The God Squad: Psalm 27 and the burning of America

By Rabbi Marc Gellman, Tribune Content Agency on Jun 4, 2020

8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”

Your face, Lord, I will seek.

9 Do not hide your face from me,

do not turn your servant away in anger;

you have been my helper.

Do not reject me or forsake me,

God my Savior.

10 Though my father and mother forsake me,

the Lord will receive me.

11 Teach me your way, Lord;

lead me in a straight path

because of my oppressors.

12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,

for false witnesses rise up against me,

spouting malicious accusations.

13 I remain confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living.

14 Wait for the Lord;

be strong and take heart

and wait for the Lord.

A: This Psalm is transcendent and I believe with you, dear E, that it is a revelation from God that we need particularly this week when we are suffering with both a medical and a moral plague. We are losing our grip and I believe that the best way to return to a civil and a healthy society is to learn from the ancient wisdom of our God.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?” The main question now is not what is on the news but what we believe is on the news. If we see people dying of the virus and if we see our cities burning and being pillaged, then we will lose hope and we will be drowned in despair. However, if we choose to see the number of deaths decreasing and if we see the peaceful protests and if we see a rocket launching triumphantly into space and if we then summon up the courage to believe that the good in us will win and the illness will abate and we will return to a time when we can pray together and eat together and walk together on a gentle summer night—then the promise of Psalm 27 will be fulfilled and our faith will triumph. The question for now is only this, “Do we have the courage to trust and hope in each other and in God that tomorrow will be a better day. We cannot change the news, but we can change what we believe about the news.

“My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me…” God does not actually have a face, but God has a presence in our lives and that presence is the face of God. When we feel distant from God we are distant from God’s face. When we have hope we are the reflection of God’s face in the world. Let us pray together now that speedily and with God’s grace we will be able to take off our masks and see God’s face in each other when the dawn brings a new day.

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including “Religion for Dummies,” co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman.)