Approaching God through Metaphor

The Psalms as Sacred Symbols for Today

“If we are honest the only way we can approach God is through metaphor, through symbol.” Says the lead singer of the Irish Band U2. I came across that quote while rewatching his conversation with author Eugene Peterson. See it here.

The Psalms are a unique piece of ancient sacred text found in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. Essentially, lyrics from the Hebrew people’s worship liturgies, prayers, and poems are from various tribes, villages, priests, and people. They would have formed the prayer life of people for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Yeshua quotes them frequently as he wanders the hills around Galilee and in the streets of Jerusalem. At the end of his life, he taps into the Psalms of pain and suffering, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22)

Yahweh (pronounced yah -way, what the Hebrew Bible calls God) inhabits the Psalms because those lyrics express an encounter with the numinous, mystery, and holiness in a vibrant manner. The ineffable is always unknowable directly. All we can ever know is the image that comes to us from it. Bono means this when he says the only way we can approach God is through metaphor, through symbol. Even the word God is a symbol. Three letters are put together, spelled out in the English language, and a symbol.

In his book The Sacred Psyche, Edward Edinger describes the power of the Psalms. “I have known several quite irreligious people who were astonished to discover that certain Psalms were the only texts that spoke to their condition during a period of grave upheaval.” People find comfort, yes, but even more so, they find companionship in the Psalms. They have this sense that someone, perhaps a human being or a supreme being, has been in the same place before them. We cannot underestimate the value of that companionship.

But the language of the Psalms can read a bit rough, awkward, and out of step with our time and language. This is why Eugene Peterson’s translations of the Psalms are a book I go to a lot, especially when my passions are firing on many cylinders. Peterson gave these ancient lyrics a new rhythm, language, and relevance - at least for me and the 17 million others who have bought The Message.

An Example

Psalm 13 (A Classic Translation)

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long must I bear pain in my soul
    and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Psalm 13  (The Message)

^1-2 Long enough, God—
    you’ve ignored me long enough.
I’ve looked at the back of your head
    long enough. Long enough
I’ve carried this ton of trouble,
    lived with a stomach full of pain.
Long enough my arrogant enemies
    have looked down their noses at me.

Both work, but in The Message, I can enter into the Psalm, read or speak the words, and own them. Yes, I know the arguments from scholars and academics that critiqued this work. Some have merit, but I’m interested in finding ways to help people discover or re-discover ways to make for a more intimate relationship with the divine. The Message helps make that happen.

You can discover the Psalms via the Message online at this link and compare translations. I’m old school in this regard, so I own a couple of paperback copies of The Book of Psalms: The Message Version. I like to give them out.

Then there is U2’s version of Psalm 40, titled simply 40.

I waited patiently for the Lord.
He inclined and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit
Out of the miry clay.

I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song.
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song?

You set my feet upon a rock
And made my footsteps firm.
Many will see, many will see and hear.

I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song
How long to sing this song? 
How long to sing this song? 

The Band U2 closed out their recent concert series at the Sphere in Las Vegas this past March with this song. You can see and hear it here.

How do you express the yearning, the desire, the connection with that which can ultimately not be named or claimed? You can’t, but through art, literature, song, and many other ways, we get close through the use and gift of metaphor and symbol.

“At the core of Carl Jung’s perception is intimated the expression ‘the symbolic life.’ There is a very deep, autonomous process at work in each of us which reaches the surface in metaphor or in symbol.”  Dr. James Hollis

Until next Time,

James Hazelwood is the bishop of the New England Synod—ELCA Lutheran. He is also a Spiritual Director and Coach in Depth Psychology and the Christian Mystical Tradition. He is the author of several books, including Ordinary Mysteries: Faith, Doubt, and Meaning, which is available now.