Psalm 6:9
yeah, that's gonna be a no
Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity: for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. (Psalm 6:9 DR)
St. Paul prophetically observes that “evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33), or, more colloquially, “bad company corrupt good character.” And lest we imagine that he is speaking hyperbolically, he prefaces this by saying “Be not seduced” (ibid.). That is, we like to imagine that we are strong enough to stand up in the face of temptation no matter what it is, but this is a seduction of the evil one. For the more we associate with those who do wicked or with wickedness itself—such as in the things we listen to, read or watch—the more we are formed in the image of the world rather than in the likeness of Christ. St. Ambrose draws a distinction between the “celestial” image and the “terrestrial” image:
Adam before he sinned conformed to this image. But after his fall he lost that celestial image and took on one that is terrestial. Let us flee from this image which cannot enter the city of God, for it is written: “In thy city, O Lord, thou shall bring their image to nothing.” [Psalm 72:20] An unworthy image does not enter there; no sooner does it enter than it is excluded, because we read: “There shall not enter into it anything common nor he who practices abomination and falsehood.” [Apocalypse 21:27] (St. Ambrose, Hexameron, VI, 42.)
To “flee” this image is to flee from temptation, to flee from “evil communications,” as St. Paul exhorts St. Timothy:
But flee thou youthful desires, and pursue justice, faith, charity, and peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:22 DR)
In the previous passage the Psalmist lamented that he had “grown old amongst all my enemies,”—that is, had not yet rooted out all the sins and vices which had plagued him. This forms the basis of his confession as he turns to God to forgive him and cleanse him from his sins. His true contrition is now borne out in his resolution to avoid those sins in the future; he now says “depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.” There is a two-fold meaning here in that he is speaking not only of all those who lead him into sin—the “evil communications” or “bad company”—but also of the evil desires within himself that he now resolves to no longer indulge. He will no longer allow his concupiscence to have free reign within him, but will struggle against it as he would an exterior enemy.
However, it is because we are not—as being conformed to the “terrestrial image” that St. Ambrose mentioned—capable of attaining the celestial image without the help of God’s grace. Thus the Psalmist expands his initial thought here by going back to its genesis, which is that “the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.” The Psalmist has recognized his sin and his failure to root it out, but also understands the pull the concupiscence has on him. He desires that “celestial image” but is incapable of overcoming his concupiscence. This perfectly accords with St. Paul’s description:
For I know that there dwelleth not in me, that is to say, in my flesh, that which is good. For to will, is present with me; but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do…
For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man: But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my members. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:18-19, 22-24 DR)
Like the Psalmist, St. Paul recognizes in himself that he too has “grown old” amongst his enemies. However, he fortunately does not leave it there, for his seemingly hopeless question at the end of the previous quotation has a clear answer:
The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with the mind serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin. There is now therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh. For the law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath delivered me from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh; God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and of sin, hath condemned sin in the flesh; that the justification of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. (Romans 7:25-8:4 DR)
This “grace of God” is equivalent to the Psalmist’s realization that the Lord has “heard the voice” of his weeping, for it enables him to reject all the “workers of iniquity.” We can also see on display in both the Psalmist and St. Paul the cooperation with grace that brings about righteousness. The Spirit of God is poured forth within our hearts (cf. Romans 5:5) and enables us to “mind the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5 DR) rather than the things of this world. As we reject the “terrestrial image” we are conformed by God’s grace into the “celestial image,” which is Christ Himself.
In this growth in the spiritual life and virtue we must reject and hold in contempt the things of the flesh, “[f]or all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life.” (1 John 2:16 DR) We can never grow in grace or the spiritual life without a concomitant rejection of what this world has to offer and its “terrestrial image.” God’s grace and our cooperation thereof enable us to reject all the “workers of iniquity” so as to attain that “celestial image.”
For this animation I wanted a more or less straightforward “rejection” vibe, and so I found this great had pose and isolated it in Photoshop. Sometimes a simple gesture speaks volumes, and this sort of unambiguous “no” that a raised hand provides was fitting.
In After Effects I brought in a nice background texture and applied Stretch to it and messed around with a lot of the parameters until I got this fast moving streaky look which emanates from the hand outward. I added in some chromatic aberration and camera shake to depict the struggle that trying to resist evil can bring.
Enjoy.
Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity: for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.
(Psalm 6:9 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: