Psalm 18: Three Views of Deliverance
I. A Militant God (vs. 1-15)
I hear that God is
my strength
my rock and my
holy
munitions depot.
I hear
that God will save me
from my enemies
if I ask.
(This must be the
Big, Tough
Man-God,
not the Mother
of Creation.)
My enemies number:
1. So many lost to death
and memory.
2. The powerful and ungodly
who terrify the world with
a rush to war.
3. The suffering of the
essentially innocent,
separated from all
human grace.
4. The surround
of need.
5. My failure
to live.
A round five
to start with.
In my distress
shall I now
call to God?
Do I cry out
with my exhausted voice?
Will God hear me
if I pray at my church?
And will God
swallow the Bomb
with an earthquake
Is God a
fire-breather
Will God stand
beside the Pentagon
and cast an eerie shadow
Or ride down
on a cherub
and make darkness
a weapon
and also the rain
to pass over
men in their
radiant glory
to be struck by
hailstones and
burning coal
Will God shout down
arrows of vengeance
or will they be
arrows of mercy?
II. A Lifeguard (vs. 16-28)
Once
the people all
were drowning
and I was among them.
Two
by two
we were gasping.
I dreamed God sent for us;
a huge boat
with a kind and
rugged captain.
The water was thick
like mud, a
strong enemy.
It hated us:
it was far
too strong for me
(I am not
a good swimmer).
The water filled
our pockets
and our shoes
and pulled us
down like
pirates cursed.
God’s captain
lifted us into
the boat
and delivered us
to a broad and
high ground.
He told us
God delighted in us.
I’m unclear as to why.
Were we good
and did we keep
our fingernails
short and clean?
I didn’t, but
I was in the mess
of drowning people
and may have
been mistaken for
one of those
law-abiding
upright
folks who knew that
sooner or later
merit would
win the day.
All those clean hands.
Another time when
I drowned
it occurred to me
that maybe
God is as God does.
In my throes
I was uncomfortable
with the thought.
God saved us
when we were
afflicted,
but were we
knocked down a peg
when we thought
we deserved it?
Does God
simultaneously
light a candle
and
curse our darkness?
III. God’s Werewolf (vs. 29-50)
Dear God,
Thanks for fulfilling my request to become a werewolf. Now, with the power You’ve given me, I am able to run right through the middle of a huge army and leap a high wall like Superman.
This is awesome.
You’re just as good as Your word. You’re like my right-hand man, like the guy who’d help the knights put on their armor.
I keep saying, “Who is God, but our Leader? Who else can you trust?!”
Now that I’m a werewolf I’m super-strong. And no matter where I run off to it’s like I know just how to get back to my lair (that’s what I’m calling the house now, heh heh). I remember that first night looking down at my huge hairy feet. I was like, these aren’t feet these are Hind Feet! And it’s true. I can jump all over the place.
And strong? I can break steel, I’m so strong!
By turning me to a werewolf You’ve really saved me. It’s like You’re holding me up with Your right hand. You’ve turned me into a giant!
My feet are so big I don’t thing I could fall over if I tried!
I mean right away after you changed me I started hunting down my enemies and I didn’t quit until I had eaten every last one of them. First I hurt them so they couldn’t get up and then I’d trample them with these huge feet.
Sometimes out there I was so strong it was like You had them in a full-nelson, just holding them still so I could cut them up with these razor claws I got. And, like, holding their heads back so I could get at their throats.
Oh, they cried alright, but nobody could save them. Some of them even prayed, but too late for them, I was there first getting turned into a werewolf. I’d just go on ahead until there was nothing left but bones for me to grind up into powder that would just blow away in the wind.
Man, God, You have really helped me out here. I am free of enemies now and all the heathens serve me. As soon as people hear about me they obey me, even strangers. They all hide in their closets or under their beds from me.
So, thanks, God, for being real and making me a werewolf. I make sure and tell everybody it’s You who’s given me my power and who holds my enemies down and it’s You who’s saved me from violent men. I brag on You to just everybody. So, thanks.
It is good to receive Your deliverance and mercy. It’s good to feel anointed, me and my kin.
I hear that God is
my strength
my rock and my
holy
munitions depot.
I hear
that God will save me
from my enemies
if I ask.
(This must be the
Big, Tough
Man-God,
not the Mother
of Creation.)
My enemies number:
1. So many lost to death
and memory.
2. The powerful and ungodly
who terrify the world with
a rush to war.
3. The suffering of the
essentially innocent,
separated from all
human grace.
4. The surround
of need.
5. My failure
to live.
A round five
to start with.
In my distress
shall I now
call to God?
Do I cry out
with my exhausted voice?
Will God hear me
if I pray at my church?
And will God
swallow the Bomb
with an earthquake
Is God a
fire-breather
Will God stand
beside the Pentagon
and cast an eerie shadow
Or ride down
on a cherub
and make darkness
a weapon
and also the rain
to pass over
men in their
radiant glory
to be struck by
hailstones and
burning coal
Will God shout down
arrows of vengeance
or will they be
arrows of mercy?
II. A Lifeguard (vs. 16-28)
Once
the people all
were drowning
and I was among them.
Two
by two
we were gasping.
I dreamed God sent for us;
a huge boat
with a kind and
rugged captain.
The water was thick
like mud, a
strong enemy.
It hated us:
it was far
too strong for me
(I am not
a good swimmer).
The water filled
our pockets
and our shoes
and pulled us
down like
pirates cursed.
God’s captain
lifted us into
the boat
and delivered us
to a broad and
high ground.
He told us
God delighted in us.
I’m unclear as to why.
Were we good
and did we keep
our fingernails
short and clean?
I didn’t, but
I was in the mess
of drowning people
and may have
been mistaken for
one of those
law-abiding
upright
folks who knew that
sooner or later
merit would
win the day.
All those clean hands.
Another time when
I drowned
it occurred to me
that maybe
God is as God does.
In my throes
I was uncomfortable
with the thought.
God saved us
when we were
afflicted,
but were we
knocked down a peg
when we thought
we deserved it?
Does God
simultaneously
light a candle
and
curse our darkness?
III. God’s Werewolf (vs. 29-50)
Dear God,
Thanks for fulfilling my request to become a werewolf. Now, with the power You’ve given me, I am able to run right through the middle of a huge army and leap a high wall like Superman.
This is awesome.
You’re just as good as Your word. You’re like my right-hand man, like the guy who’d help the knights put on their armor.
I keep saying, “Who is God, but our Leader? Who else can you trust?!”
Now that I’m a werewolf I’m super-strong. And no matter where I run off to it’s like I know just how to get back to my lair (that’s what I’m calling the house now, heh heh). I remember that first night looking down at my huge hairy feet. I was like, these aren’t feet these are Hind Feet! And it’s true. I can jump all over the place.
And strong? I can break steel, I’m so strong!
By turning me to a werewolf You’ve really saved me. It’s like You’re holding me up with Your right hand. You’ve turned me into a giant!
My feet are so big I don’t thing I could fall over if I tried!
I mean right away after you changed me I started hunting down my enemies and I didn’t quit until I had eaten every last one of them. First I hurt them so they couldn’t get up and then I’d trample them with these huge feet.
Sometimes out there I was so strong it was like You had them in a full-nelson, just holding them still so I could cut them up with these razor claws I got. And, like, holding their heads back so I could get at their throats.
Oh, they cried alright, but nobody could save them. Some of them even prayed, but too late for them, I was there first getting turned into a werewolf. I’d just go on ahead until there was nothing left but bones for me to grind up into powder that would just blow away in the wind.
Man, God, You have really helped me out here. I am free of enemies now and all the heathens serve me. As soon as people hear about me they obey me, even strangers. They all hide in their closets or under their beds from me.
So, thanks, God, for being real and making me a werewolf. I make sure and tell everybody it’s You who’s given me my power and who holds my enemies down and it’s You who’s saved me from violent men. I brag on You to just everybody. So, thanks.
It is good to receive Your deliverance and mercy. It’s good to feel anointed, me and my kin.
With Love,
Dubya
Dubya
7/22-24/05
Grr.
Arrgh.
posted by Tack City @ 21:40
7 Comments:
Hey Marty, it's Brady from Shawnee. I'm all growed up now, and I got me an education. Thank you for letting me into your life and also for letting me get rediculously wasted at your birthday party. please, please email me or look me up on myspace. surprisingly@gmail.com or myspace.com/surprisingly
Marty freakin Peercy, it's Trey freakin Gill. I just happened upon your site here, and would love to get back into contact with you. Email me at tgill@evitagen.com if you have a chance.
Although I don't share your loathsome disdain for the Bush Administration, that was one of the funniest/most disturbingly poignant things I've read. How many of us ask God to approve of our schemes and desires, rather than trash them and seek his? How often do you see "Christians" using their faith as a carte blanche to do as they please. Surely there are some limits to this liberty. Great stuff, smart mart.
Wow. I'm leaving that spam comment (the one above) just because it's delightfully legit-looking. These assholes have a whole new grasp on suckering people, don't they?
Think that will drive you some extra traffic?
It seems to have done so. I wouldn't have expected that. Then, I wouldn't have expected so many spam comments either. But. I just deleted two more this morning.
Meh.
I loved the way you have presented your blog... go through mine as well, and pass on your comments http://godhearme.blogspot.com/
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