Is there not a prophetic dimension to Psalm 55?
Excerpt:
“God, who is enthroned from of old,
who does not change—
he will hear them and humble them,
because they have no fear of God.
My companion attacks his friends;
he violates his covenant.
His talk is smooth as butter,
yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,
yet they are drawn swords. »
« Cast your cares on the Lord
and he will sustain you;
he will never let
the righteous be shaken. »
When these treacherous forces, when duplicities are released, as is the case through this psalm, as is the case through this world, it is not I, it is not you who are powerful enough to override, to oppose these forces in motion: “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you”
Same inner movement: that of sitting practice and prayer.
Besides, there is no other practice in the end than the inner sitting.
Cast your cares on the Lord
In women’s magazines to be read on the beach, they say: « Let go ». It would be a very small warm-up. It would be a push-up that you do with your knees on the ground; it goes in the right direction, but it doesn’t do much in itself.
It’s cute. So cute that it’s almost ridiculous.
« Let go » is still you doing something for yourself, that’s not the inner movement, the turning around, Salvation, the Awakening… It’s not « Let go », it’s « Cast your cares on the Lord« , « rely on the only reliable thing ».
« He will never let the righteous be shaken.« . The righteous is that which in you will never stumble. What is in you is a member of the chosen people, what is in you is already awake.
Before the passage commented on, Psalm 55 says:
“Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words,
for I see violence and strife in the city.
Day and night they prowl about on its walls;
malice and abuse are within it.
Destructive forces are at work in the city;
threats and lies never leave its streets.”
The city, the walls,
Each of the doors along these walls are our senses. Senses through which trouble enters, what we keep under such a close watch when sitting, when praying.
Day and night they prowl about on its walls. Do you let them in? Once they are back, what do you do?
The worst configuration is to let them come in without even seeing them come in: total ignorance. The inner enemy is everywhere and at no time are you able to even realize it is your enemy.
As the psalm says a little further on, it is someone you thought was your friend:
« But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,
with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
at the house of God,
as we walked about
among the worshipers. ».
Friend/traitor=definition of the inner enemy: Who is he inside, who is he outside?
What form does he take around us? Let us listen to his honeyed voice, let us understand his ways. Let us listen to how fiercely he pretends to want what’s good for us.
Notes & Silence 