by Colin Saxton
I chose this psalm because, like Carl Magruder and Adria DiCapua [the two first guest presenters in the Walking with the Bible series], I share a sense of lament and a sense of hope in this time. This psalm deals with the question of how do we live in difficult circumstances; how do we be faithful? We’ve been through a season of difficulty in our nation and in our world, and in my sight that’s not going to change anytime soon. A few years ago the World Health Organization said that hopelessness is one of the most serious health crises facing the world. I just read a study of people in my state of Oregon that said fifty percent of us are dealing with fear and anxiety. And as I listen to folks around the country, I hear this sense of people feeling hemmed in, feeling fearful and anxious. When that happens it seems to me that we wind up doing strange things. Fear and anxiety cause us to be silent, to lose courage, to not take action. We wind up saying things that don’t honor us or that harm other people around us. I was teaching at a Mennonite conference recently on being a peace church in the 21st century and I was talking about this theme. I said it seems to me that we ping-pong between fear and anxiety. Sometimes fear paralyzes us or anxiety makes us feel like we just have to do something, even if it’s the wrong thing; we have to take action. Neither of these impulses, it seems to me, serve us or others well. Can’t we, instead, operate out of that Life and Power that is available to guide our steps and empower our efforts?
I was drawn to Psalm 18 which to me touches on one of the most lovely themes in all of the Old Testament: the idea of God leading people into a spacious place. The Hebrew word for spaciousness (merchab) is at the core of their vision of salvation and deliverance. It’s sometimes translated as a “broad” or a “roomy” place, a wider expansive place. It’s the opposite of being controlled by anything outside of us or inside of us other than God. It’s the grace that liberates us, that sets free the fearful, that unchains the prisoner, that cancels the debts of others. It heals the broken and it allows people — and a community of people — to live a life of unhindered faith before God. It speaks to a sense of enoughness, of freedom, of well-being and integrity. One of the things I love about it is it doesn’t promise that everything’s going to be okay. It simply promises that in the midst of difficulty, when we feel like this ocean of darkness is about to overwhelm us, that God opens up this space of Light that we are able to step into and gives us room to walk in, room to be faithful in.
The first section of the psalm speaks to this idea of being in distress and stricken with anxiety and overwhelm. But when we’re mindful, when we’re paying attention, God offers us a third way. Something else opens up for us and we remember that there’s this power and presence at work in the world that is stronger than our enemy and stronger than our sense of danger. That’s why this passage speaks so much to me, trying to remember both personally and for us as people who desire to be in the world: how do we live into that spaciousness so it might help others find that same experience?
Psalm 18: 1-19, New International Version
1 I love you, Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold….
4 The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears….
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
Queries for reflection or worship sharing
- Have you ever felt like life was about to swallow you completely?
- When you find yourself feeling hemmed in by anxiety or fear, what helps you re-center in a spacious place?
- As you listen to the voice of Christ, to Spirit, to God, what else rises within as you consider the words from the Psalm?
Colin chose to raise up Psalm 18 when he appeared as guest Bible leader in the third session of the Walking with the Bible online series cosponsored by Beacon Hill Friends House and Woolman Hill. The session was held on December 6, 2020. This excerpt also appears in the Pendle Hill Pamphlet #477 Walking with the Bible.
You can read more about this group method of Bible reflection at Walking with the Bible in the Resource Library of Quaker Religious Education Collaborative.
Colin Saxton is a member of North Valley Friends in Newberg, Oregon. A former general secretary of Friends United Meeting, Saxton now serves as Stewardship Theologian and Director of Director of Church Relations at Everence which offers faith-based financial services to faith communities and people of faith.