Abstract:
Looking at various psalms of
different genres as examples, this essay explores the role that human
vulnerability and weakness and divine and human responses to them play in the
Psalter. The finite and fallen nature of humanity means we are vulnerable and
weak when we encounter crisis. The psalmist’s response to crisis reassures us
that many of the physical suffering and emotional turmoils we experience in life
are just as real to the psalmist. The psalmist’s faithful responses are
examples we can follow. God’s response to human vulnerability and weakness are
described by the psalmist as hesed
and just. The implications of this for my understanding of a theology of my
profession as a medical practitioner is to not take advantage of my position of
power to “play God” or oppress others, but to offer the patients my presence as
a fellow human who also understand pain and suffering.
‘This poor one called, and Yahweh
heard’ (Ps 34:7[1]).
I will explore the role that human vulnerability and weakness and divine and
human responses to them play in the Psalter by looking at various different
genre of psalms as examples. I will then discuss the implications of my answer
for my understanding of a theology of my profession as a medical practitioner.
The book of Psalms is relational
and personal, as it is in first-person speech.[2] It is
about a life of faith, in relationship with God.[3] The
introductory psalms (Ps1,2) are the lenses through which readers are instructed
to approach the Psalter.[4] Ps2 is a
Royal psalm as there are nouns indicating the theme of kingship: kings, rulers,
his anointed.[5]
Humanity is rebellious: the earthy rulers are rebelling against the God and the
anointed human king he is installing (V1-3). God watches humanity from above
and laughs at this human rebellion from his throne in heaven, because they have
no chance of winning against the creator of the universe (V4). It is a ‘vain
struggle’.[6] Warning
is given to submit to Yahweh instead of rebelling or else perish (V10-12)[7], as God
is prepared to judge the rebellious.[8] The
psalmist reminds us that happy are those who responds by taking refuge in God
(V12).
Ps8 is a creation hymn, as there
is a relationship between this psalm and Genesis1.[9]
“Enemies” in V3 symbolize human strength, whereby the enemies of God do not
recognise the name of God. “Babes” symbolise human weakness and humility.[10]
We see God using the weak to display His glory.[11] When
the psalmist recognised the greatness of God, he also realised his own
insignificance and asked “what is man?”[12]
Despite the finiteness of humanity, God cares about us (V5), and conferred
dignity and value upon us[13]
by giving us “dominion” over creation.[14]
We are to view the “civilising work of humanity as honour and glory conferred
on it by God and, therefore, as cause and content for praise of God.”[15]
Laments involve an experience of
the psalmist that either calls into question God’s fidelity or demands a
faithful action from God.[16] Psalms
of confidence are laments that express confidence in God’s fidelity despite
looming threats[17],
so instead of dwelling on the questions, they have a mood of trust.[18] For
example, Ps16 opens with “Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge”. The
psalmist could be appealing for deliverance from a crisis or be expressing a
desire for continuing divine protection in the future.[19] The
psalmist praises God’s counsel (V7) where he was guided by God’s law about how
to live (V11). This counsel helped the psalmist develop a sense of conscience.[20] God’s
deliverance involves the “heart” and the “body” (V9), which represents not
merely the intellectual aspect but the totality of the psalmist’s life.[21] There is
a sense of a restoration to a full life in God’s presence (V11).[22] God has
proven God’s fidelity to the psalmist: When the psalmist runs to God for
refuge, in God he finds refuge.
Ps22 is an individual lament. The vulnerable
psalmist begins by lamenting on a sense of being forsaken by God (V2),
expressed most powerfully in the divine silence (V3).[23] “Trust”
is repeated three times in V5-6. Crying out in distress and expression trust
can happen at the same time and are not incompatible, as “I know what I feel
and I know what I believe.”[24] The
psalmist felt dehumanised and describes himself as “a worm” (V7). This is
further exacerbated by the taunting words of fellow human beings (V9). It seems
the only reality was the distance of God, and the nearness of the taunting
human beings.[25]
The psalmist cries out for the removal of the divine distance (V12).[26] V13-14
heightens the sense of being alone as the enemies surround the psalmist. V15-16
describes the physical symptoms of fear.[27],[28] This
is reflective of the emotional turmoil that a person of faith undergoes when he
tries to make sense of the suffering, pain and even attacks from others with
faith in a powerful and loving God.[29] V22 is
the turning point which begins with an imperative verb, “save me” and ends with
a perfect verb “you answered me”.[30] It is a
declaration of trust and confidence[31], based
upon the faith that God would answer his prayers.[32] From
V23 onwards, the psalmist lead the community into worship.[33],[34] The
psalmist perceives that God has heard him and an answer was coming (V25). God’s
faithfulness, in promising deliverance, also requires faithfulness from the
sufferer.[35]
This psalm is an expression of a mature spirituality where a person who is
experiencing affliction demonstrates the ability to hold on to two
contradictory set of facts.[36]
Ps51 is a penitential psalm, a
type of lament which is a straightforward confession of transgression against
God and humanity, with a plea for restoration and proper action in the future.[37] David
opens by asking for God’s mercy. He then states in V5, “I have been a sinner
from the time my mother conceived me.” So, if the essence of sin is rebellion,
its origin is in our fallen nature.[38] In V12
David asks for God’s mercy so that he can be restored to the joy of God’s
salvation.[39]
In V13-19 we see that with God’s hesed
restored in him[40],
David changes his attitude towards other people and God. He accepts his
responsibility to his fellow humans and will teach them God’s way. He offers
his “broken and contrite heart” to God.[41]
On a heavier note, Ps88 is an
unusual lament that does not follow the “plea/praise” pattern. It is one of the
darkest places of the Psalter, as it begins and ends with unanswered cries to
God[42],
unrelieved in its embrace of disorientation.[43] It
offers no change in circumstance or any hope that there will be a change.[44] This
psalm teaches a lesson about the real world, that sometimes there is no happy
ending. Some people suffer and even die in horrible circumstances.[45] Ps137
is an imprecatory psalm that ends with the most horrifying closing line of any
psalm, which involves dashing babies at the rocks. It is a lament sung to God
in the face of absolute despair and hopelessness, asking for God’s justice.[46],[47]
The setting was during or just after the Babylonian exile.[48] This a
song of revenge sung on behalf of the victims of cruelty, despair and
destruction.[49]
P.D. James had a character in her novel say, “If I had a God, I’d like him to
be intelligent, cheerful and amusing…” but “when they herded you into the gas
chambers… You might prefer a God of vengeance.”[50] God
does not ask us to suppress the emotions and desire for revenge when we or our
loved ones have been wronged.[51]
Ps34 is generally thought to be a
thanksgiving psalm but also contains instructions.[52],[53]
The psalmist declaratively praise God, invites the community to join in,[54] and
reports his personal encounter with God[55] in a
situation of crisis where God listened and acted:[56],[57],[58] “This
poor one called, and Yahweh heard” (V7). “Fear of the Lord” is the psalm’s most
profound insight, where one simultaneous trembles in dread and joy due to the
paradoxical awareness of one’s fragility, mortality and sinfulness as opposed
to God’s almightiness, immortality and graciousness (V10).[59] V19-20
describes God’s elected but suffering people, who have shattered hearts and
crushed spirits.[60]
V21-23 concludes with God’s promise that those who hate the righteous will be
held guilty, and those who seek refuge in him will not be held guilty.[61] This is
not so much a psalm on moral statements as it is a relational one. When we are
in need, Yahweh is near, listening to prayer and acting in response to the
prayer. The answer involves rescue, deliverance, protection and redemption.[62]
Ps36 is unique in that we cannot
assign any precise genre to it. V1-4 sounds like a wisdom psalm, V5-9 a praise
hymn, and V10-12 a petition for help. The character of the wicked and the
character of God is contrasted. There is an emphasis on God’s characteristic hesed in the praise.[63] The
word hesed can be translated as
‘mercy’, ‘love’, ‘steadfast love’, faithful love’ or ‘love unfailing’.[64] The
psalmist pleads or God to “extend your hesed
to those who know you” (V10).[65] Knowing
God means it is more than the intellect but implies a relationship that is
experienced and lived out in daily life. V11 is a plea for deliverance from the
wicked, and V12 a plea for judgment on the wicked.[66] The
wicked is not described as a violent threat to the psalmist but one who lives
life by setting up the self as the autonomous standard.[67]
Ps73 is a wisdom psalm, which are
psalms that meditate on a long history of God’s fidelity and teach the
generations to trust in God’s faithfulness.[68] The
psalmist starts off by voicing his confusion and jealousy about “why do the
wicked prosper?”[69]
He is confused because he sees “a world that does not seem to reflect God’s
values and God’s kingdom.” Our faith becomes stuck if this conflict is not
resolved.[70]
The psalmist is representing the voice of those oppressed by the faithless.[71] The fact that the faithless are able to get away
seem to suggest that God does not take any notice of what goes on and does not
bother with affairs of this world (V11).[72]
The psalmist felt righteous life was pointless (V13)[73]:
“It there is no hesed in God, then
why should I keep hesed with him?”
However, the psalmist acknowledges that to speak in this matter would be
inappropriate because he has a responsibility in leading God’s people, so to be
faithless towards God was also to be faithless towards them (V15).[74] V17 is the turning point where the psalmist entered “into the sanctuary
of God”, which was the simple ordinary experience of worshiping God.[75] V19
describes how the fall of the wicked will be sudden and complete.[76] It is only God that one needs (V25).[77]
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my
portion forever” (V26). The limitations of “I” is set against the limitlessness
of “God”.[78] The psalm closes with
God being near and the psalmist’s refuge (V27).
Ps78 is a wisdom psalm that bases
its words of wisdom on the history of God’s dealings with the ancient
Israelites.[79]
It demonstrates the long struggle that God has had with humanity[80]: People
have repeatedly proved faithless and rebellious, but God has met each new act
of infidelity with unsurpassed fidelity.[81] To
confess God as faithful does not mean God never angers or punishes (V21). God’s
anger is relational. It is not a random capricious emotion, but must be
provoked by human infidelity. God’s anger is not the opposite of God’s
faithfulness but one aspect of God’s faithfulness. It burns against those who
cause suffering.[82]
Ps103 is a hymn of praise
concentrating on the hesed of God.[83] Hymns
of praise include a call to praise followed by reasons for praise.[84] This
psalm begins with the psalmist self-exhortation to praise God. He then speaks
of his personal experience of the Lord’s hesed
in V3-5[85], with
the Lord as “the one who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your
diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast
love and mercy, who satisfies you with good, so that your youth is renewed like
the eagle's.” We see a restoration of the psalmist’s broken human conditions
from God’s hesed.[86] We see
the character of God as had been revealed to Moses: “The Lord is merciful and
gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (V7-8).” In V10-14, the
psalm shifts to first person plural, speaking of God’s hesed with respect to the people as a nation.[87] V17-19
talks of God’s hesed with respect to
God’s universal reign. V20-22 closes with a universal call to praise.[88] Ps146
is a hymn that declares God’s care for the oppressed, the hungry, the
prisoners, the blind, those who are bent down, the strangers, the orphans and
widows.[89]
From the Psalter, we can see that
humanity is vulnerable and weak. We are finite and have a fallen nature. The
sin in our nature means we rebel against God repeatedly. Instead of depending
on God, we often take matters in our own hands. Our rebellion often brings us
to crisis points in our lives, or puts others into crisis, eg. David and
Bathsheba, and when the wicked oppress others. Our finiteness means we
encounter sicknesses and are easily harmed by both natural and man-made
disasters. The psalmist’s response to crisis reassures us that the physical
symptoms of fear, the feelings of dehumanisation, abandonment, despair,
hopelessness and wanting to curse are all normal human responses to crisis. It
is natural to feel perplexed and be tempted to follow the path of the wicked.
However, this perplexity gives us the opportunity to develop a mature
spirituality where we can to hold on to two contradictory set of facts when we
are afflicted.
The psalmist’s faithful responses
are examples we can follow: Know and fear the Lord; Crying out to God for help
and for God’s presence; Repenting to God and teaching others to repent; Trusting
and praising God; Testifying, offering thanksgiving and leading the community
into praise and worship. God’s response to human vulnerability and weakness are
described by the psalmist. God is hesed,
watching over us purposefully from heaven and caring for us.[90] God
uses the weak to display his glory. God is just: his anger is not capricious but
must be provoked by human infidelity. He laughs at our rebellion, judges the
wicked, but also gives humanity opportunities to repent. In Israel’s history
God repeatedly forgives and has met each new act of infidelity with unsurpassed
fidelity. God listens, comforts, counsels and show compassion. God offers
protection, deliverance and restoration. When the psalmist cries out for God’s
presence, God becomes near. Ps88 is an exception and serves as reminder to look
beyond life on earth.
People often come to medical practitioners
in a state of vulnerability and weakness for advice and help. When people
suffer, they experience finitude, vulnerability, fracturing of their own
personhood, and a disruption of normal family and community life. These are
opportunities to experience God’s presence and healing power.[91] A
person in a vulnerable state is in an unequal relationship where another has
control of his/her life at that moment.[92] This
means, as medical professionals, we are in a position of power. As a general
practitioner (GP), the advice I provide will affect what happens next for the
patient, eg. Stay at home to recover from a viral illness, or go to the
emergency department for a life-threatening condition.
In such position of power, there
is a strong temptation for us to “play God”. In its search for ways of offering
alleviations from the human condition, there is a temptation for modern
medicine to offer a form of salvation close to that of idolatry, eg. An earthly
“cure” for death.[93] Trying
to “keep a person alive at all costs” is a form of biological idolatry, as it
“denies the finitude of human existence and feeds the illusion of immortality”[94], and
refuses to depend on Jesus for salvation. A milder form of “playing God” is the
belief that we have to be able to help everyone that comes to us for help. However,
people in pain “are so omnivorous in their appetite for help” that they will
use us up if we let them.[95]
Therefore, it is important for us
to realise that we are only creatures.[96] Medical
research play an important role in our dominion over creation, as it helps search
for solutions to the problems we vulnerable humans face in the world, but
certain limits also need to apply as we ask ourselves “in what ways do our
research and practice conform or not to the character of the Kingdom of God.”[97] People
often expect medical practitioners to know everything and come up with a
solution for everything. “Burnout is not just the result of physical or
emotional stress… Its roots lie in living a lie.”[98] If we
think of ourselves as the patients’ “saviour”, we will burnout. The other end
of the spectrum is that we become oppressors, eg. Underpaying and overworking
the people we employ, belittling junior colleagues, making patients undergo unnecessary
tests and procedures for our financial gain.
Pain is such an alienating
experience that it isolates not only us from one another, but even from
ourselves[99],
eg. If you have a gangrenous leg, you would be in so much pain that you want to
cut it off, or if you are in severe depression, you may feel tempted to commit
suicide to put an end to the pain. While initially we may be quite sympathetic
with someone who is suffering, if it goes on chronically, we cannot remain
compassionate year in and year out.[100]
Furthermore, GPs appointments are less than fifteen minutes in duration. This
is a double-edged sword. While it allows us to keep a distance from any patient
who demands too much[101], it is
also very difficult to develop interpersonal relationships strong enough to
help others pastorally. Because pain is so alienating, sometimes people are
hesitant to admit that they are in pain.[102] If we
do not observe or listen carefully, we may fail to detect the suffering.
In fact, instead of restoration, sometimes
our response to patients can produce further alienation.[103] In
medical school, many of us were trained in a mechanical matter. We were taught
to maximise our medical knowledge and “problem solve” using evidence-based
medicine. Suffering is pointless and should be eliminated.[104] There
is a tendency to be task-orientated. However, medicine needs to transcend the
physical and material to include values and relationships.[105] It is
not just medical knowledge but caring for vulnerable people.[106] To
help those in pain and suffering, we need to understand pain and suffering
first. The Psalter teaches us the reality of pain and people’s responses to
pain.[107]
For a person undergoing pain and suffering, they can feel worse after
consulting a medical practitioner who refuse to acknowledge the reality of the
pain[108] and
tell them to “toughen up.”
It can feel awkward trying to find
the appropriate words to comfort a suffering person. The Psalter can be used to
minister to someone in pain as it gives a voice to that pain.[109] We can
ask the suffering patient for permission to share a psalm with them.[110] However,
there is a limited number of patients whom I have deep enough relationships to
do this with. Furthermore, despite our attempts to care, sometimes people
continue to suffer greatly or feel distant from God. In this case, we can only
offer our presence and express our solidarity with them as fellow human beings.[111],[112] It
is important to remind ourselves that health and life on earth are temporal
possessions, and the ultimate hope is in Christ.[113]
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[1] Where English and Hebrew verse numbers differ, I follow Hebrew
verse numbers.
[2] Harry P. Nasuti, “God at Work in the Word: A Theology of
Divine-Human Encounter in the Psalms,” in Soundings
in the Theology of Psalms: Perspectives and Methods in Contemporary Scholarship,
ed. Rolf A. Jacobson, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011), 36.
[3] Rolf A.Jacobson, and Karl N. Jacobson. Invitation to the Psalms: A Reader’s Guide for Discovery and Engagement(Grand
Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 149.
[4] Nancy DeClaisse-Walford, Introduction
to the Psalms: A Song from Ancient Israel (St Louis: Chalice Press, 2004),
59.
[5] Nancy DeClaisse-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms (Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 68.
[6] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 67.
[7] John Goldingay, Psalms Volume
1: Psalms 1-41 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 103.
[8] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1:
Psalms 1-41, 104.
[9] Robert Davidson, The Vitality
of Worship: a commentary on the Book of Psalms (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1998), 36.
[10] Peter C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50
(Waco: Word Books, 1983), 107.
[11] Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72
(London: IVP, 1973), 66.
[12] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 120.
[13] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 124.
[14] Davidson, The Vitality of
Worship, 39.
[15] James Luther Mays, Psalms
(Louisville: John Knox Press, 1994), 69.
[16] Rolf A. Jacobson, ““The faithfulness of the Lord Endures Forever”:
The Theological Witness of the Psalter,” in
Soundings in the Theology of Psalms: Perspectives and Methods in Contemporary
Scholarship, ed. Rolf A. Jacobson, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011), 114.
[17] Jacobson, ““The faithfulness of the Lord Endures Forever”,” 115.
[18] Jacobson and Jacobson. Invitation
to the Psalms, 161.
[19] Craigie, Psalms 1-50,
156.
[20] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 181.
[21] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 181.
[22] Craigie, Psalms 1-50,
158.
[23] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 198-199.
[24] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 233.
[25] Craigie, Psalms 1-50,
199.
[26] Craigie, Psalms 1-50,
199.
[27] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 234.
[28] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 200.
“spilled out like water” in the sense of being “washed out”, “tongue sticking
to palate” as a sign of sympathetic overactivity
[29] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 227.
[30] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 236.
[31] Craigie, Psalms 1-50,
198.
[32] Craigie, Psalms 1-50,
200.
[33] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 236.
[34] Craigie, Psalms 1-50,
198.
[35] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 201.
[36] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1:
Psalms 1-41, 340.
[37] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 454.
[38] John Stott, Favourite Psalms:
Growing Closer to God (London: Monarch Books, 2003), 55.
[39] Stott, Favourite Psalms,
56.
[40] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 458.
[41] Stott, Favourite Psalms,
57.
[42] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 668.
[43] Walter Brueggemann, “The Psalms and the Life of Faith: A Suggested Typology
of Function,” in Soundings in the
Theology of Psalms: Perspectives and Methods in Contemporary Scholarship,
ed. Rolf A. Jacobson, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011), 9.
[44] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 668.
[45] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 673.
[46] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 956.
[47] Joel M. LeMon, “Saying Amen to Violent Psalms: Patterns of Prayer,
Belief, and Action in the Psalter,” in Soundings
in the Theology of Psalms: Perspectives and Methods in Contemporary Scholarship,
ed. Rolf A. Jacobson, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011), 108.
[48] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 953.
[49] Nancy DeClaisse-Walford, “The Theology of the Imprecatory Psalms,” in Soundings in the Theology of Psalms:
Perspectives and Methods in Contemporary Scholarship, ed. Rolf A. Jacobson,
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011), 79.
[50] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 3:
Psalms 90-150 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 612.
[51] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 956.
[52] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 329.
[53] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1:
Psalms 1-41, 477.
[54] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 321.
[55] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 325.
[56] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1:
Psalms 1-41, 477.
[57] Craigie, Psalms 1-50,
279.
[58] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 321.
[59] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 325.
[60] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 328.
[61] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 328.
[62] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1:
Psalms 1-41, 486.
[63] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 338.
[64] Stephen Dawes, The Psalms
(London: SCM Press, 2010), 62.
[65] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 339.
[66] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 345.
[67] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 346.
[68] Jacobson, ““The faithfulness of the Lord Endures Forever”,” 116.
[69] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 584.
[70] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 593.
[71] John Goldingay, Psalms Volume
2: Psalms 42-89 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 400.
[72] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 2:
Psalms 42-89, 407.
[73] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 2:
Psalms 42-89, 408.
[74] Dan Wu, “The Psalms and perplexity: mediating with the psalmist on
the puzzle of existence,” in Stirred by a
Noble Theme: The book of Psalms in the life of the church, ed. Andrew G.
Shead, (Nottingham: Apollos, 2013), 244.
[75] Andrew Sloane, OT636 Lecture, Morling College, August 23 2017.
[76] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 2:
Psalms 42-89, 410.
[77] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 592.
[78] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 2:
Psalms 42-89, 415.
[79] DeClaisse-Walford, Introduction
to the Psalms, 91.
[80] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 625.
[81] Jacobson, ““The faithfulness of the Lord Endures Forever”,” 121-122.
Israel “did not keep God’s covenant” (V10); “forgot what he had done” (V11);
and “had no faith in God” (V22).
But God “remembered that they were
but flesh (V39). God still repeatedly did “wonderful works” for his people and
chose “tribe of Judah (V68).
[82] Jacobson, ““The faithfulness of the Lord Endures Forever”,” 123.
[83] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 759.
[84] Jacobson and Jacobson. Invitation
to the Psalms, 155.
[85] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 762.
[86] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 763.
[87] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 765.
[88] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 767.
[89] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 3:
Psalms 90-150, 714.
[90] Bill Andersen, Walking
alongside: a theology for people-helpers(Eugene: WIPF & Stock, 2013), 79.
[91] Edmund D. Pellegrino, and David C. Thomasma. Helping and healing: Religious Commitment in Health Care (Washington
D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1997), 45.
[92] Pellegrino and Thomasma. Helping
and healing, 31.
[93] Stanley Hauerwas, Suffering
Presence: Theological Reflections on Medicine, the Mentally Handicapped, and
the Church (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986), 68.
[94] Pellegrino and Thomasma. Helping
and healing, 62.
[95] Hauerwas, Suffering Presence,
80.
[96] Neil G. Messer, Flourishing:
Health, Disease, and Bioethics in Theological Perspective (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 2013), 201.
[97] Andrew Sloane, Vulnerability and
Care: Christian Reflections on the Philosophy of Medicine (London:
Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016), 132.
[98] Pellegrino and Thomasma. Helping
and healing, 10.
[99] Hauerwas, Suffering Presence,
77.
[100] Hauerwas, Suffering Presence,
77.
[101] Hauerwas, Suffering Presence,
80.
[102] Hauerwas, Suffering Presence,
77.
[103] Sloane, Vulnerability and
Care, 138.
[104] Hauerwas, Suffering Presence,
33.
[105] Sloane, Vulnerability and
Care, 64.
[106] Sloane, Vulnerability and
Care, 67.
[107] Tara J. Stenhouse, “The psalms of lament in the experience of
suffering Christians,” in Stirred by a
Noble Theme: The book of Psalms in the life of the church, ed. Andrew G.
Shead, (Nottingham: Apollos, 2013), 182.
[108] Stenhouse, “The psalms of lament in the experience of suffering
Christians,” 187.
[109] Stenhouse, “The psalms of lament in the experience of suffering
Christians,” 200.
[110] Stenhouse, “The psalms of lament in the experience of suffering
Christians,” 201.
[111] Hauerwas, Suffering Presence,
64.
[112] Sloane, Vulnerability and Care,
150-151.
[113] Messer, Flourishing, 199.
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