I have always turned to Psalms when I need comfort. That, however, was before I reread the entire book in sections grouped according to theme for class. Suddenly I realized that not all the Psalms in which the author cries out to God express the sorrow of an individual, but of a nation – sorrow over its turning from God, of its exile from His good favor and its people from their land, over its war against other nations.
“The verse ‘Be still and know that I am God?’” my professor pointed out. “That’s one of the most quoted-out-of-context verses in the entire Bible.” She went on to show us that the command, in that case, is not for one person to meditate on God’s “I Am-ness” in silence, but for the tribes of Israel to cease their warring against each other.
It got me wondering, why do we recontextualize verses like this one (Psalm 46:10, by the way) to fit our circumstances in life? With what I’ve learned in the last week about the history surrounding the Psalms, I’m pretty sure that I’ve twisted a good quarter of the verses according to my moments of weakness or joy. Take Jeremiah 29:11, another frequently-quoted verse promising the beneficence of God’s plans; plans which, in context, are for the restoration of Israel following their time of captivity, but which we Christians apply to ourselves.
Is this habit we have of recontextualizing a problem? Or do the verses exist for that very purpose? Certainly, the majority of Scripture consists of verses whose truth would be destroyed if we used them incorrectly, for example, when renowned atheist writer Sam Harris quotes snippets of the Old Testament or of Christ’s metaphors to portray Christianity as religion that is bloodthirsty and bellicose. How is it any different, then, when we use verses that speak of David’s or Israel’s trials or triumphs as though they are speaking to us?
Maybe it’s that in doing so, we simply disregard the history, rather than completely mutating the verses into something they aren’t (as Harris does). God, after all, is great enough that He can speak to us even through misquoted, miscontextualized verses. But is that by way of our tweaking of their meaning, or in spite of it? Should we read the Psalms strictly for the sake of history, drawing comfort indirectly from the attributes of love and faithfulness that God showed the psalmists, or from cherry picking verses from which to draw comfort directly?
I think it's important to know the context and to learn something about the character of God through that. I think that in many cases, it doesn't mean the meaning we have taken from the verse is wrong. God had his plans for Israel and took care of them, and he does the same for us. Israel was God's chosen people. Now we are. God's character is consistent throughout the Bible, and it is important that we learn what he has shown of his character because it's the same now.
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