{"id":2817,"date":"2024-01-29T23:56:24","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T23:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/?p=2817"},"modified":"2024-01-29T23:56:27","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T23:56:27","slug":"evensong-107","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/?p=2817","title":{"rendered":"EVENSONG 107"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This lengthy psalm opens the fifth and final section of the Book of Psalms. It basically deals with the importance of thanking YHWH for the good things He does. The psalm\u2019s three basic settings are the darkest night, the desolate wilderness and the storm-tossed sea \u2014 all fearful places still.

One passage is especially familiar. I chose it years ago to use as an epigraph for a novel about an old shrimp boat captain on the North Carolina coast: \u201cThose who go down to the sea, \/ Who do business on great waters, \/ They see the works of the Lord, \/ And His wonders in the deep.\u201d

This psalm\u2019s theme is that YHWH requires thanks for His part in saving His people from danger. If they\u2019re ungrateful, \u201cHe turns rivers into a wilderness, \/ And the watersprings into dry ground; \/ A fruitful land into barrenness, \/ For the wickedness of those who dwell in it.\u201d That isn\u2019t gracious.

So, now millenia later, is our \u201cwickedness\u201d to blame for the destruction of the natural world? And is climate change somehow retribution for our lack of appreciation? You\u2019d think the conservative folks among us would read this psalm and straight away become environmentalists. But, uh, no.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This lengthy psalm opens the fifth and final section of the Book of Psalms. It basically deals with the importance of thanking YHWH for the good things He does. The psalm\u2019s three basic settings are the darkest night, the desolate wilderness and the storm-tossed sea \u2014 all fearful places still. One passage is especially familiar. … Continue reading EVENSONG 107<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2818,"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2817\/revisions\/2818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaillardiapress.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}