Ps. 57.10-11 (light before the sun)

For great
to the heavens / is your loyal-love
and to the skies / is your faithfulness.
Rise up / over the heavens / O God
and over all the earth / be your glory. 

This is a fascinating conclusion to the psalm. We have seen these twins before in verse 3 where the psalmist petitioned God to send from heaven his loving-kindness and his faithfulness in order to save him and challenge those who hound him. Here, as the Dawn breaks and the night vanishes, those twins have now filled out the earth. It was in the night when heaven was sought to descend to earth. Now, with the deliverance of the Dawn, heaven’s power is understood to encompass the earth and dispel the darkness. On the heels of our previous reflection this takes on an added depth: there we saw a type of almost world-wide liturgical communion in praise of God’s deliverance. Here, we come to see, in a sense, what that praise is actually aimed at: God’s covenantal fidelity and love that comes to fill and structure the world. There is here, clearly, a praise not merely of God’s power, but of the dramatic enactment of his power (i.e., his deliverance) and the transition from night to Dawn. It is that movement, that dispelling, that sense that now heaven’s will is being enacted on earth, that is the focus. It is, in other works, a praise of thanksgiving. All of this is, however, “in movement”, on-the-way-to-fulfillment. We are catching a glimpse here of the light that precedes the rising sun. It is, in this moment, which is why that psalm ends on the almost parallel but future looking note: “Rise above the heavens, O God, and over all the earth be your glory.” The parallel: “to the heavens is your loyal-love” – “rise above the heavens”; “to the skies is your faithfulness” – “over all the earth be your glory”. The psalmist is sure of what will happen and is presently experiencing that transition. Essential to note though: within that movement toward fulfillment, the psalmist never breaks off the petition as if it is some completed act that does not involve him. Just as he saw himself participating in ‘awakening the Dawn’ so too does he continue his petition in the midst of the rising sun. Indeed, it is the expanding light “to the nations and peoples” that is the rising Dawn. If the petition stopped, the very movement would have been betrayed. Even in its completion it would still be vibrant.