For those of you who didn't know, of the 153 Psalms, David wrote about half. He was the Taylor Swift of his time. Well, more accurately, T-Swizzle would be considered the King David of our time. "Bad Blood" is especially reflective of the type of tone David would employ.
Again...Psalms are all about tone. Initially, it may feel that David is doing quite a bit of whining and complaining...asking for chiropractic care, for example: Psalm 22:14: My bones are out of joint. Or respite from dry mouth syndrome: Psalm 22: 15: My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. Or even petitioning for a foot brace: Psalm 18:36 so that my ankles do not give way. Occasionally, it seems that David is looking to be up-graded from economy class: Psalm 31: 8: You have set my feet in a spacious place. Often it appears that he just has it in for his enemies: Psalm 35:6: May their path be dark and slippery. And yes...a well-placed banana peel could certainly do the trick here. But, no. David is NOT whining. What he is expressing is a nifty little Bible term called lamenting. Since my pastor decided to force his parishioners to power-read through the Psalms in four weeks without even so much as a CHEAT day, I have been making full use of my lamenting. My spiritual adviser will be delighted to learn that I'm even applying it to my every day life! Example: "Brad, you ate the last Hostess cupcake! I hope it was stale and devoid of the delicious creamy filling."
Believe it or not...I HAVE been working on my tone. For where, when read aloud, it seems like David is making demands of God~~dare I say~trying to boss The Big Guy around...I have had to adjust my tone from demanding (and whining) to petitioning~dare I say~begging. Obviously, it's more entertaining to be read the other way but knowing David's history and penchant for getting himself into loads of trouble, it's pretty clear that this fellow desperately needs God's help and is pleading for intervention. I can't seem to resist, though, the "Aha" series that we've recently encountered. Example: Psalm 40: 15 May all those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!" I am in my dramatic reading glory. One might choose to read it as Einstein discovering the Theory of Relativity. (insert German accent here) A-ha! Or Sherlock Holmes revealing the perpetrator of a diabolical crime. (insert snooty British accent here) A-ha! Finally catching hold of that elusive splinter with your tweezers. A-ha! Or Amy Mosiman catching her husband eating the last Hostess cupcake! A-HA! Thank goodness for Psalm 146:7: He upholds the cause of the oppressed (me) and gives Hostess cupcakes to the hungry (also me). Translation unknown
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