Беседа 10 на псалом 12 35

Ps.12:1-3. Finally, a psalm to David. 36 How long, O Lord, will you forget me completely? 37 How long will you turn your face away from me? 38 How long will I formulate thoughts in my soul? 39 (a) are there sorrows in my heart day and night? How long will my enemy exalt himself over me? 40 It is no small benefit if a person is aware of his abandonment by God, which comes from violating His commandments, but also serves as a manifestation of special divine providence. – What does it mean: “I have overcome him” (Ps. 12:5)? – Strengthening the Psalmist’s prayer for divine help by pointing to the joy and gladness of the enemy. - “But I trusted in Your mercy” (Ps. 12:6). – Gratitude and praise to the Lord before receiving benefits from Him. – An exhortation to imitate David and to rely without hesitation on the mercy of God. 1. There is no small benefit in feeling oblivion from God. By oblivion we do not mean a passionate state, but abandonment. Many, having been forgotten by God, do not even realize it and do not grieve; and blessed David not only realized this, but also calculated the time of oblivion, because the expression: how long means the duration of time. That is why he grieves and cries. See how he never grieves over anything worldly, neither about wealth, nor about fame, but always about the favor of God. Why, you say, did he know that God had forgotten him? Because he knew when God remembered him, and clearly understood what this oblivion consisted of, and what this remembrance consisted of - not like many of the people who, when they become rich, when they are glorified by people, when everything goes well for them, when they gain victories over their enemies, then they think that God remembers them; therefore they do not know when He forgets them. Not knowing the signs of His remembrance, they do not know the signs of His forgetting; not understanding the signs of His love, they do not understand the signs of His displeasure. Many of the people who have earthly blessings are forgotten by God, and even especially them; on the contrary, he often remembers those who have not. Remembrance of God for us comes from nothing other than good deeds, attentiveness, wakefulness, and exercise in virtue; Equally, oblivion comes from nothing other than sins, greed, and theft. Therefore, you, beloved, when you are in misfortune, do not say: God has forgotten me; on the contrary, when you are in sin and when everything is going well for you. If you are aware of this, you will soon lag behind vicious deeds. “How long will you turn Your face away from me?” This is the highest degree of oblivion. The prophet depicts the actions of God, His wrath and punishment with human likenesses. But God turns away His face when we act unworthy of His commandments. “When you stretch out, He says, your hands, I close My eyes from you...; then he gives the reason: your hands are full of blood” (Is. 1:15). However, this abandonment and aversion of face is also an action of God’s great care for us. He does this in order to; draw us closer to Himself. So a person, infected with passionate love, seeing the lack of attention to himself of his beloved object, leaves him and moves away, not because he wants to erase him from his soul, but, wanting to turn and bind him to himself. Having spoken about the disgust of his face and oblivion, the prophet also talks about what happened to him from this. What exactly? What he says next: “How long will I formulate thoughts in my soul?” Just as one who leaves the pier wanders everywhere, and just as one who is deprived of light often stumbles, so one who has been forgotten by God constantly indulges in worries, worries and sorrows. However, these very worries, worries, contrition, sorrow, conversation about God’s disgust, contribute no little to ensuring that He turns to us again. So Paul says about himself in his letter to the Corinthians: “Who can make me glad except the one who makes me sad” (2 Cor. 2:2)? There is no small benefit, beloved, from feeling God’s disgust, grieving and lamenting, because in this way we will soon turn Him to ourselves again. “How long will my enemy exalt himself over me? Look, hear me, O Lord my God, enlighten my eyes, so that I may not sleep in death” (Ps. 12:3-4). Just as when God protects us and is with us, all sorrow disappears, so when He retreats from us and forgets us, our soul is tormented, our heart grieves, people grieve us, and there are cliffs and rapids everywhere for us. But all this is allowed for a useful purpose - so that careless people, suffering from this, try more carefully to return to where they fell. “Your wickedness will punish you,” says the prophet, and your apostasy will expose you” (Jer. 2:19). Thus, God’s abandonment is a form of His providence. When He, providing for us and taking care of us, does not see the attention due to Himself, then He retreats for a while and moves away, so that the careless, leaving their negligence, become the most zealous. “Look,” says the prophet, look at the enemy rising above me; and if not because of my humiliation, then because of his arrogance and pride, “hear me.” What are you asking for? Victory over enemies? No, he says, but so that the eyes of my heart are enlightened, so that the darkness that has surrounded the thinking part of my soul, darkening my mental eye, is dispelled. This is what I ask: “enlighten my eyes... May my enemy not say: “I have overcome him!” , seeing me plunged into sinful death: “I overcame him” (Ps. 12:4-5), I overcame him, and what I desired, I achieved. What does it mean: “I overcame it”? Although he is not strong at all, he became strong against me. Our defeat gives him strength, shows him strong, strong and invincible. 2. You see: when we sin, we not only disgrace ourselves, destroy, expose ourselves to death, but also our enemies who strike us, we appear strong and powerful, and in addition we also bring them joy and joy. Oh, what madness, what blindness - to help our enemies against ourselves, to bring joy and joy to those who insult and upset our souls! Look how much recklessness there is: instead of defeating the enemy - “the enemy’s weapons are completely exhausted, and the wicked perish” (Ps. 9: 7, 6) - instead of gaining victories, we ourselves suffer defeat; and not only this, but we also show him strong and powerful; and even this does not stop our madness, our extreme illness, but we still bring him joy and joy. Truly, sin is extreme extravagance and extreme evil. “Those who oppress me will rejoice if I hesitate” (Ps. 12:5). The prophet gives three reasons, begging the Lord to look at him, turn His face to him and hear his prayer: the power and strength of the enemies, and even before that their arrogance and arrogance, and thirdly, their joy and joy. He seems to be saying this: if not because of my request and not because of my humiliation, turn Your face to me, O Lord, then because of the arrogance of your enemies; they are proud of their strength, they rejoice in my misfortunes, they laugh at my fall. “Hear me, Lord..., enlighten my eyes”: drive away the deep sleep from me of my sins, having fallen asleep in which I would soon suffer spiritual death. If then, as soon as I shake from Your stronghold, they rejoice, admire, consider it their strength, become exalted and become unbearable, then what will they not do when I am brought to death? You see how the prophet considers it the greatest harm, no less than punishment and torment, that the common enemy should rejoice, that he should appear strong and be considered high. If he had not considered this evil to be the greatest and unbearable, he would not have presented it for the propitiation of God and for obtaining His favor. We will do the same; Let us watch and try not to elevate the enemy, not to make him strong, not to bring him joy, but, on the contrary, so that he turns out to be low, insignificant, weak, regrettable and joyless. And all this will be fulfilled when he sees sinners doing good deeds. “But I have trusted in Your mercy: my heart will rejoice in Your salvation; I will sing to the Lord who does good to me, and I will sing to the name of the Lord Most High” (Ps. 12:6). For what good deeds do you ask yourself for such mercy that He would look at you again, hear your prayer, enlighten your mental eyes? Why do you need this? Let others, he says, imagine if they can imagine anything; but I know one thing, I say one thing, I place all my hope in one thing, I imagine one thing: “Thy mercy,” Thy love for mankind. “I trusted in Your mercy.” Do you see the prophet's humility? Do you see this husband's gratitude? Although he had many virtues and with them could bow down God, he does not talk about any of them, but resorts solely to the mercy of God. From this it is clear that even when he speaks about them, for example, in the words: “if I did something,” “if I took revenge,” and the like (Ps. 7: 4, 5), he speaks out of absolute necessity to say this; and when it is not there, then he does not say anything like that, but instead of any basis for the request, he points to the mercy and love of God. Then, being sure that he will not be deceived in his hope, he continues: “My heart will rejoice in Your salvation.” Do you see a soul filled with hope? He asked and, before he received, he already thanks, as one who has received, sings to God and does everything in advance. Where does he have such strong hope? From deep gratitude, from great zeal in prayer - he knew that God would listen to the one asking in this way - from strong ardor and a living feeling of the heart. Just as those who ask lazily and carelessly, and, having received what they asked, barely feel the importance of the gift, so those who offer prayer with intense zeal and zeal, even before receiving, from a strong and sincere disposition, feel the importance of the gift, as those who have received, because divine grace fills them with joy in advance, give thanks for it and are not far from receiving it. “My heart will rejoice in Your salvation.” My soul, he says, rejoices to receive salvation from You; my soul rejoices that You are its salvation. 3. Do you see joy on the one hand, and joy on the other - the joy of enemies about the fall (of one’s neighbor), and the joy of the soul about one’s own salvation? The former belongs to the wicked, and the latter to those who are being saved; the first serves to destroy both the one who seems to rejoice and the thing about which he rejoices; and the latter - to the salvation and revival of the one who rejoices. We, too, will rejoice and rejoice in this last joy and gladness, but we will avoid and turn away from the first. “I will sing to the Lord who does good to me, and I will sing to the name of the Lord Most High.” In memory of this good deed, I will offer up, he says, a song to the Lord, who blessed me, humbled the enemy, shamed him, discovered his weakness, heard my prayer, turned His face to me, dispelling the fog and darkness, among which I sought death. Rejoicing in salvation, it is as if I were erecting an indestructible monument when I lift up this song about the blessings shown to me. I not only sing it now and keep the blessings in my memory, but in the future I will chant and glorify the name of the Lord, indelibly carrying His great blessings in my soul. Such a soul, having been exposed to disasters, not only easily gets rid of them, but also becomes more careful so as not to be subjected to similar disasters again. Indeed, if she always remembers a benefit, then it is obvious that she also remembers the disasters from which she got rid of after receiving the benefit. Remembering the disasters, she carefully reflects on why they happened to her and for what reason she was subjected to such evil; and thinking about this, she protects herself on all sides so as not to fall into similar misfortunes again; and thus, by arranging and directing her life, she gives great gratitude to her Deliverer; having found the Deliverer in Him, she desires to always have Him as her Guardian in the future. Let us also imitate such a soul; and if we fall into any sin, we will immediately rise up and make the fall a reason for greater security and an incentive not to sin later. How can you do this? You have a teacher - David. Have you sinned? Do not fall asleep in sin, but arise; immediately imagine that God has turned His face away from you, that He has forgotten you; then cry, sigh, wash your bed with tears every night, leave the workers of iniquity. These are David's instructions. Say with him: “How long, Lord, will you forget me completely? How long will you turn Your face away from me? Say it not with your tongue, but first with your heart; say other prayers of David. When you have expressed everything, then trust in God’s mercy, hope and don’t doubt. “But let him ask in faith, without any doubt,” says the apostle, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, lifted and tossed by the wind. Let such a person not think of receiving anything from the Lord. A double-minded man is not steadfast in all his ways” (James 1:6–8). Therefore, trust in His mercy without any doubt, and you will certainly receive what you ask for; and, having received, do not be ungrateful and unappreciative to the Benefactor, but build a monument to His good deeds, offer a song of thanksgiving to the Lord. If you cannot arrange this yourself, then invite the poor, use their lips and use them instead of yourself. Be sure that more pleasant to the Lord than David’s song will be the one they sing for you. Just as a multi-stringed musical instrument produces more pleasant sounds than a single-stringed instrument, so the song of many poor people will be pleasant and pleasing to God, who listens to the voice of the poor. Erect such a monument both for yourself and for God: for Him - in memory of the good deed, and for yourself - as a sign of gratitude and appreciation, as a sign of constant remembrance, which you always keep in your heart, arrange your life in this way - or better, let us improve it in order to become worthy to inherit the blessings there, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. The psalms in the text are translated by P. Yungerov - Editorial office of the ABC of Faith Another translator (Symmachus) says: the victory song of David. Third (Theodotion): for victory. Another (Symmachus): You forget me completely. Another (Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion): you hide. Another (unknown translator, see Orig. Copy): I will arrange thoughts. Another (Symmachus): care in my thoughts daily. You might be interested in: