On Nets and Pits

On Nets and Pits

January 25, 2021

 

The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

Have you ever noticed? The psalms are full of verses about the psalmist’s enemies. Really. Reading them you get the impression that the ancient Israelites had nothing but enemies. People were always out to get them. People acted treacherously toward them. Sometimes it sounds like people never did anything else. Here are some of the verses of Psalm 27 to illustrate the point:

 

When evildoers assail me

       to devour my flesh—

my adversaries and foes—

       they shall stumble and fall. Psalm 27:2.

 

and

 

Do not give me up to the will of

              my adversaries,

       for false witnesses have risen

              against me

       and they are breathing out

              violence. Psalm 27:12.

 

In Psalm 57 we read:

 

I lie down among lions

       that greedily devour human

              prey;

their teeth are spears and arrows,

       their tongues sharp swords. Psalm 57:4

 

and

 

They set a net for my steps;

       my soul was bowed down.

They dug a pit in my path….Psalm 57:6

 

Has anyone ever set a net for your steps? Has anyone dug a pit in your path either literally or metaphorically? Maybe I’ve just led a charmed life in that respect, or maybe it’s because I have just about every privilege a person can have in this culture; but I can’t say that anyone has ever done those things to me. When I find a psalm going on about enemies I usually skip it and move on thinking that those verses have no meaning for me.

I did that, that is, until very recently. As I was reading Psalm 57 recently something occurred to me that I hadn’t thought about in relationship to the psalms before. I remembered that I have long insisted in teaching, preaching, and writing that we not read the Bible literally. I have urged people to focus less on what in a Bible passage that sounds like facts and to look more for what the passage might mean in our contemporary setting. It occurred to me that perhaps I could and should be doing that with the psalms like I do it with so many other parts of the Bible.

Well, OK; but just what would doing that mean for my reading in Psalms about all the enemies that keep popping up in them? On their surface those verses don’t speak to me because I don’t think I have any real enemies, but an answer did occur to me. What if I read the verses about enemies not literally as being about external enemies but metaphorically as being about our internal enemies? What if I read them as being about things inside us that set nets for our feet and dig pits in our paths? If I could do that then perhaps those verses in the psalms about enemies that I had so easily dismissed might have some real meaning for me.

See, I have and have had all kinds of things inside me that have set nets for my feet and dug pits in my path. I suspect that everyone has. A big   one for me in the past was depression. It was caused by another big one, my spending years doing work that wasn’t grounded in who I really am and that didn’t feed my soul. All kinds of mental things set nets and dig pits for us. I couldn’t possibly list them all here, but I will mention a few. Mental illness of course can do it, but so can less drastic things. Things like lack of confidence in oneself, a belief that one is unable to do something one really wants and perhaps needs to do, anxiety, fear, a felt need to conform to some cultural standard that doesn’t correspond to one’s needs and gifts, being caught in the endless cycle of spending money and acquiring goods that our culture tries always to push us into that never satisfies and often leads to despair . The list could go on and on. Some of these things we can perhaps overcome, maybe with professional help. Others may be with us for a lifetime. All of them can be nets and pits that cause a whole variety of problems in life.

Fortunately, the psalms that talk so much about enemies have another theme in them as well. Here’s how Psalm 57, other verses of which I quoted above, begins:

 

Be merciful to me, O God, be

              merciful to me,

       for in you my soul takes

              refuge;

in the shadow of your wings I

              will take refuge

       until the destroying storms

              pass by

I cry to God Most High,

       to God who fulfills his purpose

              for me.

He will send from heaven and

              save me….

God will send forth his steadfast

              love and faithfulness. Psalm 57:1-3

 

Here’s how Psalm 27, part of which I also quoted above, begins:

 

The Lord is my light and my

              salvation;

       whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of

              my life;

       of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1

 

Psalm 27 also says,

 

For he will hide me in his shelter

       in the day of trouble;

he will conceal me under the

              cover of his tent;

       he will set me high on a rock.

 

Now my head is lifted up

       above my enemies all

              around me,

and I will offer in his tent

       sacrifices with shouts of joy;

I will sing and make melody to

       the Lord. Psalm 27:5-6

 

The psalmists turned to God when they were beset by human enemies. In God, they say, they found shelter. They sing praises to God for God’s help in their times of trouble.

We can do the same in our times of trouble with our inner enemies. We can turn to God for help in overcoming them. God is always there to hold us and comfort us. To give us courage and strength. To help us do what is right for ourselves, our loved ones, and God’s world. God is not a magic elixir. One prayer, or even a long series of prayers, won’t make our inner enemies magically disappear. But God is always there longing to help us along our path toward the wholeness of life that God wants for every one of God’s people. There may still be nets and pits along the way. If you’re caught in one know that God is in there with you, is there to help you out. The psalmists were right to turn to God when their enemies assailed them. We’re right too to turn to God for help when our inner enemies assail us. Overcoming those enemies won’t necessarily be easy, but with God it may well be possible. For that we too can sing our songs of praise and joy to our God. Amen.