So with open hands, we as people trust, that the last word is yet to be spoken and that the possibilities for restored relationships with enemies just may be embodied. But, seldom do we as people “bridge the gulf between practice and profession.” It is precisely this seldom-ness that expresses the kind of utter defiance that rests just below the surface of praise that has been purified by pain. Psalm 138.4 is willing to step out and invite, “All the kings of the earth” to praise Yhwh. These are the kings that stand in rebellion often to God’s purposes in the world, and yet, the psalmist is ready to risk the whole process of being put to shame once again. Once again, the faithful yield to what God is doing—the ways in which Yhwh invites us to live. Before Psalm 138 ends it reflects in remembrance and hope, “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life.” Remember the connection between “walking” and “living”, which places self in the middle of God’s trusted faithful record of redemption and enduring love. The work of God’s hand is the new thing that continues to be the mark of the people that belong in his embrace. Pursuit, of this relational reality is the ethical imperative that guides the language of the Psalter. It voices then, and we with it, newness as we walk in this new ordering of our life together.
