A few weeks ago I joined Rev. Alex McNeill for More Light Presbyterians Liberation Bible
Study. Alex invites guests to answer three questions about the text in three different readings.
I invite you to do the same with Psalm 60 today...
1. What stands out to you in the reading?
2. How does the text call us to resistance?
3. Where do you see a vision for liberation in the text?
As I reflect I keep thinking about verse 2,
You’ve made the ground quake, splitting it open. Now repair its cracks because it’s shaking apart!
It makes me wonder if God's response to the psalmist's cries might be,
"The ground needs to quake, it needs to split open right now, there is freedom coming in the unsettling of the status quo, there is freedom coming in the shaking up of empire, repair is coming - but maybe not in the way you had imagined. Trust me."
Psalm 60
God, you have rejected us—
shattered us.
You’ve been so angry.
Now restore us!
2 You’ve made the ground quake,
splitting it open.
Now repair its cracks
because it’s shaking apart!
3 You’ve made your people suffer hardship;
you’ve given us wine and we stagger.
4 Give a flag to those who honor you,
so they can rally around it,
safe from attack.[b] Selah
5 Save us by your power and answer us
so that the people you love might be rescued.
6 God has spoken in his sanctuary:
“I will celebrate as I divide up Shechem
and portion out the Succoth Valley.
7 Gilead is mine;
Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet;
Judah is my scepter.
8 But Moab is my washbowl;
I’ll throw my shoe at Edom.
I shout in triumph over Philistia!
9 I wish someone would bring me to a fortified city!
I wish someone would lead me to Edom!”
10 But you have rejected us, God, haven’t you?
God, you no longer accompany our armies.
11 Give us help against the enemy;
human help is worthless.
12 With God we will triumph;
he’s the one who will trample our adversaries.