Psalm 21:12
the thresher cometh
Depart not from me. For tribulation is very near: for there is none to help me. (Psalm 21:12 DR)
Incipits Galore
Psalm 69:2 is perhaps one of the most quoted verses from all of the Psalms: Deus, in adjutorium meum intende; Domine, ad adjuvandam me festina—O God, come to my assistance, O Lord, make haste to help me. This passage is quoted as part of every hour of the Divine Office, and in almost every hour as the incipit, save for Compline wherein it comes slightly later.
And while a seemingly simple statement, it is theologically pregnant with meaning. For even in something like prayer which—to all appearances—is something that we do, unless God is actively helping us, it cannot be fruitful. As our Lord says: without Me, you can do nothing. Prayer that truly is prayer thus begins with this posture of humility, the act of kneeling in prayer an outward signification of the inward mortification of the self and its pride, recognizing that without God’s assistance in all things we are powerless to do good, powerless to avoid evil, helpless and lost.
If Psalm 69:2 is the humble posture of one coming to prayer, Psalm 22:12 mirrors it in a way, showing the soul and its state without that help that comes from God. The Psalmist has expressed his dedication to the Lord from his birth, yet now in the midst of tribulation finds the fog and darkness of trouble to obscure God’s presence from his mind’s eye. The Psalmist said that he had been drawn froth from his mother’s womb, and cast upon the Lord from the womb, yet now expresses a sense of abandonment now that trouble has found and encircled him.
It’s the Waiting that’s the Worst
There is a sense of anxious anticipation, for the tribulation is not presently upon him, but is near, proxima in the Vulgate. Proxima is the superlative form of prope—near, close—giving the sense that in this cry of distress tribulation is the nearest of anything that the Psalmist considers, which is striking given that he in the previous passage spoke of being cast upon the Lord from his mother’s womb. The significance of his distress and trouble and tribulation is such that it occludes that very vision of that which formed his existence from his earliest days:
Depart not from me: for tribulation is very near, and there is none to help me. These words were uttered in fear of death, for He was also to say: Father, if it be possible let this chalice pass from me… He says that tribulation is very near because He is to suffer in His own flesh, for when a man suffers loss of faculties, bereavement of children, loss of possessions or other things of this kind, he is recognised to endure ills at a distance from himself, whereas when a man suffers in his own flesh the tribulation imposed on him is very near. (Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms, 21, 12)
Eusebius of Caesarea considers the manner in which the anticipation or cloud of suffering and death hangs over one and turns the thoughts to it alone. He applies it to our Lord in His agony in the Garden, for even though He as God knew the end of all that His Passion would bring, still the flesh recoiled from such horror:
So now when such troubles hem Me in, I call upon Thee, My Father, who drew Me out of My mother’s womb, on Whom I was cast from My mother, in Whom I trusted from her breasts, made known to Me and acknowledged as My God even from My mother’s womb, and I beseech Thee not to depart from Me, for affliction is near. For there comes, He says, yea, is all but come and at the door, afflicting Me and pressing upon Me the last cloud of all, the cloud of My surpassing trouble. I do not mean this trouble which now enfolds Me, nor the Cross, nor the jeers of men, nor the mockery, nor anything at all that I underwent before the Cross, scourging, insults, nor all My vile treatment from the sons of men; but I look to the dissolution of the body in death itself, and the descent into Hades next thereto, and the onset of the hostile powers opposed to God. And I therefore say, Trouble is near, and there is no helper. It is surely the very climax of affliction to have no helper. (Eusebius of Caesarea, Proof of the Gospel, 10.8)
Final Destination
The finality of death and the idea of the finality of death brings the cloud of tribulation upon the Psalmist and by prophetic extension upon our Lord, and in the fog of this darkness the help that comes from the Lord can be difficult to see. On the other side of things, for those who are not presently in tribulation—or, perhaps better stated, who do not perceive themselves to be so—there can be the temptation to think that this helper is not needed, that we have the sufficiency to be virtuous or to pray or to increase in holiness on our own. This is, however, but the overweening hubris of our pride, the same pride that the tempter delights to call his own.
The Psalmist cries out in his distress, for he does not imagine that he is sufficient on his own. The tribulation and pain of his suffering and the anticipation of death occlude his vision, but do not make him blind like pride does, for he still knows that he needs a helper, that without God’s help he is doomed to destruction:
In His words—And there is none to help me—the integrity of the Suppliant and the power of the Godhead are revealed, for if God did not lend help there would be none to snatch Him from peril. So let us contemplate whether we should at any time be separated from Him, for we cannot be saved by anyone’s pity but His. (Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms, 21, 12)
In his tribulation the Psalmist sees with his worldly vision that tribulation seems to be the nearest thing to him, but with the vision of faith he asks God to depart not from me. Thus, even though he cannot see this reality and it certainly doesn’t feel like the current reality, the actual reality is that God is even nearer than his tribulation, and will use that tribulation to purify his soul and his vision that he might someday see God.
Threshing the Soul
The word tribulation comes from tribulationem, itself from tribulare which—especially in Christian writings—has the sense of to press. This sense derives from the noun tribulum, which was a threshing sledge, and so the idea is something that presses forcefully upon something so as to crush it or separate its parts, like the threshing sledge which separates wheat from chaff. These sledges would have sharp rocks or spikes studded on boards, and these would be dragged over the wheat to press it and cause this separation. Tribulation is thus not only about the pressing of distress, but also about the separation or purifying that it can bring. As Cassiodorus saw, the tribulation of the Psalmist (and of our Lord) becomes the means by which both the power of God and the integrity of the Suppliant are manifested. If there were no tribulations to press the saints, they would not be saints, for it is the threshing of trouble and distress and suffering that purifies the soul, separating the deeds of righteousness and the deeds of wickedness, revealing innocence, laying bare untoward motives, purifying intentions and proving the soul in respect to its charity towards God. As Sirach says:
Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation. Humble thy heart, and endure: incline thy ear, and receive the words of understanding: and make not haste in the time of clouds. Wait on God with patience: join thyself to God, and endure, that thy life may be increased in the latter end. Take all that shall be brought upon thee: and in thy sorrow endure, and in thy humiliation keep patience. For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation. (Sirach 2:1-5 DR)
Memento Mori
And while the threat of death does hang over us all as the ultimate end to which we will all come—for we all live in the time of clouds—it does not always feel so looming as for the Psalmist. Yet the soul which desires God must have this death always in mind, and in his body mortify the sinful passions so as to not be weighed down by their lusts. This intentional death of all that is impure and lower and base through fasting, abstinence and other forms of penance imitates our Lord Who suffered prepared for His temptation through similar acts, even though He had no untoward desires to subdue:
We ought not to be so greatly saddened, brothers, that in these days of Lent, the temptation of tribulation comes upon us; since we see that our Savior was also tempted because of this very Lent. Therefore, we servants ought to grieve less, because we have the example of the Lord. For where there is devotion similar to Christ’s, there is also temptation similar to Christ’s; for the condition of fasting imposes upon us the condition of enduring. But we believe that just as our Savior overcame the devil when he was tempted; so too can we conquer our enemies when we are afflicted; for the fasts of Christ can be tempted, but they cannot be overcome. Indeed, they have hardships in their observance, but they grant prosperity and salvation. (St. Ambrose, Sermon 22, 1)
It’s Time for all of us to Do Penance
By willingly taking upon ourselves penances and mortifications, and by willingly enduring the tribulations and sufferings that come our way, we walk in the path of our Lord Jesus Christ and can, by His help, be assured of victory over sin and temptation. Temptation will never be absent in this life, but the more our passions are subdued and the more we gain self-mastery over our bodies and minds, the better prepared we are to receive God’s help in tribulation, for in all these acts we imitate the humility of Jesus in the very posture of our lives, and in this humility grace is given. And since this grace is the very power of God working within the soul, He is nearer to us than the most pressing trouble or tribulation:
You are, therefore, My God, depart not from Me; for trouble is near unto Me; for it is in My body. For who helps, if Thou helpest not? (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 21, Exposition 1, 12)
I isolated the image of this statue of an angel in Photoshop and precomped it in After Effects. I similarly precomped a background texture, duplicated it, and then applied Stretch to both instances, changing up the speed and slices of each effect to give a sense of depth and parallax. On the angel precomp I applied Shadow Studio and gave it this salmon colored overlay, and then applied a wiggle hold expression to precomp itself and to the angel of the shadow to give a sense of weight and movement as it makes its ascent.
I then placed the text and applied some various effects such as color correction, noise, and camera shake.
Enjoy.
Depart not from me. For tribulation is very near: for there is none to help me.
(Psalm 21:12 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: