Psalm 28:  Clinging to the Rock, our Savior

 June 26, 2018

Liar, liar, pants on fire – appropriate phrase as we listen to the political rhetoric around us. Satan is the prince of lies, a master of deception, and if so, his presence is apparent throughout our society. Lies are everywhere. They are destructive, none more so than the lies we tell ourselves. Amidst all of these lies, our God remains firm, a rock we can cling to. Psalm 28 reminds us of this.

The Cycle of Deception

It’s so easy to deceive ourselves and justify our actions. We take something that is not ours yet justify it by any number of ways. No one will notice, we say.  It’s no big deal, no one will care. Or we take someone’s good name through gossip and justify it by insisting we were only telling the truth. Everybody does this, we say. Everybody gossips, so it’s okay. Unkind words are said to and about others to justify our actions. We rejoice when someone we are jealous of or dislike experiences misfortune. We tell ourselves it doesn’t matter, but these lies can become a way of life, blinding us to future lies. Easy to become so wrapped up in our own lies and justification that they become truth to us. Lies beget more lies.

When Satan came to Eve in the garden, he convinced her with his lies. She justified her actions saying the serpent made me do it, rather than accepting responsibility. It seems to me that Satan lies to us in two ways, telling us we are greater than we are, such is his lie to Eve, or telling us we are less than we are, degrading us to the point of despair. Each are lies. How do we get out of this cycle of lies?

Psalm 28

Psalm 28 is a lament. Brief and to the point, the writer has taken refuge in the Temple. He is sick or being tormented by wicked people who are the source of his illness or suffering. He calls out to the Lord, saying, “To you, O Lord, I call, be not deaf to me,” listen to me (1). If God remains silent, then the writer will be like one cast into a deep, dark hole, or cast into his own particular hell. Certainly, without God, this life can be a living hell.

He lifts up his hands in supplication to God and prays that God not let him suffer the violence that befalls the godless, workers of evil who are duplicitous, who speak peace but whose actions are far from peaceful. The writer attributes his problems to evil men whom he had trusted but he doesn’t say exactly what they did to him.

“Requite them according to their work (4a),” the writer says. Give back to them as they gave, not as punishment necessarily, but that they might come to understand their wrong doing and then repent. I can imagine two parties in a conflict, each praying these words, neither able to see their own part in the conflict.

In verses 6-7 the psalmist breaks into rejoicing with a long and exuberant exclamation.  God has heard his pleas! God has proven trustworthy, and this is reason to rejoice. Psalm 28 ends with a statement of faith and a prayer.

Dealing with Self-Deception and Lies

So how do we deal with self-deception and lies? Through prayer, through turning to God in prayer, asking him to deliver us not just from those outside who seek to harm us, but to deliver us from that which is within us that would harm us, lie to us. We escape self-deception through listening to God’s truth, not our own version.

It is hard to look at ourselves through the lens of truth and realize that some of our best intentions are not as worthy as we thought, to recognize our idolatries and our lies and ask for deliverance. Yet the end result of such brutal honesty is rejoicing, exulting in our Lord and Savior who loves us despite ourselves, who sees all of our failings and loves us anyway. And once out of the cycle, the way to stay out of the cycle is through praising God, thanking God constantly. If Eve had been busy thanking God for all the good God had done for her at the time the serpent called, he would never have been able to plant lies in her mind. But instead, Satan found fertile ground.

The Power of Praise

In Ephesians, Paul says, blessed be God, who chose us to be holy and without blemish before him, who redeems us, saves us from our sins, “so that we might exist for the praise of his glory.” (12a) We were made to praise our God, to sing to God with glory and rejoice in our Lord.

The lies that others tell us and that we tell ourselves get in the way of being all we are meant to be, they keep us from praising our God. They can be like an illness, only God has the cure. So like the psalmist we need to turn to our God in trust, clinging to the rock, our Savior. Then will our heart exult as we give thanks to our God.

Where do you find stability? For reflections on times of stability, or Ordinary Time in the church liturgical calendar, check out my latest book in my Seasons of Grace series, Season of Stability. Free copies are available to subscribers to my newsletter. Sign up today!

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