Psalm 76:12
the serpent's tongue
I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy wonders from the beginning. (Psalm 76:12 DR)
One of the surest ways in this life to be miserable is to think about yourself too much. Indeed, the success rate approaches nigh unto 100%. For a moment’s reflection upon our lives and the world through the lens of ourselves and what we deem owed to us never fails to bring about resentment, discontent and entitlement.
This was, after all, the conditions of the primordial temptation, in which man is seduced into orienting the world around himself rather than God. As the serpent tempts Eve, he weaves half-truths into an appeal to her pride and self-worth; he wishes her to identify as something which she constructs for herself and which she draws out from within herself, rather than submitting her will and identity to the One who made her.
In fact, the temptation is cloaked in a grievance: God’s very act of creating humanity as he did is itself a flawed and oppressive act and is using the givenness of human nature as a means to keep them from their true and rightful destiny:
Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?
And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die.
And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death. For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:1-5 DR)
Ever since the Fall we have the tendency to invert the orientation of the world, and to invent our own as discerned through the matrix of our own desires and self-will. The serpent’s tongue still tickles our ears and promises the ability to reach beyond ourselves, to not accept our existence in its givenness but only according to our own terms. This coupled with our finitude cannot help but make us miserable, for that which we crave is forever out of reach. In our sin we—like our first parents—blame everyone and everything for this misery but ourselves, and essentially hold the universe hostage to our self-will; if we cannot have what we want on our terms, then let the universe burn.
These are the things the Psalmist has been struggling through in the previous verses. He perceives the injustice of the world and despairs of any hope, wondering rhetorically if God will ever be merciful again. He has swept his spirit and become mindful of his own sinfulness, and his misery seems to have no end.
But the antidote to the ancient serpent’s venom is finally coming into view, as the Psalmist now turns his mind from himself back to God. Instead of focusing on his own miseries and the things he perceives himself entitled to, he re-orients his perspective to think on God’s works and wonders. This is essentially an act of humility, a self-immolation of the will, for the point by which he now evaluates his life is through God’s goodness rather than his own frustrated desires.
He thinks of God’s wonders “from the beginning,” which is not only a generic recounting of God’s acts in history but also God’s acts in the Psalmist’s own history; that is, the ways in which God has worked and intervened in his own life. This posture of humility brings with it an associated virtue of gratitude, for in pondering God’s works and wonders that he has personally experienced he is taken out of himself and lifted to something higher. As mentioned in the inscription of the Psalm, he begins to leap over himself and the cares and frustrations of this world:
But let even us leap over in our affections, and not rejoice in things temporal. For we too have our bed. Why do we not enter therein? Why do we not abide in silence? Why do we not search out our spirit? Why do we not think on the eternal years? Why do we not rejoice in the works of God?
To rejoice in the works of God, is to forget even yourself, if you can delight in Him alone. For what is a better thing than He? Do you not see that, when you return to yourself, you return to a worse thing? “for I shall be mindful from the beginning of Your wonderful works.” (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 76, 12.)
This animation was about as simple as it gets, as it was all generated by Trapcode Particular, which is always a fun exercise since there’s so much one can do with it. But I wanted a pretty simple star burst field, and so I just created a circular emitter and applied some Z drift to the particles. I then created a secondary emitter that is sourced from the master emitter which creates the streaks of stars. Some simple gradient mapping and a world transform for the rotation and the animation was complete.
Enjoy.
I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy wonders from the beginning.
(Psalm 76:12 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: