Psalm 59 is again filled with David’s complaints and lamenting regarding his wicked enemies, their plots to overthrow him, his own prayers and prophecies against them, and finally his comfort and confidence in God as his rock, or in this Psalm, verse 17, “his fortress”. The Psalm is associated with the incident when Saul sent a party of his guards to attack David’s house and kill him. It was when Saul’s hostilities towards David were just beginning. David calls for destruction and humiliation of his enemies. However, in the end, all this violence is revoked and the psalmist praises God. It’s an act of determination to turn away from violence, to meditate instead on God’s mercy and love and to find strength in God’s grace. Isn’t it wonderful that the final word in the Psalm is “love”?
At the moment, with the beginning of the COP26 conference, most of us will be hoping that the world leaders will step up and introduce radical changes within their countries, and help poorer countries to combat climate change. Sometimes the politicians can seem like the enemies! It’s in the nature of politicians to look to the short term and do what they can to ensure winning the next election. But we need a radical change of thought here, don’t we? We face an existential crisis and those people who don’t do what they have the power to do, are, in essence, being enemies of the people, the youth, and our planet.
I have very strong views about climate change, and I don’t mind speaking out as I believe it’s my duty. For those who believe Christians should be pacifists and stay out of politics, I can assure you that Jesus was a revolutionary in his time; he was a most political character!
Let’s hope that the news from COP26 will be good, and if it isn’t, then rather than getting angry with those who seem to be our “enemies”, we must not stop continuing to encourage governments to act, and pray that those in power will ultimately develop the courage necessary to take action on behalf of the environment and the world’s poorest and pursue ecological justice.