Status Updates From Seeing the Psalms: A Theolo...

“The metaphors of pathway and refuge shape the experience of Israel, historically and individually… in psalm 77…God’s deliverance and guidance of Israel with a “strong arm (v 15) serves as both precedent and motivation for the individual’s petition for rescue and sustenance. [it is a] strikingly cosmic yet personal focus.…”

PATH:
“YHWH comes”. God comes to save & to judge, to deliver and to preserve, as well as to indwell and reign. In the world of struggle and injustice, God’s “coming” is the necessary complement to God‘s “reigning”, for it affirms that all is not yet right with the world. God’s “paths“ and “refuge”, thus signal 2 complementary poles of divine activity: God’s movement and God’s indwelling.

Pathway and refuge - interrelated but not the same
“Like wisdom, or tôrâ, “path” is something taught (psalm 27:11), studied (101:2), and revealed (16:9)… “Refuge”, by contrast, is neither revealed nor taught; it is, rather, a domain of existence established by and identified with God.”

The WAY of Tôrâ
“Poetically speaking, the metaphor of the pathway “maps”, both God’s tôrâ and the speaker’s response to tôrâ, imbuing them with a sense of dynamic, mutual engagement. Nothing is static about God‘s commandments and one’s adherence to them.”

Refuge of the cosmic king: All creation praises God as cosmic refuge; God’s abundant provision to the world, “the goodness of god’s house”(65:4). ‘“King” & “refuge” stand on common ground: both connote protection and security for Israel’s sake.’ (psalms 95:1, 95:3, 14:6, 68:5-6, 72:12-14, 147:3-9), 147:12-148:10, 99:4, 96:10, 97:2b)

from metaphors of God as Refuge:
“If refuge under God’s ‘wings’ is the locus of Israel’s protection (Deut 32:10-11, Isa 31:5), then Zion serves as God’s ‘nesting place’ (Ps84:1,3), and Israel is her brood (Matt 23:37).”