A Very Hard Word
I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances. – Psalm 31:11 (NRSV)
I didn’t want to write about this psalm—this terrible lament of dread, scorn, and horror. You’d probably also rather be reading anything other than Psalm 31’s desolation and despair.
Yet the discipline of engaging the Bible’s comforting words as well as its texts of terror can be a gift. Moreover, the hard blessing of such texts is that they tell the truth, not only the psalmist’s ancient truth but also the truth of our own time.
In 2017, I traveled to northern Iraq to interview women in the refugee camps of Kurdistan. Many were Yazidis who’d escaped from ISIS after the terrorist organization decimated their homeland in 2014. They saw their husbands, fathers, and brothers murdered. They and their children were sold into sexual slavery. The horror and violence of their stories echoed the long-ago psalm. Like the psalmist, the women had known “terror all around” as their captors schemed to use them, sell them, kill them.
When I returned from Iraq, I found an odd solace in Psalm 31. It gave voice to the stories I’d heard. It spoke the same truth the women told. Yes, we human beings are capable of such violence to one another. Yes, we must bear witness to that fact.
We also bear witness to the courage and faith of those who have known that horror. “My times are in your hands,” said the psalmist. A young Yazidi woman said that during a beating by her ISIS “owner,” she’d had a vision of God’s hands holding her soul. “God kept me safe,” she said, even as her body was being broken.
The psalmist would have understood.
Prayer
Whether from an ancient psalm or a living witness, we thank you, God, for your word of truth. Give us the courage to hear it. Amen.
About the AuthorTalitha Arnold is Senior Minister of the United Church of Santa Fe (UCC), Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is the author of Mark Parts 1 and 2 of the Listen Up! Bible Study series and Worship for Vital Congregations.