Psalm 138:1: Singing in Front of Rivals

Of David. I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise.

Psalm 138:1 (NIV)

Singing in Front of Rivals

The woman at window two has said the same sentence since the doors opened: you can’t pay here without the blue slip, and the blue slip is across the hall. She says it kindly to the ones who take it well and just as kindly to the ones who don’t. There’s a pen on a chain, a paper cup of coffee going cold behind the glass, and a sign about the holiday schedule that three people have already asked her to read to them.

I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise. Whatever was standing around David with a claim on people’s worship, he opens his mouth in front of it and sings to the God of Israel anyway.

He leaves the rivals where they stand. Everything a man might spend on proving them empty, David spends on the praise, and he sings it with all of himself.

A man busy proving a point has one eye on his audience the whole time, and some of his song ends up belonging to them. David sings his to the Lord, and he does it standing in front of every claim on worship there is.

Who has to be listening before the thanks stay unsaid? A song saved for later, when only friends are left in the room, asks nothing of the man singing it.

A man at window two gives up on the blue slip, says something under his breath, and pushes out through the double doors with his folder under his arm. She watches the doors swing shut behind him, and the two men at the front go on talking to each other about the bridge work downtown.