28th Year/Psalm

Last year, a friend shared with me that some Hasidic communities have a tradition of reading a Psalm on your birthday of the age you are turning, plus one. You read this Psalm on your birthday, and you meditate on it throughout the year. My birthday was yesterday and I read the 28th Psalm.

I have included the NRSV translation below and I hope to mediate on it this year. I encourage you to look up what Psalm you’re on! I mentioned this practice to my spiritual director who was delighted to look up that there are 150 Psalms and that she wouldn’t easily run out.

While reading the 28th Psalm, I was struck by the way the Psalmist pleads with God to hear him. Only four verses later, the Psalmist switches from desperate cry to overflowing thanks. There are many approaches to interpreting the Psalms, but when I wade into the Psalms I try to first recall that they were written as songs and lyric poetry. They were composed artfully to craft narratives and express truths about the human condition. This short 28th Psalm flows from doubt and fear, to hope, to confidence and thanks. We wonder–sometimes with fear–if God hears us; we hope that God brings justice; we are thankful and our faith is renewed to know that God has heard us. I can imagine this short Psalm sung over and over to remind her listeners of this circular pattern in life. I hope to notice how I flow through these stages throughout my next year.

Psalm 28 (NRSV):

¹ To you, O Lord, I call;
    my rock, do not refuse to hear me,
for if you are silent to me,
    I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.
² Hear the voice of my supplication,
    as I cry to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
    toward your most holy sanctuary.

³ Do not drag me away with the wicked,
    with those who are workers of evil,
who speak peace with their neighbors
    while mischief is in their hearts.
⁴ Repay them according to their work
    and according to the evil of their deeds;
repay them according to the work of their hands;
    render them their due reward.
⁵ Because they do not regard the works of the Lord
    or the work of his hands,
he will break them down and build them up no more.

⁶ Blessed be the Lord,
    for he has heard the sound of my pleadings.
⁷ The Lord is my strength and my shield;
    in him my heart trusts;
so I am helped, and my heart exults,
    and with my song I give thanks to him.

⁸ The Lord is the strength of his people;
    he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
⁹ O save your people and bless your heritage;
    be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Text copyright © 2023 Grace Woodward. All rights reserved.