You have rejected us, O God, and burst forth upon us; you have been angry—now restore us! – Psalm 60:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 11, 2013): Psalm 60

Whose fault is it when you succeed? I know that is a strange question, fault and success seem to have little in relationship with each other. Fault indicates a responsibility for a mistake which often results in failure. And yet, I know that I have experienced times when it seems that I have done everything wrong, and yet the result was better than I had any right to expect. I may not want to admit it, but I know that I had nothing to do with my own success.

There seems to be a bit of a disconnect in this Psalm between the ascription and the body of the Psalm. The ascription talks about the victory of Israel over the Edomites, and yet the body seems to be more of a plea for God to come and support his people – to come and restore the people and give them success. Scholars have long wondered about the defeat that is described in the Psalm – the Bible does not seem to have a detailed description of the loss. But 2 Samuel 8 starts off with this statement - In the course of time, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them ... (2 Samuel 8:1) and then goes on to describe the defeat of the Philistines, and the Moabites – and finally for the defeat of the Edomites of which Psalm 60’s ascription would seem to refer. But “the course of time” seems to indicate that there was a period of time in which Israel suffered under the reversals of war.

David seems to want to remind the people, even in the face of victory, that victory only comes because of God. The fault would always be Israel’s, but the success would always be because God has decided to move – the difference between success and failure is always all about God.

Too often I think that I forget that. I forget that the fault is mine, and that the success is all about what God is doing in all around me. And that is the reason why even when I know I have done everything wrong, success has still come my way. The only way that can ever happen is because God decided to move.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 9