Psalms for the pandemic mind-warp

When it’s all too much

It is not an enemy who taunts me —
then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me —
then I could hide from him.
But it is you, my equal,
my companion, my familiar friend.
We used to hold sweet converse together;
within God’s house we walked in fellowship. (Ps 55[54]:12–14)*

All too often the sheer mind-warp of the pandemic gets to me. I know I’m not alone! How could friends whose judgment I once trusted — or at least found fairly unremarkable — how could they believe that?! And they likewise wonder how I could believe what I do. Not within my own family but in many families is the same bewildered question asked: What the ___ happened?!

And where is God in all of this? Where is God when people I’ve worshipped alongside for years and thought of as, well, “my kind of Christian” are now championing ideas I believe are really wrongheaded and likely to drive non-Christians further away from the Gospel?

Who’s this post for?

Here I write primarily for fellow Christians. I trust, though, that the psalms themselves will find some resonance with any of you who do not share the faith through which I frame them, especially, of course, if you are Jewish.

Incidentally, it calls for a separate post, but regretfully I’m really starting to see that whole “my kind of Christian” idea as sowing the seeds for “enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit” (Gal 5:20), at least when it’s founded less on spiritual kinship for its own sake than on not being that other kind of Christian. For what, after all, do any of us have that we did not receive as a gift (1 Cor 4:7)?

For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Eph 6:12)

Also, I’m writing this post mostly for fellow believers who are feeling betrayed not only by contrarian friends but increasingly also by negligent public health authorities. If, however, you happen to have a radically different set of believers you are feeling betrayed by, namely, those you consider irrationally panicked by an overblown threat, well, we can all be thankful that Holy Scripture is beyond anyone’s own power to limit or control. So go right ahead and use whatever you want of this pointer to the psalms, trusting that they are more durable than any misbegotten purpose towards which anyone might try to appropriate them.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb 4:12)

And may we all be led to the fullness of the truth.

Drink deep

I’ve found the long psalms, especially in Book V (107[106]–150), help iron out the mental kinks I accumulate online.

I’ve highlighted a few choice verses from selected psalms. However much we need now to lament, I encourage you not to consider any verses of complaint in isolation. There’s value in getting to the praises and consoling recollections the psalmists eventually land on once they’ve, well, had a chance to vent for a while.

But I will hope continually,
and will praise thee yet more and more. (Ps 71[70]:14)

Instead, click on any hotlink to read through the whole of each psalm — ideally, several times — to remind yourself of God’s goodness and faithfulness

for his steadfast love endures for ever. (Ps 136[135]:1b, 2b, 3b, …)

Psalm 37

Fret not.

Fret not yourself because of the wicked,
be not envious of wrongdoers!
For they will soon fade like the grass,
and wither like the green herb. (Ps 37[36]:1–2)

Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your vindication as the light,
and your right as the noonday.

Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over him who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
For the wicked shall be cut off;
but those who wait for the Lord shall possess the land. (Ps 37[36]:5–9)

Psalm 136

O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his steadfast love endures for ever;
to him who alone does great wonders,
for his steadfast love endures for ever;
to him who by understanding made the heavens,
for his steadfast love endures for ever. (Ps 136[135]:3–5)

The repetitiousness of this psalm is a comfort, is it not? Because, unprecedented as some aspects of our situation may feel, the psalm recounts many an early instance of how God has brought people through similar enough trials. And however much the chaos in our environment threatens to disorient us, a divinely directed natural order persists.

Psalm 119

God’s law is a great gift to sustain us.

My soul melts away for sorrow;
strengthen me according to thy word!
Put false ways far from me;
and graciously teach me thy law! (Ps 119[118]:28–29)

Through thy precepts I get understanding;
therefore I hate every false way. (Ps 119[118]:104)

Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked,
who forsake thy law. (Ps 119[118]:53)

Trouble and anguish have come upon me,
but thy commandments are my delight.
Thy testimonies are righteous for ever;
give me understanding that I may live. (Ps 119[118]:143-144)

Princes persecute me without cause,
but my heart stands in awe of thy words.
I rejoice at thy word
like one who finds great spoil.
I hate and abhor falsehood,
but I love thy law. (Ps 119[118]:161–163)

Let my cry come before thee, O Lord;
give me understanding according to thy word! (Ps 119[118]:169)

Psalm 71

There’s more to this psalm than the hopeful verse quoted above.

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. (Ps 71[70]:4)

Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent. (Ps 71[70]:9)

May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who seek my hurt. (Ps 71[70]:13)

Though we can be a bit ticklish about calling down curses upon our enemies as in verse 13, Holy Scripture has several even more forceful examples of what are known as imprecatory psalms. Keep in mind that these are poetry rather than doctrinal declarations. If some injustice makes you furious enough to want lasting harm to befall the perpetrator (or even their kids!), tell God about it. Whatever’s on your heart, God can deal. If you know that as a good Christian you’re supposed to love your enemies, it can be awfully tempting to deny what you’re really feeling. Articulating your hostile fantasies in the presence of God can help you genuinely fulfil the commands in the Sermon on the Mount.

Psalm 131

These are trying times. Anger is a natural and fitting response to injustice, yet it ill serves us to be too agitated to think straight.

I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a child quieted at its mother’s breast;
like a child that is quieted is my soul. (Ps 131[130]:1b-2)

Strive to be at peace

Inspired by our predecessors who endured persecution, even to the point of martyrdom, may we trust in God’s faithfulness.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, … nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:35, 38–39)

In accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish. (2 Pet 3:13–14, NRSV)

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Except as indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

*Hotlinks go to the passage on Bible Gateway, so if you have a different default translation there, you should get it instead. Alternative numbering of the psalms is based on the Septuagint as used in the Orthodox tradition.