The Psalms and the martyrs

Today I read Psalms 1-72 in one sitting (meant to do the whole lot, but ... tomorrow maybe!).

The Psalms, I suspected, give voice to a perspective that the martyr inhabits.
Impressions? Well I think that suspicion was right. In taking up the Psalms we are immediately thrown into a world characterised by conflict, confusion, doubt, enmity, violence. That's just the external world! On the inside, while there are some clean-handed Psalms in which the poet comes to God with a clear conscience, there is also a sense of self-doubt too. The Psalmist lives in a hostile world, where even his own self conspires against him...

And part of the whole point of the Psalms, coming as they do in the middle of history is a sense in which God's response remains to be seen. His character is known: especially his love for justice and his all-knowing perspective. So the Psalmist seeks refuge in God again and again and again. God is the rock, the shield, the fortress. But: what will this mean in reality? What will God do? How will it come to pass? Even the short cut to the christological answer here leaves more to be said. How will God bring his purposes to bear on the world of confusion? How will he shield us from the worst?

Initially I felt that there is an ugliness to his demands for a divine vengeance on his enemies. Here is anger, hatred, frustration, bewilderment, a wishing for the damnation of the enemy. However, there is a sense in which this part of a proper patience - entrusting action to God who judges rightly. Which also goes hand in hand with the strong theme of repentance and pleading for mercy - for if you call down God's justice on others, a moment's self-scrutiny will surely make you realise what a dangerous strategy this is.