"The Book of Refuge": On not losing the plot of your story or the Story
What do we find at the introduction to the Psalter?
“If there’s one thing I just can’t stand, it’s a great story.”
Said no one, ever.
We are born inti a story, and we live and die by stories. We are storied beings.
Tell me a bunch of random bits of information and I’m likely to forget them by the time I have my supper. But tell me a story—especially a good one—and I am much more likely to remember it and tell it again to my own children.
What story are you living in? What stories are you listening to? What stories are you passing along to the next generation? Who is flourishing because of the stories you tell?
The library of Hebrew and Christian scripture tells many stories, but more importantly it tells one meta story; a story shot through with the wonder and surprise and paradox of the love and justice of God revealed in Messiah Yeshua.
Smack dab in the middle of The Story, in the Hebrew scriptures we find the treasury of David, the ancient Psalter, the prayerbook of the people of God. The Psalms were placed centrally within the canon of the written word for a reason. Marinate on that.
When it comes to story, I imagine many of us don’t tend to think of the Psalms. But, with open eyes and curiosity, perhaps “The Book of Refuge” (as I’m calling the Psalter in this series), maybe there’s something important for all who want to inhabit and practice what C.S. Lewis called the “True Myth,” that is the ancient Christian faith.
At the beginning of the Book of Refuge we find a twin introduction to the Psalter, Psalms 1 and 2. The beginning of the centrally placed Psalter is, once again, significant. Marinate on that.
How does it begin? I argue that Psalm 1-2 is a meditation on not losing the plot of the great cosmic Story we are meant to inhabit. When we are losing the plot of our own stories, prayer and meditation in the presence of God is a pathway to recovering our identity, belonging, purpose, and meaning. Psalms 1-2 accomplish this for all who return to them and inhabit these words.
That is, Psalms 1-2 really are a “refuge” within which God can re-story us if we’ve wandered off and lost or forgotten the Story we are created to inhabit, the great cosmic story from Genesis to Revelation within which is the centrally placed Psalter prayer book for the people of God.
Years ago, I was very active on Twitter. Not so anymore, especially once it became X. But the other day I clicked on a link in an news article, and it shipped me over to an X post. The comment section was a veritable dumpster fire. Immediately, the warning of the opening lines of Psalm 1 came to mind: delight yourself in the way of the torah, not in “sitting in the seat of scoffers.”
Many competing powers and ideologies want to monetize, scandalize, exploit, or inoculate our imaginations, our attention, our affections, our allegiance. There is much toxic waste that would like to poison the wellspring of our souls and our relations. Said, another way, there are many competing story-sabatogers who would like to take the pen in hand to the script of your life, of our life together.
Psalm 1-2 steps onto the scene, presents an alternative take of the chaos of human society, and offers an alternative way.
Psalm 1 zooms in. We find an invitation to become a human who delights in meditating (think lion gnawing on a carcass with slow, joyous salivation, nourishment, digestion) on torah (the way of YHWH, as revealed in the law, the covenant people, and then cosmically in Messiah Yeshua, redeemer of all creation) will become like a flourishing tree planted by steams of water, yielding fruit in each season. In this opening-prayer poem, we find a mini-story that aims to re-story us.
Psalm 2 zooms out. We look at a human community full of lies, deception, evil, and power-hungry nations, rulers, egos, who think they are gods. All those puny ones seeking refuge in God, ha! We don’t need any God-appointed messiah, ha! We’ve got this! But who gets the last laugh? Not them. “He who sits in heaven (the skies) laughs.” (Importantly, I don’t take this to be a calloused chuckle of a removed Mover, but rather a poetic turn of phrase that reveals a transcendent, benevolent, God-with-us who doesn’t think much of the evil machinations of these strong men). Psalm 2 reminds us that the justice and righteousness of YHWH’s anointed one will prevail—“Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
I believe Psalm 1-2 are a word for our time, prompting many questions about the story we are delighting in, meditating on, inhabiting, and trusting. The authorities, rulers, or nations, we are trusting in. The competing stories vying for our allegiance, affection, attention, and action.
The invitation to “take refuge” in God is not to go numb, to rise above, or to hide. Remember, coming back to Psalm 1, it is being planted in in the soil by God’s streams of living water so that we can bear fruit for the flourishing of others, indeed for all of creation.
May you find refuge and delight in God-with-us,
Jonathan