God Alone

​A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, July 23rd, 2023:
The Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Psalm 86

R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.

You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication.

R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.

All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.

R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Turn to me and be gracious to me. Give your strength to your servant.

R. Lord, you are good and forgiving.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

King David interests me. He is a close associate of the extraordinary and the magnificent.
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The most breathtaking artwork I have ever seen is Michelangelo’s David. I recall walking into the room specially built for it in the Galleria dell’Accademia and being struck by its presence, towering above the tourists. David’s youth. The intensity of his gaze. The looseness with which he held the deadly stone behind the curl of his fingers. Powerful for a simple shepherd, and a boy at that. 

Shepherding is not an easy job, of course. It never has been. Adult sheep weigh between 200 and 300-plus pounds. One has to tip them on their rumps to trim their hooves and shear them. One has to stand between them and their predators — lions, wolves, bears and the like. Perhaps I shouldn’t be too surprised that David, boyish confidence notwithstanding, was ready to take on Goliath.

Later in his life, in addition to about half of the psalms included in the Bible, David wrote Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd,” a famously beautiful and consolatory poem -- David, the former shepherd, writing about being shepherded by the Chief Shepherd. 

These two great pieces of art joined me in my reflection on the psalm for this week, which is also written by David. Psalm 86 celebrates God as extraordinary, singular. David says, God alone has the strength to help me. God alone loves me steadfastly. God alone offers me true comfort. God alone can forgive my failings as a man and a king.

I am touched by David‘s humility before God. The biblical account of David’s bold actions does not paint the picture of a man who tends toward modesty but rather a man of aggression. David seizes opportunities. David is ambitious. David plots to take what he desires — sometimes to his detriment.

And yet, for all of his ambition, David knows he is not the god of his own life. David knows that there is a strength and love and comfort outside himself that, in a breath, could blow down all and anything that he is.

David bows to the Lord.

For all his faults, David has taught me a valuable lesson. God alone has the strength to help me. God alone loves me steadfastly. God alone offers me true comfort. God alone can forgive my failings as a woman and a daughter of the King.

Lord, you are good and forgiving.



Donna Davis

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