Psalm 60 Shaken or Stirred?

Before diving into Psalm 60, you might be interested to know that the last half of this Davidic psalm was appropriated and reused in a later post-exilic context in Psalm 108. If you want to, you can click the following link to see my post on Psalm 108: Back by Popular Demand.

My focus in this post today is Psalm 60:1-3 and then a few verses towards the end...

    O God,

you have rejected us, broken our defenses;

you have been angry; oh, restore us.

You have made the land to quake;

you have torn it open; repair its breaches, for it totters.

You have made your people see hard things;

you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger. (60:1-3)

This psalm contains a central victory shout of God (v.6-8) wrapped in a sandwich of national lament. The shout describes some of David’s victories, but they didn’t come without some difficult times, perhaps even times of doubting if God was present at all. Yet, during those times, when it was when God shook up the land the people’s hearts turned back to God…and saw his victory over their enemies. If God is shaking things around you, look up, flee to him, and the salvation he alone brings. 

Photo by Dave Goudreau on Unsplash

For someone like me who spent their early years in Southern California, and now lives in the PNW, the earth “quaking” is one thing, but it being torn open brings another whole level of concern! There is something deeply unsettling when the thing we consider most solid in our lives is shaken. The imagery in v.1-3 is especially appropriate for our current cultural context!

However, in putting myself into the shoes of the original singers of this psalm, I am reminded of something that happened in Numbers 16 when Korah and 250 elders rebelled against Moses and the Lord. In verses 29-33, Moses boldly declared what God was going to do and then faithfully recorded what God did that day!

If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”

And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. (emphasis mine)

Photo by Shefali Lincoln on Unsplash

David’s use of such ground-tearing imagery possibly alluded to the price of rebellion before they had ever entered the Promised Land. Now, what their sin had resulted in was a more metaphorical “tearing” as tribes were fractured from each other and as enemy nations attacked while their attention was diverted.

Throughout the last several millennia both physical and metaphorical earthquakes have continued in the Middle East. But there remains another great quake to come.

The final book of the Bible speaks of a time when even the ground of Jerusalem would be torn.

And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. (Rev. 16:18-20)

And the quake to end all quakes is described in Hebrews 12 when the author speaks of our receiving a kingdom that cannot be “shaken”

At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.  Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Heb. 12:26-29)

Just two psalms later, in Psalm 62:2, 6 we are reminded that in shaky times it is the Lord himself who is our refuge and will enable us to stand.

He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken… 
He only   is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be             shaken.

So, as I ponder this passage today, I wonder if the circumstantial things we often interpret as God rejecting us are indicative of rejection or if are they related to discipline and his Spirit’s work to prepare us to repent and return to the God who loves us as his children? Psalm 60:10 asks the circumstantially rooted question,

"Have you not rejected us, O God?

          You do not go forth, O God, with our armies.” 

Photo by ahna-ziegler on unsplash

In times like this, will we be shaken and blame God while continuing to depend on our own strength and wisdom, or will we be stirred to confess, repent, and ask for God’s gracious help in our time of trouble?

How does this psalm end? The psalmist led the community of faith in the way of life!

Oh, grant us help against the foe,

     for vain is the salvation of man!

With God we shall do valiantly;

    it is he who will tread down our foes." (v. 11-12)

In review, the psalmist wrestled with having to fight against enemies (Aram & Edom in this case) which made him wonder if God was no longer with them. Yet he made a profound trust statement... that man could not save him/them, only God could!

I also love that confident line in v.12, "With God we shall do valiantly"...but it only works when we realize that the salvation that comes from our own efforts is worthless. Yet somehow the Lord still allows us to be a part of the awesome things he is doing! The trick is being with God rather than trying to get him to be with us. The heart question we must answer is whether are we committed to participating with him in what he does or are more concerned with his blessing of what it is that we do.

The best way to do something right is to take a moment to include God in the process. I knew someone many years ago who would ask, "Is this just my bright idea or God's right idea?"

I guess it just depends on what we want to see at the end of the day, the week, the life... I would prefer to be stirred up to trust in God and see some valiantly effective purposefulness! How about you?