⁵ Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
    our God is merciful.
⁶ The Lord protects the simple;
    when I was brought low, he saved me.
⁷ Return, O my soul, to your rest,
    for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

⁸ For you have delivered my soul from death,
    my eyes from tears,
    my feet from stumbling.
⁹ I walk before the Lord
    in the land of the living.
¹⁰ I kept my faith, even when I said,
    “I am greatly afflicted”;
¹¹ I said in my consternation,
    “Everyone is a liar.”

¹² What shall I return to the Lord
for all his bounty to me?
¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
¹⁴ I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his faithful ones.
¹⁶ O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
You have loosed my bonds.
¹⁷ I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice
and call on the name of the Lord.
¹⁸ I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
¹⁹ in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!

Reflection
Once again, the psalm seems to be able to speak to us even though we are separated by so many hundreds of years.  The poem reminds us of what it is to live in troubling times.  The psalmist writes,”I kept my faith even when I said I was greatly afflicted. I kept my faith even when I was crying; when I didn’t know where to turn or what to do; when I didn’t trust anyone.” Yet through the very trying time he declares he walks before the Lord in the land of the living.  IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING. O to find that path to that place!

For some of us, living through this pandemic and time of political upheaval is truly a dark and difficult time.  There are many reasons for that, and we should not be ashamed for the distress, anxiety, grief, and even anger or depression we feel.  For others of us, we are not as afflicted.  Perhaps our lives are not as disrupted, our spirits not as anguished.  No matter where we are on the spectrum of emotion and experience during this great disruption, we may all pray for deliverance, for mercy, for protection, and for our faith to be real.  For those of us who are feeling as if the “snares of death” encompass us or “the pangs of Sheol” lay hold of us, I pray that you not get lost in the grip of Sheol, but remember the cup of salvation in the psalm and at the communion table.  May others hold your hand as you walk through that shadow and step into the land of the living.  May those of us who are less distressed remember those who are struggling and walk with them, not to shame or judge them for their troubled spirits, but to accompany them in prayer and love.  May we all come to a place of peace and comfort.