Psalm 63: 1-8 (links validated 2/25/25a)

Fairly recently in a Psalm Sermon Commentary here on CEP I harked back to a famous scene from the first of the Lord of the Rings films by director Peter Jackson and based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s much loved books. The Hobbit Frodo has been tasked to take the evil Ring of Power back to the Land of Mordor in order to destroy the Ring in the volcanic fires from which it had been originally forged. The Ring came to Frodo via his Uncle Bilbo who had managed to take the Ring from the creature Gollum years earlier. But consumed by the Ring’s evil as Gollum was, he secretly pursued the Fellowship of the Ring, the group led by the wizard Gandalf who were helping Frodo in his quest. As the Fellowship goes through a series of underground caves as part of the journey, at one point Frodo spies some creature who appeared to be following them. Frodo reports this to Gandalf who confirms he knows that it’s Gollum. This lead Frodo to say “It’s a pity Bilbo did not kill Gollum when he had the chance.” “Pity?” Gandalf replies. “It was pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand.” He then goes on to reveal that in his heart he believes Gollum may have a key role to play. “The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many” Gandalf finally says. (And spoiler alert: Gandalf is proven right. When at the end of it all the evil of the Ring so infects Frodo that he cannot bring himself to cast the Ring into the fire to destroy it, Gollum gets the Ring by biting off Frodo’s ring finger. But having finally gotten the Ring back, Gollum then loses his balance and falls, Ring and all, into the fires that destroyed them both.) It is not easy to feel pity for sinful or rotten people. It is not easy to forgive those who persecute us as Jesus says we must. But somehow—perhaps not usually in ways as easy to see as in the example above—feeling the pity that can lead to forgiveness may at the end of the cosmic day help us to arrive at the Shalom for which God created us.

“If we fail to acknowledge truthfully who [our enemies] are and what they are doing, then we cheapen forgiveness and, indeed, may perpetuate or exacerbate the cycle of violence and vengeance. The path of forgiveness cannot be authentic unless there is truthful moral and political judgment. Of course, that means, in the first instance, acknowledging the senses in which all of us have been, and to some extent still are, enemies of God. That is what it means to repent daily, to continue to unlearn the patterns of sin and evil as we seek to become holy people.”

“If we fail to acknowledge truthfully who [our enemies] are and what they are doing, then we cheapen forgiveness and, indeed, may perpetuate or exacerbate the cycle of violence and vengeance. The path of forgiveness cannot be authentic unless there is truthful moral and political judgment. Of course, that means, in the first instance, acknowledging the senses in which all of us have been, and to some extent still are, enemies of God. That is what it means to repent daily, to continue to unlearn the patterns of sin and evil as we seek to become holy people.”

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What does blessing God “as long as I’m alive” mean? I believe it means choice, and echoes Moses’ admonition. As someone who works in hospice, I understand the real consequences of the life and death choices. I understand what it means for a family to grapple with the quality of life versus the quantity of life. Every decision veers between blessing and curse. However, as I read this “as long as you live” snippet from Psalm 63, I don’t view this scripture as speaking to only literal life and death situations...

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