestling serves as a turning point in Jacob’s life. Jacob ends up winning the wrestling match and in the morning, the Lord blesses Jacob with a new name. No longer will he be known as Jacob. His new name will be Israel. In a similar way, like Jacob, this psalmist in Psalm 17 invites God to test his heart by night, with the hope that when morning comes, he will be satisfied and behold God’s likeness.
If you have ever had a restless night where you are struggling with unresolved issues, a complicated relationship, and the emotions of fear and uncertainty, this Psalm invites us to let all of that go and know that God is our refuge. So many times, we forget that it’s OK to complain to God. It’s OK to wrestle with God. It’s OK to let God know how we truly feel about a situation we may be facing.
There is something very freeing about offering our laments to God. The Psalmist knows that God will answer him and he will receive God’s steadfast love.
Over the past several years, our denomination has been struggling to find a way forward regarding same sex marriage and the ordination of gay and lesbian pastors. The tension over this issue has been very divisive among clergy and laity.
During the week leading up to the special General Conference in February of 2019, I was really finding it difficult to maintain a collegial spirit with my clergy friends who were very open about their traditional stance on this issue. I would read their facebook posts, their tweets on Twitter and their online sermons about this issue, and I remember becoming very angry with them in how they were in my view, misrepresenting the Bible’s teachings on this important issue.
I was being labeled as being unbiblical in my views. And this made me really angry, because, quite frankly, I have spent my whole life reading, studying, and loving the bible. So it wasn’t an issue of being unbiblical. It was that we were interpreting the bible differently. So much can be said about that, but I think that was the issue.
So the more and more I was hearing that I was being unbiblical, the more and more I was leaning on these psalms of lament, like Psalm 17 just to get out my frustration. People who know me well could tell that I was becoming irritable and impatient. And they could tell that I wasn’t being myself. But I want you to know that like the Psalmist in our Psalm for today prayed, I had confidence that God would guide me through that dark period.
“I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me, hear my words.”
I knew that God would answer my prayer and help take away that anger that was beginning to fill my heart. Like the psalmist, I had confidence that God would vindicate me, but it was the way that God answered my prayer that took me by surprise.
Right after that special General Conference voted to retain the restrictive language on same sex marriage and the ordination of gay and lesbian pastors, one of these pastors who I felt had misrepresented me, sent me an email right after that General Conference vote. I actually saved his email.
Here was his message to me. It came at 8:43 pm on that Saturday night.
“Hi Rob…” (OK, bad start, because I don’t go by Rob, but whatever.) “Hi Rob…I know that you are struggling. I am praying for you and love your people very much” (meaning all of you). “I’ve done a good job of not reading social media posts but I did read some of your comments. I am a dues paying member of WCA” (the WCA is the traditional wing of our denomination). “I am a dues paying member of WCA and I pray you don’t hold that against me. I know the Holy Spirit will guide your congregation tomorrow morning knowing that his joy will come in the morning. Come, Holy Spirit, come and prop up Athens First.”
That email came out of the blue. It melted my heart that he would reach out the way he did.
I mean, he’s still wrong, but…
But here’s the thing. We need these psalms of lament. We need to be able tell God when we feel that we have been unfairly judged. It’s not healthy to keep our anger and our frustrations all bottled inside us.
And as we offer these raw and honest prayers to God, like the Psalmist, and like Jacob who wrestled with God all night long, the good news is that we will find joy in the morning.
A Psummer of Psalms: Psalm 17
Sermon Discussion Questions
Psalm 17:1-7, 15 & Genesis 32:22-31
August 2, 2020
Psalm 17 is categorized as a Psalm of Lament. The psalmist feels that he has been treated unjustly by someone. He takes his frustration out by sharing with God his raw feelings.
Have you ever shared with God your raw feelings about how you feel your were treated unfairly? Why do you think the Psalmist is giving us permission to share these feelings with God?
Notice that in verse 3, the Psalmist is humble by inviting the Lord to try his heart and test him for any wrongdoing he may have done.
Share a time when you felt that you were treated unjustly but then realized that there was a simple misunderstanding or that maybe you were at fault to some degree. What helps you to stay humble and open minded about a difficult situation?
Psalm 17 is paired with our Genesis reading which is about when Jacob wrestled with the Lord at night. Jacob has been on the run from his brother because of the shady way he had treated him. When it was morning, the Lord blessed Jacob and the brothers ended up being reunited. Notice that the psalmist after his lamenting also says that in the morning he shall be satisfied.
How has offering your laments and raw feelings to God like Jacob and the Psalmist led to you feeling satisfied and blessed?
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