Day 10: Psalm 8

One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2020 was to go back to a pen and paper calendar.

I love technology, but Rosanna had switched to a pen and paper system years ago and I’ve envied her ability to keep track of so many events and details. In light of 2020, I’m thinking of listing my new planner on eBay.

If you are anything like me, much of life has a predictability and schedule to it. For the last few years, I’ve woken up at the same time, eaten meals at the same time, get the kids in bed around the same time, go to bed at the same time, and repeat. Rosanna and I last night were talking about how disorienting the last few weeks have been. There is nothing to put in a calendar. Everything we’ve expected this year to hold is now on hold or erased.

According to Walter Brueggemann, one of the most well-known Old Testament scholars in the world, the book of Psalms has a flow to it. There are Psalms of orientation, Psalms of disorientation, and Psalms of New Orientation. Psalms of Orientation are wisdom, creation, and favor of God Psalms. The Psalms of disorientation are heartbreak moments. The Psalms of new orientation are the celebration of God’s grace even in the despair.

Notice these three Psalms,

Orientation

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them?

Psalm 8:3-4

Disorientation

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

Psalm 13:1

New Orientation

When my heart was grieved

and my spirit embittered,

I was senseless and ignorant;

I was a brute beast before you.

Yet I am always with you;

you hold me by my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will take me into glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

Psalm 73:21-25

I have found this “orientation” language helpful as I pray through and process this disorienting experience. In a way, the Psalms are a picture of the Gospels, and more specifically the last week of Jesus’ life. He enters into Jerusalem on a donkey hearing shouts of "Hosanna!", on Friday he is crucified, and by Sunday He is risen. The new orientation (resurrection) comes through the disorientation (crucifixion).

Although you feel disoriented, may the Psalms (and the Gospels) remind you of how God works. The disorientation is a necessary phase for God bringing about His gifts. At this moment, let us remind ourselves of where we are in the story. We are in disorientation, but the Psalms would remind us we aren’t in permanent disorientation.

You are being prepared for a new work. What values may change, what new priority may emerge for you, when life on the other side of quarantine comes? That is new orientation.

Jared