Message from Tim

As you look into this psalm, whose image do you see?

Let’s play a game. The other day a verse of scripture reminded me of someone who has been in the news quite a bit recently, and I wonder whether the same person pops into your mind when you read the verse. It’s Psalm 36:2 from the NIV, which talks about a man who flatters himself too much in his own eyes to detect or hate his sin. Any one in particular come to mind?

Speaking strictly in general terms, it seems to me that this verse depicts the mindset of a person who constructs a mental universe in which they are better than everyone else around them. A stubborn and deceitful refusal to admit to any fault or failure constitutes a vital line of defence in protecting an ego that is as fragile as it is over-inflated. Such a person arrogantly resists any attempt at correction, much as Pharaoh did when he hardened his heart and refused to release the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt. But before I am tempted to point the finger at anyone else (did you guess who I was thinking of just now?) I am brought down to earth by the most literal translation of Psalm 36:1: ‘Transgression speaks to the wicked in the depths of my heart’ (check out the KJV): disconcertingly, in my more insecure moments, I can sometimes discover a little bit of narcissism lurking in my own heart. Am I the only one?

Psalm 36 is a strange composition – the first four verses are taken up with this singularly unpleasant description of the wicked man who at night plots the evil course he will pursue the following day, and then abruptly at verse 5 the tone changes to praising God for his love, faithfulness, righteousness and justice. It is no surprise most lectionary readings of the psalm omit the opening verses and jump right in here, and as you read vv.5-10 of the psalm you may find that the words of hymns or songs of praise come to mind because they have been based on this central section of the psalm.

There must be some reason for this juxtaposition of human wickedness and God’s goodness, and it is surely no coincidence that the psalmist praises God for those qualities which are so singularly absent from the one who has no fear of God before their eyes. The kind of person depicted at the start of the psalm typically likes to control those around them, but the psalmist’s song of praise refuses to be cowed. Instead, those who celebrate God’s goodness open the door to being defined by that goodness, rather than by those who seek to control them.

In the middle of the psalm the psalmist lifts their eyes to the Lord and his unfailing love, finding in him a place of refuge and a source of nourishment for the soul. The psalmist looks to the Lord for his love and his righteousness for as long as it takes (v.10). In the meantime, the images evoked by the prayer for protection in v.11 remind us of just how vulnerable the psalmist is, but the closing declaration also expresses a confidence that God ultimately vindicates those who know him: ‘May the foot of the proud not come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. See how the evildoers lie fallen--thrown down, not able to rise!’