A Psalm of Ashes
Reading for Ash Wednesday 2.22–Friday 2.24
We live in ashes.
Ash Wednesday kicks off the Lenten season with an "imposition of ashes" crossed over the forehead. These ashes are meant to remind us that death lurks within and around us. A reminder meant to confront the vulnerability, frailty, and mortality we exist in. We are a people in need, a people of ashes.
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Psalm 120 (NET)
A Song of Distress
1 In my distress I cried out
to the Lord and he answered me.
2 I said, “O Lord, rescue me
from those who lie with their lips
and those who deceive with their tongues.
3 How will he severely punish you,
you deceptive talker?
4 Here’s how! With the sharp arrows of warriors,
with arrowheads forged over the hot coals.
5 How miserable I am.
For I have lived temporarily in Meshech;
I have resided among the tents of Kedar.
6 For too long I have had to reside
with those who hate peace.
7 I am committed to peace,
but when I speak, they want to make war.
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A Psalm of Ashes
Our Lenten psalm, too, lives among the ashes. Psalm 120 depicts one who lives among a people bent on gossip, a weapon that, if wielded correctly, could quickly lead to execution in the world of the psalms. Hence the psalmists demand for deliverance by actual weaponry.
Living among liars was no mere inconvenience. Your reputation among the community was everything in ancient Mesopotamia. One's standing decided access to food and water and other necessities of communal life. A single well-placed lie could be the difference between access to the community and expulsion from the community along with all the essentials it supplied.
Our psalmist, too, lives in ashes. Surrounded by liars, the psalmist also describes their distance from God. Meshech and Kedar are two enigmatic townships representative of desert wastelands. Whether real or symbolic, these were communities on the fringes, far from God's presence and blessing in Jerusalem.
We live in ashes. We immediately find ourselves within Psalm 120. We are the psalmist in desperate need, crying out to God for deliverance. Maybe the liars set on ruining you are actual liars. Perhaps they are metaphorical stand-ins for the whatever thing seems bent on destroying you at the moment (lack of water, no money, no place to live, etc. etc. etc.).
But God enters the ashes. The psalmist knows this. Lent knows this. It's the whole point. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we are fashioned from dirt, and we will return to it. But the message of Easter is that God has taken this ash upon Godself. Jesus not only enters our frailty but our mortality. Standing on the other side of Lenten ashes is the blessed joy of Easter, of resurrection, of life from ashes.
Cry out to God from the ashes and know that God hears you. In a place that seems far from God and God's many blessings, Jesus hears you. Jesus has entered the ashes with you and is here. In pain, suffering, frustration, and need, cry out to Him. God deliver me. God rescue me. God help us.
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Reflect with a friend
Where do you most see yourself in Psalm 120? Use your redemptive imagination to explore the emotions of the psalmist.
How has your crying out changed this week? Have you prayed more or less than usual, longer more meditative prayers or shorter more desperate prayers? Why do you think this is and anything you learn from it?
What is your dispositon towards God this week? Is there anything in the psalm that might reflect similar emotions? How does the knowledge that God hears you when you’re having these emotions (anger, doubt, joy, etc.) strike you?
