Dionysus on a Bike

Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21 – 7/30/2026

I often think about how I used to read the Bible, back when I was part of a culture and church community that believed that a literal interpretation of scripture was infallibly true. This meant we were all creationists, mostly young-earth creationists, believed in a literal world flood that killed all but two of every species, among other absurdities. As I approach Scripture with new eyes, no longer encumbered by such restrictive hermeneutic commitments, I sometimes come across a verse like this one from today’s Psalm and wonder what I used to make of it when I believed it was all literally true.

To believe that Psalm 145:14 is literally true requires that one lie to oneself about the world. There are so many examples of those who are falling not being upheld and those bowed down not raised up that one must pretend to not see what is there to see right in front of our eyes. Seeing the world where one assumes verses like this one are literally true requires playing an elaborate game of make believe. One starts seeing oppression as blessedness and suffering as joy. This way of looking at things creates numbness to the realities of the world as it is until we stop seeing the world as it is at all. It’s evasive and cowardly, all because of a strange commitment to a book that demands not commitment to itself but to values and a creator outside itself.

Now with a more flexible and adaptive set of hermeneutic commitments, it is clear that the psalmist is not trying to adequately represent reality as it actually is. Surely, the author of this Psalm knew that sometimes the oppressed die in their lowly state without ever having been lifted up. Why then did the Psalmist say that the Lord “raises up all who are bowed down” instead of just saying that the Lord raises up those who are bowed down.” A statement about what God does in general could have been true even when there are exceptions. The categorical form of “all” in the actual verse means that it cannot be literally true. So why this particular claim that all are raised up?

As a Psalm of praise to a God who at times elusive and at times seems entirely absent, the Psalmist could be declaring a hope for what God will do, an expectation for transformation from a world where the oppressed remain oppressed into one where justice reigns. This must be our attitude as well as we praise God; our praise must be a hope for a future. If it is not a hope and an exclamation of a not yet finished fact, then we run the risk of lying to ourselves about the suffering of others and the condition of the oppressed. It is and remains my hope that the low will be lifted up and justice to reign on earth, but it must remain a hope as justice remains incomplete and many continue to be oppressed.

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for 7/30/2026:
Proverbs 10:1-5
Philippians 4:10-15
Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21

Reflections of a Dionysian Lutheran, comments on the daily readings of the Revised Common Lectionary by Justin Marquis