A Psalm in Someone Else's Shoes

Psalm 13
Psalm for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Year A)

The psalms give us a language for praise and lament. Usually when I read a psalm of praise, my heart surges because I feel that praise towards God. When I read a lament it is because my own soul is downcast because others have hurt me or I have strayed in some way. Sometimes I will try to get in the mind of the psalmist. I’ll think about what that person was experiencing when they composed their cry to God.

But when I looked at this week’s psalm, it did not connect to my own experience and I did not find myself wondering what the psalmist might have felt. I immediately thought about the family of Breonna Taylor. She was murdered over three months ago and justice does not seem near.

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
    and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
    my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

But I trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.

I could hear her family screaming “How long?” I could feel the frustration of wondering if they are being forgotten by God and everyone else. I thought about Elijah McClain’s family and the pain they have borne in their souls since he was killed a year ago. I thought about the barriers they and countless other family’s face. The systems that are stacked against them and the foes that seem to prevail again and again.

I wanted to tell them that God’s steadfast love is with them. That God mourns and wails over their lost children. That God wants to see their foes brought to justice. I don’t know if that would help. I don’t know where the time and place would be for that.

But ultimately I keep coming back to “How long?” It’s been over three months for Breonna Taylor’s family. It has been 10 months for Elijah McClain’s. It has been even longer for scores of people whose names we do not even know. Remember them when you read this psalm. Pray for them. Educate yourself. Think of whatever ways to help. Even as the world seems to move on, do not move on.