Psalm 79 is the psalm we need right now.
Here again, we encounter one of what Walter Brueggemann calls the “psalms of disorientation.” He argues that we don’t typically like these psalms because they grate against our ears and our sensibilities:
“It is no wonder that the church has intuitively avoided these psalms [of disorientation]. They lead us into dangerous acknowledgement of how life really is. They lead us into the presence of God where everything is not polite and civil. They cause us to think unthinkable thoughts and utter unutterable words. Perhaps worst, they lead us away from the comfortable religious claims of "modernity" in which everything is managed and controlled. In our modern experience, but probably also in every successful and affluent culture, it is believed that enough power and knowledge can tame the terror and eliminate the darkness.”
I find Brueggemann’s words to be timely. In our current social/political moment there are those who simply stick their head in the sand and ignore “how life really is.” This of course, calls into question our allegiance with a God of compassion, mercy, and justice. But, among those who have the courage to “think unthinkable thoughts and utter unutterable words” there is a similar danger: to seek salvation apart from God, believing that “enough power and knowledge can tame the terror and eliminate the darkness.”
There is probably another reason we tend to avoid these kinds of psalms. Maybe it is because we have trouble finding our place in them? We approach these psalms and ask: “Who am I in this psalm?”
Psalms of disorientation often provide uncomfortable answers.
Psalm 79, specifically, works in two, equal and opposite directions—it cuts both ways. That is, it disorients us and gives words to our disorientation. For those who are hurting, for those who are suffering the particular consequences of another’s sin or from the ubiquity of a fallen world of sin, Psalm 79 cries out for justice and gives voice to their pain; it is a welcomed, healing balm. But, to those who have overlooked and ignored their particular sins, or their complicity in the ubiquity of sin in the structures and systems of the world, Psalm 79 is a bitter tonic. Either way, Psalm 79 is good medicine.
Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name's sake! (Psalm 79:9)
Psalm 79 is the psalm we need right now.
- Chaz Holsomback