I want to know more about this man Asaph, a singer-songwriter in the courts of King David and King Solomon. That was my teenage dream — to make a living writing popular songs and, like one of my heroes, to tell the Queen to applaud by rattling her jewelry. She was a really fine girl.
Asaph starts this psalm with a couple of night images — “My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing; / My soul refused to be comforted”; and then “I call to remembrance my song in the night; / I meditate within my heart, / And my spirit makes diligent search.” Asa’s night moves.
He points out that YHWH keeps him alive — “You hold my eyelids open” — but just prolongs his suffering by not extending him the grace granted to others. Talk about a hard day’s night. Asaph refers to Jacob and Joseph, to Moses and Aaron, to the Children of Israel, even to fictional Job.
My boy ends this psalm with cleansing water references and the image of a great storm — “The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; / The lightnings lit up the world; / The earth trembled and shook.” I guess he’s saying we gotta go through some real shit before the sun shines again.
For as much as I’ve come to despise David from reading psalms attributed to him, I like this guy named Asaph who had the balls to write honest lines of verse like this. Reading his song lyrics, I get the feeling that he didn’t care if we’d feel like smiling or crying, as long as we feel something.