Verse 1: This psalm invites us to consider, not heaven, but the earth! God's earth. Everything created belongs to God - there is nothing inferior about the earth warranting negative theology or spirituality. The world isn't evil, to be hated, despised or despaired of. Indeed, in Hebrew, world is a poetic word meaning an alive, green, hospitable place prepared for us.
The psalmist tells us that not only does the earth belong to God but also everything that is in it: its marvels, beauty, variety, mysteries, depths, rhythms and balance. We are to contemplate these things. This is the heart-work which religion is supposed to evoke and encourage. Without heart-work, religion is reduced to theatre and disciplines.
Verse 2: The world is founded upon the seas. This is the psalmist's cosmology or world-view - that the earth floats on water. But there is more, all the rivers, streams, lakes and seas are expressions of God's providing for all we need. When encountering a person who has anticipated needs, we might say, "You've thought of absolutely everything." We can make that our prayer throughout the day!
Verses 3 and 4: The psalmist asks, Who can ascend to the top of Mount Zion and enter God's temple there? Notice the answer comes back without the use of rubrical, legal or dogmatic words, but heart-words signifying truth, honesty, humility and love. These words describe not just the individual but what makes a nation great. Religion isn't my personal "trip." How do we miss this, making religion into something else?
Verse 5: And just in case we think, "Oh, how can anyone ever achieve such a level of honesty and goodness?" the psalm tells us that God provides the blessings needed. A Catholic might call it grace, which is not a commodity, like a storehouse of goods to draw on when supplies run short, but the unfailing, generous sharing of God's own gifts and energies.
Verse 6: "Such is the generation of those who seek him...who seek God's face." This verse is like a tree's buds set in the fall, anticipating the leafing out or the flowering in Spring - because the ancients could only imagine God's face, but we're the ones who have seen God's face in Jesus Christ. I want to feel the deep desire to contemplate that face, which is not a sentiment, but the stirring up of love within me: mercy, compassion, justice, goodness.
Verses 7-10: Here in these final three verses we hear two antiphonal choirs. Antiphonal means they sing in a dialogue, back and forth, each answering the other. We can imagine the drama and emotional charge of hearing it. The Ark of the Covenant, containing the stone tablets of the law given to Moses by God at Sinai, this ark is being carried on poles into the great temple in Jerusalem. Lift up the gates, lift up the gates even higher, so that God - the King of Glory may enter! The Christian understands that it is the gates or doors of my heart that need to be lifted up - opened up - wider and higher! The cry in the Book of Revelation 22:20 is, Maranatha, "Come Lord, Jesus!"
A final thought. Notice in the sung dialogue there are two exchanges: "The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle." Then the second time calling God more simply, "The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory." "Mighty in battle" has been dropped. Perhaps it is an indication of ancient Israel abandoning the notion of a warrior-God. If so, there are more than a few Christians who might take the hint, and stop applying to God a feature or character trait which even God has dropped.
