Psalm Reading for March 24, 2024 (Liturgy of the Passion)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 31:9-16
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Psalm of Lament attributed to David.  The Psalm is written from the first-person perspective, as a deeply personal plea for the mercy of Yahweh.

The descriptions of David’s malaise are very physically graphic, and deeply emotional:

 My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
 For my life is spent with sorrow,
my years with sighing.
My strength fails because of my iniquity.
My bones are wasted away.

Whatever the source of his distress, it affects him holistically — body and mind are suffering.

But that isn’t all.  His malaise also affects his social relationships.  Those who have been a part of his normal community find him repugnant because of his adversaries:

 Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,
A fear to my acquaintances.
Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

There is no detail about who his adversaries may be, but because of slanders and conspiracies, he is experiencing terror.  The imagery he uses to describe the sense of alienation from his community is vivid:

I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.
I am like broken pottery.

His terrors are grounded in the fear that someone is plotting to take his life.

However, in verses 14 to 16 there is a decisive change of mood, as he declares:

But I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand.

Despite his physical, emotional and social suffering and alienation, he places his complete trust in Yahweh, and confesses his faith.  There is also a kind of serenity that he finds as he places his life (my times) in Yahweh’s hand.

He prays for deliverance from his persecutors, and then in a tour de force of faith, he alludes to two key spiritual principles in Hebraic spirituality:

Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.

The first phrase reminds us of Aaron’s high priestly blessing early in Israel’s history:

Yahweh bless you, and keep you.
Yahweh make his face to shine on you,
and be gracious to you.
Yahweh lift up his face toward you,
and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26) .

The word face in Hebrew is panayim, which also means presence.  Yahweh’s presence is to bring light to his servant.

And the second phrase, loving kindness is a frequent refrain in the Psalms that describes Yahweh’s disposition toward his people and his creatures.  Out of 174 mentions of Yahweh’s loving kindness, 121 are found in the Psalms alone.

A Psalm that begins in misery and distress ends with trust in Yahweh’s presence and loving kindness. 

APPLY:  

It is virtually impossible to know the context of this Psalm in David’s life.  Any number of circumstances might apply:

• King Saul turned against him and jealously sought to end David’s life;
• David experienced the consequences of his own adulterous and murderous crime, which led to his heartbroken repentance;
• David was betrayed later in his life by his own son, Absalom.

We can certainly see echoes in this Psalm of the experiences of David’s greatest descendant, Jesus — abandoned by his acquaintances, forgotten like broken pottery, slandered, plotted against, persecuted.  Since this Psalm is the Lectionary reading for the beginning of Holy Week, it is impossible for us not to think of Jesus as we read these lines.

However, these lines may also apply to us, when we also experience grief; when our eyes and soul and body waste away with grief; when our years are spent in sorrow and sighing; when we feel abandoned by those we once relied on as neighbors and friends.

Then, like David, we will need to find the same refuge that he did, and pray:

I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.

This Psalm provides the example of a life that turns from despair and darkness to hope in God and his light.

RESPOND: 

What shines through this Psalm is the promise that despite distress and grief and despair, our hope is in God.  There is a transition in this Psalm that can give us courage, as we are reminded to trust in God.

One phrase leaps out at me, though.  When David extols Yahweh, he says:

My times are in your hand.

This resonates with me.  The times in which I live are supremely uncertain.  Geopolitics, national politics and economics, my own denomination, and the culture in which I live, are all in a state of flux and chaos, it seems to me.

When I think of my own life in relation to all this, I feel rather small and insignificant.  I’m reminded, though, of a classic scene in the movie Casablanca.  Rick, an embittered hard drinking night club owner has met again with the one love of his live, Ilsa. He had lost her only to find her again during the chaotic times early in World War II.  Now she is married to a hero of the Czech resistance, and must choose whether to stay with him or return to Rick. But Rick realizes that there is something bigger at that moment than two people who were in love, and he must let her go:

I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.

For some reason, I’m reminded of this when I remember that my times are in God’s hand. 

I find this very reassuring — that no matter what happens, I have turned the keys over to God.  And I can trust that his face will shine on me, and his loving kindness will save me. 

Lord, distress and grief and abandonment are likely to happen in this broken world.  Thank you that your presence shines on me, and your loving kindness will save me.  Keep me faithful to you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"Psalm 31-5" by New Life Church Collingwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for April 2, 2023 (Liturgy of the Passion)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 31:9-16
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Psalm of Lament attributed to David.  The Psalm is written from the first-person perspective, as a deeply personal plea for the mercy of Yahweh.

The descriptions of David’s malaise are very physically graphic, and deeply emotional:

 My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
 For my life is spent with sorrow,
my years with sighing.
My strength fails because of my iniquity.
My bones are wasted away.

Whatever the source of his distress, it affects him holistically — body and mind are suffering.

But that isn’t all.  His malaise also affects his social relationships.  Those who have been a part of his normal community find him repugnant because of his adversaries:

 Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,
A fear to my acquaintances.
Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

There is no detail about who his adversaries may be, but because of slanders and conspiracies, he is experiencing terror.  The imagery he uses to describe the sense of alienation from his community is vivid:

I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.
I am like broken pottery.

His terrors are grounded in the fear that someone is plotting to take his life.

However, in verses 14 to 16 there is a decisive change of mood, as he declares:

But I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand.

Despite his physical, emotional and social suffering and alienation, he places his complete trust in Yahweh, and confesses his faith.  There is also a kind of serenity that he finds as he places his life (my times) in Yahweh’s hand.

He prays for deliverance from his persecutors, and then in a tour de force of faith, he alludes to two key spiritual principles in Hebraic spirituality:

Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.

The first phrase reminds us of Aaron’s high priestly blessing early in Israel’s history:

Yahweh bless you, and keep you.
Yahweh make his face to shine on you,
and be gracious to you.
Yahweh lift up his face toward you,
and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26) .

The word face in Hebrew is panayim, which also means presence.  Yahweh’s presence is to bring light to his servant.

And the second phrase, loving kindness is a frequent refrain in the Psalms that describes Yahweh’s disposition toward his people and his creatures.  Out of 174 mentions of Yahweh’s loving kindness, 121 are found in the Psalms alone.

A Psalm that begins in misery and distress ends with trust in Yahweh’s presence and loving kindness. 

APPLY:  

It is virtually impossible to know the context of this Psalm in David’s life.  Any number of circumstances might apply:

• King Saul turned against him and jealously sought to end David’s life;
• David experienced the consequences of his own adulterous and murderous crime, which led to his heartbroken repentance;
• David was betrayed later in his life by his own son, Absalom.

We can certainly see echoes in this Psalm of the experiences of David’s greatest descendant, Jesus —  abandoned by his acquaintances, forgotten like broken pottery, slandered, plotted against, persecuted.  Since this Psalm is the Lectionary reading for the beginning of Holy Week, it is impossible for us not to think of Jesus as we read these lines.

However, these lines may also apply to us, when we also experience grief; when our eyes and soul and body waste away with grief; when our years are spent in sorrow and sighing; when we feel abandoned by those we once relied on as neighbors and friends.

Then, like David, we will need to find the same refuge that he did, and pray:

I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.

This Psalm provides the example of a life that turns from despair and darkness to hope in God and his light.

RESPOND: 

What shines through this Psalm is the promise that despite distress and grief and despair, our hope is in God.  There is a transition in this Psalm that can give us courage, as we are reminded to trust in God.

One phrase leaps out at me, though.  When David extols Yahweh,  he says:

My times are in your hand.

This resonates with me.  The times in which I live are supremely uncertain.  Geopolitics, national politics and economics, my own denomination, and the culture in which I live, are all in a state of flux and chaos, it seems to me.

When I think of my own life in relation to all this, I feel rather small and insignificant.  I’m reminded, though, of a classic scene in the movie Casablanca.  Rick, an embittered hard drinking night club owner has met again with the one love of his live, Ilsa. He had lost her only to find her again during the chaotic times early in World War II.  Now she is married to a hero of the Czech resistance, and must choose whether to stay with him or return to Rick. But Rick realizes that there is something bigger at that moment than two people who were in love, and he must let her go:

I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.

For some reason, I’m reminded of this when I remember that my times are in God’s hand. 

I find this very reassuring — that no matter what happens, I have turned the keys over to God.  And I can trust that his face will shine on me, and his loving kindness will save me. 

Lord, distress and grief and abandonment are likely to happen in this broken world.  Thank you that your presence shines on me, and your loving kindness will save me.  Keep me faithful to you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"Psalm 31-5" by New Life Church Collingwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for August 14, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm appeals to the Lord for intervention in a time of adversity.  It is difficult to tell from the context alone if the Psalm was written before or after the exile of Israel.  It doesn’t really matter to the reader, because it is clearly a cry for help in any event. One clue, though, might be the mention of the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, which would suggest that the Psalm was written before the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and scattered by the Assyrians in 721 B.C.

The imagery of the Lord as Shepherd is familiar to us, and comforting; but then there is the imagery of the Lord sitting enthroned between the cherubim — those terrifying angelic figures who are depicted as the guardians of Eden with a sword of flame, and the close companions of the Lord who bear him up with wings of the wind.  This is much more intimidating.  There may also be a reference to the winged cherubim made of gold who flank the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem.

Our current lectionary reading jumps from verses 1-2 to verses 8-19.

In verses 8-19, the Psalmist introduces a familiar metaphor — Israel is compared to a vine that the Lord has brought from Egypt.  The Psalmist recounts a part of the salvation history of Israel.  In language reminiscent of Isaiah 5:1-7, he addresses his prayer to the Lord:

You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
 it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.

[For more information on the vine and the vineyard as a Biblical metaphor, CLICK HERE to read the Old Testament SOAR for August 14, 2022]

In these few verses we see the sweep of Israel’s history — exodus from Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, flourishing in this new land, and the spread of the nation under the leadership of the Davidic kings.  At its height under David and Solomon, Israel’s influence had spread north to Lebanon (the mighty cedars), and from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Euphrates River.

But now circumstances have changed.  The Psalmist asks God plaintively:  

Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.

The Psalmist is writing from the perspective of one who sees his nation besieged and harassed, likely by the Assyrians in the late 8th century.  Given the references to Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh the Psalmist particularly has the Northern Kingdom in mind, not Judah.

His appeal is for the God of hosts to protect and care for his vine that has been burned and cut down by the invaders.

And what is the source of that salvation?

But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.

Is the Psalmist speaking of a king? If so, is he speaking of a king from the Davidic dynasty that rules in Judah following the separation of the Northern from the Southern Kingdoms?  Or is this, as the Christian reader might interpret, a messianic prophecy that will be fulfilled by Jesus, the Son of David?

In any event, the Psalmist vows that when deliverance comes:

Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.

Finally, the Psalmist closes with a litany that appears three times in this Psalm:

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

This hearkens back to the priestly blessing that Aaron was instructed to give as High Priest:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
 the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).

There may also be a reference intended to the shekinah, the glory of God that accompanies his presence, and that made the face of Moses to shine after he’d been in the presence of the Lord.

APPLY:  

At some point we all know how it feels to be defeated, demoralized, in despair — as a nation, a family, an individual.  The cry of the Psalmist isn’t far from the experience of any of us.

When we have experienced the grace of God, we know how it is to feel that we are like a vine that has been planted and watered by God, and flourished under his care.  And when life gets hard, when the “vine” in our lives is uprooted by circumstances beyond our control, we cry out just as the Psalmist does.

What we cry out for, in our nation, our church, our family, our own lives — is revival, restoration.  If we have experienced the presence of God in our lives, if we have known the “shine” of his face, and it has faded for us, we earnestly yearn for it again.

We will find it, if the Scriptures are true, in the life and the light of Christ, who brings not only salvation from our sins, but healing to our hearts, and the power to live the holy lives to which he calls us.

RESPOND: 

I find myself from time to time dealing with my own drift away from God. I have to cry out again for renewal and revival. As with the Psalmist this happens when I begin to call out his name and seek to live according to the claims of that name.

Our Lord, our nation experiences victories, but also sees defeats — the disabled veteran who wonders ‘was it worth it?’ The ambiguity of race relations in our nation today. The specter of terrorism. And our own personal struggles with grief or depression. We don’t have the wisdom to provide all the answers. But you have provided a Person who is wisdom incarnate, and salvation, and new life! May we find our source of healing and salvation in Christ! Amen.

PHOTO:
“Psalm 80_14” by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for May 22, 2022

On Jewish tombstones you will sometimes see a symbol showing two hands arranged for the Priestly Blessing. [Description and photo by elycefeliz]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 67
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Psalm of blessing, first for Israel, then for all nations everywhere, and finally for all the earth.  The familiar notation, Selah, is a reminder that this Psalm is a hymn for the purpose of communal worship.

This emphasis on worship is reinforced by the opening verses of the Psalm, that include an allusion to the priestly blessing that the Lord instructed Moses to teach his brother Aaron:

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying,
Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them,
The Lord bless you and keep you;
 the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them ( Number 6:22).

Worshipers hearing the first two lines of Psalm 67 would have been reminded of Aaron’s blessing, and most likely would have completed the blessing in their own minds.

However, the Psalmist expands the scope of blessing.  Not only is he calling upon God to bless Israel, he advocates that the truths of Israel’s God be spread throughout the world:

that your way may be known upon earth,
your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah

We are reminded that Israel has been blessed in order to bless all nations; that ultimately God is to be acknowledged throughout the world.  The nations represent the Gentiles (goyim) who also come to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Lord.

Moreover, this blessing also extends to the earth itself:

The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, has blessed us.
May God continue to bless us;
let all the ends of the earth revere him.

As the earth itself has been blessed by God, so it yields up its abundance in response to bless the nations; and even the earth itself worships the Lord!

APPLY:  

There is a kind of reciprocity that exists between those whom God blesses and their response to him in worship.

As Israel worships God, Israel basks in his blessing; as the nations worship God, they bask in his blessing; as even the earth — nature itself — worships God, the earth basks in his blessing.

We are reminded yet again that the unique blessing that Israel received as God’s chosen people was not to be hoarded, but to be shared.  They were blessed so they might be a blessing to other nations and to the earth.

There are four signal blessings that are mentioned:

• Salvation
• Justice
• Guidance
• Increase (or fertile abundance)

When these four blessings are present, the presumptive presence of God’s kingdom seems to be present.  When these are present, shalom — God’s peace — is present.

RESPOND: 

In my youth group when I was younger, we almost always ended our evening with the “Aaronic Blessing”:

May the Lord bless you and keep you;
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you;
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

I wasn’t exactly sure what it all meant at the time, but it gave me warm feelings.  I wanted to be kept by God — it suggested to me that I belong to God.

I liked the sense that God would make his face to shine upon me.  I had the image of his face shining like the sun upon me.  As I learned more about Hebrew thought, I discovered I wasn’t that far off.  The Hebrew word for face is also interpreted as presence.  And the shine may well refer to the Hebraic concept, shekinah. 

Shekinah is the concept of God’s unique presence that manifests his glory on us. For his face to shine upon us, and for him to lift up his countenance upon us is to turn his face toward us and to bless us.

In the words of the Christian singer Carman,

I want Some O Dat!

Our Lord, you have made your face to shine upon us, and have blessed us. May all nations, and the earth itself, praise you for all you have done! Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Cohanim Hands – Preistly Blessing” by elycefeliz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for April 10, 2022 (Liturgy of the Passion)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 31:9-16
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Psalm of Lament attributed to David.  The Psalm is written from the first-person perspective, as a deeply personal plea for the mercy of Yahweh.

The descriptions of David’s malaise are very physically graphic, and deeply emotional:

 My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
 For my life is spent with sorrow,
my years with sighing.
My strength fails because of my iniquity.
My bones are wasted away.

Whatever the source of his distress, it affects him holistically — body and mind are suffering.

But that isn’t all.  His malaise also affects his social relationships.  Those who have been a part of his normal community find him repugnant because of his adversaries:

 Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,
A fear to my acquaintances.
Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

There is no detail about who his adversaries may be, but because of slanders and conspiracies, he is experiencing terror.  The imagery he uses to describe the sense of alienation from his community is vivid:

I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.
I am like broken pottery.

His terrors are grounded in the fear that someone is plotting to take his life.

However, in verses 14 to 16 there is a decisive change of mood, as he declares:

But I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand.

Despite his physical, emotional and social suffering and alienation, he places his complete trust in Yahweh, and confesses his faith.  There is also a kind of serenity that he finds as he places his life (my times) in Yahweh’s hand.

He prays for deliverance from his persecutors, and then in a tour de force of faith, he alludes to two key spiritual principles in Hebraic spirituality:

Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.

The first phrase reminds us of Aaron’s high priestly blessing early in Israel’s history:

Yahweh bless you, and keep you.
Yahweh make his face to shine on you,
and be gracious to you.
Yahweh lift up his face toward you,
and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26) .

The word face in Hebrew is panayim, which also means presence.  Yahweh’s presence is to bring light to his servant.

And the second phrase, loving kindness is a frequent refrain in the Psalms that describes Yahweh’s disposition toward his people and his creatures.  Out of 174 mentions of Yahweh’s loving kindness, 121 are found in the Psalms alone.

A Psalm that begins in misery and distress ends with trust in Yahweh’s presence and loving kindness. 

APPLY:  

It is virtually impossible to know the context of this Psalm in David’s life.  Any number of circumstances might apply:

• King Saul turned against him and jealously sought to end David’s life;
• David experienced the consequences of his own adulterous and murderous crime, which led to his heartbroken repentance;
• David was betrayed later in his life by his own son, Absalom.

We can certainly see echoes in this Psalm of the experiences of David’s greatest descendant, Jesus —  abandoned by his acquaintances, forgotten like broken pottery, slandered, plotted against, persecuted.  Since this Psalm is the Lectionary reading for the beginning of Holy Week, it is impossible for us not to think of Jesus as we read these lines.

However, these lines may also apply to us, when we also experience grief; when our eyes and soul and body waste away with grief; when our years are spent in sorrow and sighing; when we feel abandoned by those we once relied on as neighbors and friends.

Then, like David, we will need to find the same refuge that he did, and pray:

I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.

This Psalm provides the example of a life that turns from despair and darkness to hope in God and his light.

RESPOND: 

What shines through this Psalm is the promise that despite distress and grief and despair, our hope is in God.  There is a transition in this Psalm that can give us courage, as we are reminded to trust in God.

One phrase leaps out at me, though.  When David extols Yahweh,  he says:

My times are in your hand.

This resonates with me.  The times in which I live are supremely uncertain.  Geopolitics, national politics and economics, my own denomination, and the culture in which I live, are all in a state of flux and chaos, it seems to me.

When I think of my own life in relation to all this, I feel rather small and insignificant.  I’m reminded, though, of a classic scene in the movie Casablanca.  Rick, an embittered hard drinking night club owner has met again with the one love of his live, Ilsa. He had lost her only to find her again during the chaotic times early in World War II.  Now she is married to a hero of the Czech resistance, and must choose whether to stay with him or return to Rick. But Rick realizes that there is something bigger at that moment than two people who were in love, and he must let her go:

I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.

For some reason, I’m reminded of this when I remember that my times are in God’s hand. 

I find this very reassuring — that no matter what happens, I have turned the keys over to God.  And I can trust that his face will shine on me, and his loving kindness will save me. 

Lord, distress and grief and abandonment are likely to happen in this broken world.  Thank you that your presence shines on me, and your loving kindness will save me.  Keep me faithful to you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"Psalm 31-5" by New Life Church Collingwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for March 28, 2021 (Liturgy of the Passion)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 31:9-16
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Psalm of Lament attributed to David.  The Psalm is written from the first person perspective, as a deeply personal plea for the mercy of Yahweh.

The descriptions of David’s malaise are very physically graphic, and deeply emotional:

 My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
 For my life is spent with sorrow,
my years with sighing.
My strength fails because of my iniquity.
My bones are wasted away.

Whatever the source of his distress, it affects him holistically — body and mind are suffering.

But that isn’t all.  His malaise also affects his social relationships.  Those who have been a part of his normal community find him repugnant because of his adversaries:

 Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,
A fear to my acquaintances.
Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

There is no detail about who his adversaries may be, but because of slanders and conspiracies, he is experiencing terror.  The imagery he uses to describe the sense of alienation from his community is vivid:

I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.
I am like broken pottery.

His terrors are grounded in the fear that someone is plotting to take his life.

However, in verses 14 to 16  there is a decisive change of mood, as he declares:

But I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand.

Despite his physical, emotional and social suffering and alienation, he places his complete trust in Yahweh, and confesses his faith.  There is also a kind of serenity that he finds as he places his life (my times) in Yahweh’s hand.

He prays for deliverance from his persecutors, and then in a tour de force of faith, he alludes to two key spiritual principles in Hebraic spirituality:

Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.

The first phrase reminds us of Aaron’s high priestly blessing early in Israel’s history:

Yahweh bless you, and keep you.
Yahweh make his face to shine on you,
and be gracious to you.
Yahweh lift up his face toward you,
and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26) .

The word face in Hebrew is panayim, which also means presence.  Yahweh’s presence is to bring light to his servant.

And the second phrase, loving kindness is a frequent refrain in the Psalms that describes Yahweh’s disposition toward his people and his creatures.  Out of 174 mentions of Yahweh’s loving kindness, 121 are found in the Psalms alone.

A Psalm that begins in misery and distress ends with trust in Yahweh’s presence and loving kindness. 

APPLY:  

It is virtually impossible to know the context of this Psalm in David’s life.  Any number of circumstances might apply:

• King Saul turned against him and jealously sought to end David’s life;
• David experienced the consequences of his own adulterous and murderous crime, which led to his heartbroken repentance;
• David was betrayed later in his life by his own son, Absalom.

We can certainly see echoes in this Psalm of the experiences of David’s greatest descendant, Jesus —  abandoned by his acquaintances, forgotten like broken pottery, slandered, plotted against, persecuted.  Since this Psalm is the Lectionary reading for the beginning of Holy Week, it is impossible for us not to think of Jesus as we read these lines.

However, these lines may also apply to us, when we also experience grief; when our eyes and soul and body waste away with grief; when our years are spent in sorrow and sighing; when we feel abandoned by those we once relied on as neighbors and friends.

Then, like David, we will need to find the same refuge that he did, and pray:

I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.

This Psalm provides the example of a life that turns from despair and darkness to hope in God and his light.

RESPOND: 

What shines through this Psalm is the promise that despite distress and grief and despair, our hope is in God.  There is a transition in this Psalm that can give us courage, as we are reminded to trust in God.

One phrase leaps out at me, though.  When David extols Yahweh,  he says:

My times are in your hand.

This resonates with me.  The times in which I live are supremely uncertain.  Geopolitics, national politics and economics, my own denomination, and the culture in which I live, are all in a state of flux and chaos, it seems to me.

When I think of my own life in relation to all this, I feel rather small and insignificant.  I’m reminded, though, of a classic scene in the movie Casablanca.  Rick, an embittered hard drinking night club owner has met again with the one love of his live, Ilsa. He had lost her only to find her again during the chaotic times early in World War II.  Now she is married to a hero of the Czech resistance, and must choose whether to stay with him or return to Rick. But Rick realizes that there is something bigger at that moment than two people who were in love, and he must let her go:

I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.

For some reason, I’m reminded of this when I remember that my times are in God’s hand. 

I find this very reassuring — that no matter what happens, I have turned the keys over to God.  And I can trust that his face will shine on me, and his loving kindness will save me. 

Lord, distress and grief and abandonment are likely to happen in this broken world.  Thank you that your presence shines on me, and your loving kindness will save me.  Keep me faithful to you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"Psalm 31-5" by New Life Church Collingwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for April 5, 2020 (Liturgy of the Passion)

Note from Celeste:

Before we look at today’s lectionary reading, I’d like to draw your attention to my Holy Week Bible Study book.

Go and Find a Donkey is the latest installment of the Choose This Day Multiple Choice Bible Studies series.

The daily devotionals take 10-15 minutes and include:

• Scripture passage (World English Bible)
• Fun, entertaining multiple choice questions focused directly on the Scripture passage
• Short meditation that can be used as a discussion starter.

Use them on the suggested dates, or skip around.  Designed to be used during Holy Week, this nine-day Bible study takes you from Palm Sunday through Easter Monday.

Use this book personally during a coffee break or with the family in the car or at the breakfast table.

Order Go and Find a Donkey  today to prepare your family for this year’s Easter season!
CLICK HERE for Amazon’s Kindle book of Go and Find a Donkey.
CLICK HERE for Amazon’s Paperback of Go and Find a Donkey.

AND NOW, BACK TO TODAY’S LECTIONARY READING:

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 31:9-16
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Psalm of Lament attributed to David.  The Psalm is written from the first person perspective, as a deeply personal plea for the mercy of Yahweh.

The descriptions of David’s malaise are very physically graphic, and deeply emotional:

 My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
 For my life is spent with sorrow,
my years with sighing.
My strength fails because of my iniquity.
My bones are wasted away.

Whatever the source of his distress, it affects him holistically — body and mind are suffering.

But that isn’t all.  His malaise also affects his social relationships.  Those who have been a part of his normal community find him repugnant because of his adversaries:

 Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,
A fear to my acquaintances.
Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

There is no detail about who his adversaries may be, but because of slanders and conspiracies, he is experiencing terror.  The imagery he uses to describe the sense of alienation from his community is vivid:

I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.
I am like broken pottery.

His terrors are grounded in the fear that someone is plotting to take his life.

However, in verses 14 to 16  there is a decisive change of mood, as he declares:

But I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand.

Despite his physical, emotional and social suffering and alienation, he places his complete trust in Yahweh, and confesses his faith.  There is also a kind of serenity that he finds as he places his life (my times) in Yahweh’s hand.

He prays for deliverance from his persecutors, and then in a tour de force of faith, he alludes to two key spiritual principles in Hebraic spirituality:

Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.

The first phrase reminds us of Aaron’s high priestly blessing early in Israel’s history:

Yahweh bless you, and keep you.
Yahweh make his face to shine on you,
and be gracious to you.
Yahweh lift up his face toward you,
and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26) .

The word face in Hebrew is panayim, which also means presence.  Yahweh’s presence is to bring light to his servant.

And the second phrase, loving kindness is a frequent refrain in the Psalms  that describes Yahweh’s disposition toward his people and his creatures.  Out of 174 mentions of Yahweh’s loving kindness, 121 are found in the Psalms alone.

A Psalm that begins in misery and distress ends with trust in Yahweh’s presence and loving kindness. 

APPLY:  

It is virtually impossible to know the context of this Psalm in David’s life.  Any number of circumstances might apply:

• King Saul turned against him and jealously sought to end David’s life;
• David experienced the consequences of his own adulterous and murderous crime, which led to his heartbroken repentance;
• David was betrayed later in his life by his own son, Absalom.

We can certainly see echoes in this Psalm of the experiences of David’s greatest descendant, Jesus —  abandoned by his acquaintances, forgotten like broken pottery, slandered, plotted against, persecuted.  Since this Psalm is the Lectionary reading for the beginning of Holy Week, it is impossible for us not to think of Jesus as we read these lines.

However, these lines may also apply to us, when we also experience grief; when our eyes and soul and body waste away with grief; when our years are spent in sorrow and sighing; when we feel abandoned by those we once relied on as neighbors and friends.

Then, like David, we will need to find the same refuge that he did, and pray:

I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.

This Psalm provides the example of a life that turns from despair and darkness to hope in God and his light.

RESPOND: 

What shines through this Psalm is the promise that despite distress and grief and despair, our hope is in God.  There is a transition in this Psalm that can give us courage, as we are reminded to trust in God.

One phrase leaps out at me, though.  When David extols Yahweh,  he says:

My times are in your hand.

This resonates with me.  The times in which I live are supremely uncertain.  Geopolitics, national politics and economics, my own denomination, and the culture in which I live, are all in a state of flux and chaos, it seems to me.

When I think of my own life in relation to all this, I feel rather small and insignificant.  I’m reminded, though, of a classic scene in the movie Casablanca.  Rick, an embittered hard drinking night club owner has met again with the one love of his live, Ilsa. He had lost her only to find her again during the chaotic times early in World War II.  Now she is married to a hero of the Czech resistance, and must choose whether to stay with him or return to Rick. But Rick realizes that there is something bigger at that moment than two people who were in love, and he must let her go:

I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.

For some reason, I’m reminded of this when I remember that my times are in God’s hand. 

I find this very reassuring — that no matter what happens, I have turned the keys over to God.  And I can trust that his face will shine on me, and his loving kindness will save me. 

Lord, distress and grief and abandonment are likely to happen in this broken world.  Thank you that your presence shines on me, and your loving kindness will save me.  Keep me faithful to you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"Psalm 31-5" by New Life Church Collingwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for August 18, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm appeals to the Lord for intervention in a time of adversity.  It is difficult to tell from the context alone if the Psalm was written before or after the exile of Israel.  It doesn’t really matter to the reader, because it is clearly a cry for help in any event. One clue, though, might be the mention of the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, which would suggest that the Psalm was written before the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and scattered by the Assyrians in 721 B.C.

The imagery of the Lord as Shepherd is familiar to us, and comforting; but then there is the imagery of the Lord sitting enthroned between the cherubim — those terrifying angelic figures who are depicted as the guardians of Eden with a sword of flame, and the close companions of the Lord who bear him up with wings of the wind.  This is much more intimidating.  There may also be a reference to the winged cherubim made of gold who flank the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem.

Our current lectionary reading jumps from verses 1-2 to verses 8-19.

In verses 8-19, the Psalmist introduces a familiar metaphor — Israel is compared to a vine that the Lord has brought from Egypt.  The Psalmist recounts a part of the salvation history of Israel.  In language reminiscent of Isaiah 5:1-7 , he addresses his prayer to the Lord:

You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
 it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.

[For more information on the vine and the vineyard as a Biblical metaphor, CLICK HERE to read the Old Testament SOAR for August 18, 2019]

In these few verses we see the sweep of Israel’s history — exodus from Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, flourishing in this new land, and the spread of the nation under the leadership of the Davidic kings.  At its height under David and Solomon, Israel’s influence had spread north to Lebanon (the mighty cedars), and from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Euphrates River.

But now circumstances have changed.  The Psalmist asks God plaintively:  

Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.

The Psalmist is writing from the perspective of one who sees his nation besieged and harassed, likely by the Assyrians in the late 8th century.  Given the references to Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh the Psalmist particularly has the Northern Kingdom in mind, not Judah.

His appeal is for the God of hosts to protect and care for his vine that has been burned and cut down by the invaders.

And what is the source of that salvation?

But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.

Is the Psalmist speaking of a king? If so, is he speaking of a king from the Davidic dynasty that rules in Judah following the separation of  the Northern from the Southern Kingdoms?  Or is this, as the Christian reader might interpret, a messianic prophecy that will be fulfilled by Jesus, the Son of David?

In any event, the Psalmist vows that when deliverance comes:

Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.

Finally, the Psalmist closes with a litany that appears three times in this Psalm:

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

This hearkens back to the priestly blessing that Aaron was instructed to give as High Priest:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
 the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).

There may also be a reference intended to the shekinah, the glory of God that accompanies his presence, and that made the face of Moses to shine after he’d been in the presence of the Lord.

APPLY:  

At some point we all know how it feels to be defeated, demoralized, in despair – as a nation, a family, an individual.  The cry of the Psalmist isn’t far from the experience of any of us.

When we have experienced the grace of God, we know how it is to feel that we are like a vine that has been planted and watered by God, and flourished under his care.  And when life gets hard, when the “vine” in our lives is uprooted by circumstances beyond our control, we cry out just as the Psalmist does.

What we cry out for, in our nation, our church, our family, our own lives — is revival, restoration.  If we have experienced the presence of God in our lives, if we have known the “shine” of his face, and it has faded for us, we earnestly yearn for it again.

We will find it, if the Scriptures are true, in the life and the light of Christ, who brings not only salvation from our sins, but healing to our hearts, and the power to live the holy lives to which he calls us.

RESPOND: 

I find myself from time to time dealing with my own drift away from God. I have to cry out again for renewal and revival. As with the Psalmist this happens when I begin to call out his name and seek to live according to the claims of that name.

Our Lord, our nation experiences victories, but also sees defeats — the disabled veteran who wonders ‘was it worth it?’ The ambiguity of race relations in our nation today. The specter of terrorism. And our own personal struggles with grief or depression. We don’t have the wisdom to provide all the answers. But you have provided a Person who is wisdom incarnate, and salvation, and new life! May we find our source of healing and salvation in Christ! Amen.

PHOTO:
“Psalm 80-7” by tea4judy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for May 26, 2019

On Jewish tombstones you will sometimes see a symbol showing two hands arranged for the Priestly Blessing. [Description and photo by elycefeliz]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 67
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Psalm of blessing, first for Israel, then for all nations everywhere, and finally for all the earth.  The familiar notation, Selah, is a reminder that this Psalm is a hymn for the purpose of communal worship.

This emphasis on worship is reinforced by the opening verses of the Psalm, that include an allusion to the priestly blessing that the Lord instructed Moses to teach his brother Aaron:

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying,
Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them,
The Lord bless you and keep you;
 the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them ( Number 6:22).

Worshipers hearing the first two lines of Psalm 67 would have been reminded of Aaron’s blessing, and most likely would have completed the blessing in their own minds.

However, the Psalmist expands the scope of blessing.  Not only is he calling upon God to bless Israel, he advocates that the truths of Israel’s God be spread throughout the world:

that your way may be known upon earth,
your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah

We are reminded that Israel has been blessed in order to bless all nations; that ultimately God is to be acknowledged throughout the world.  The nations represent the Gentiles (goyim) who also come to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Lord.

Moreover, this blessing also extends to the earth itself:

The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, has blessed us.
May God continue to bless us;
let all the ends of the earth revere him.

As the earth itself has been blessed by God, so it yields up its abundance in response to bless the nations; and even the earth itself worships the Lord!

APPLY:  

There is a kind of reciprocity that exists between those whom God blesses and their response to him in worship.

As Israel worships God, Israel basks in his blessing; as the nations worship God, they bask in his blessing; as even the earth — nature itself — worships God, the earth basks in his blessing.

We are reminded yet again that the unique blessing that Israel received as God’s chosen people was not to be hoarded, but to be shared.  They were blessed so they might be a blessing to other nations and to the earth.

There are four signal blessings that are mentioned:

• Salvation
• Justice
• Guidance
• Increase (or fertile abundance)

When these four blessings are present, the presumptive presence of God’s kingdom seems to be present.  When these are present, shalom — God’s peace — is present.

RESPOND: 

In my youth group when I was younger, we almost always ended our evening with the “Aaronic Blessing”:

May the Lord bless you and keep you;
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you;
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

I wasn’t exactly sure what it all meant at the time, but it gave me warm feelings.  I wanted to be kept by God — it suggested to me that I belong to God.

I liked the sense that God would make his face to shine upon me.  I had the image of his face shining like the sun upon me.  As I learned more about Hebrew thought, I discovered I wasn’t that far off.  The Hebrew word for face is also interpreted as presence.  And the shine may well refer to the Hebraic concept, shekinah. 

Shekinah is the concept of God’s unique presence that manifests his glory on us. For his face to shine upon us, and for him to lift up his countenance upon us is to turn his face toward us and to bless us.

In the words of the Christian singer Carman,

I want Some O Dat!

Our Lord, you have made your face to shine upon us, and have blessed us. May all nations, and the earth itself, praise you for all you have done! Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Cohanim Hands – Preistly Blessing” by elycefeliz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for April 14, 2019 (Liturgy of the Passion)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 31:9-16
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Psalm of Lament attributed to David.  The Psalm is written from the first person perspective, as a deeply personal plea for the mercy of Yahweh.

The descriptions of David’s malaise are very physically graphic, and deeply emotional:

 My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
 For my life is spent with sorrow,
my years with sighing.
My strength fails because of my iniquity.
My bones are wasted away.

Whatever the source of his distress, it affects him holistically — body and mind are suffering.

But that isn’t all.  His malaise also affects his social relationships.  Those who have been a part of his normal community find him repugnant because of his adversaries:

 Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,
A fear to my acquaintances.
Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

There is no detail about who his adversaries may be, but because of slanders and conspiracies, he is experiencing terror.  The imagery he uses to describe the sense of alienation from his community is vivid:

I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.
I am like broken pottery.

His terrors are grounded in the fear that someone is plotting to take his life.

However, in verses 14 to 16  there is a decisive change of mood, as he declares:

But I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand.

Despite his physical, emotional and social suffering and alienation, he places his complete trust in Yahweh, and confesses his faith.  There is also a kind of serenity that he finds as he places his life (my times) in Yahweh’s hand.

He prays for deliverance from his persecutors, and then in a tour de force of faith, he alludes to two key spiritual principles in Hebraic spirituality:

Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.

The first phrase reminds us of Aaron’s high priestly blessing early in Israel’s history:

Yahweh bless you, and keep you.
Yahweh make his face to shine on you,
and be gracious to you.
Yahweh lift up his face toward you,
and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26) .

The word face in Hebrew is panayim, which also means presence.  Yahweh’s presence is to bring light to his servant.

And the second phrase, loving kindness is a frequent refrain in the Psalms  that describes Yahweh’s disposition toward his people and his creatures.  Out of 174 mentions of Yahweh’s loving kindness, 121 are found in the Psalms alone.

A Psalm that begins in misery and distress ends with trust in Yahweh’s presence and loving kindness. 

APPLY:  

It is virtually impossible to know the context of this Psalm in David’s life.  Any number of circumstances might apply:

• King Saul turned against him and jealously sought to end David’s life;
• David experienced the consequences of his own adulterous and murderous crime, which led to his heartbroken repentance;
• David was betrayed later in his life by his own son, Absalom.

We can certainly see echoes in this Psalm of the experiences of David’s greatest descendant, Jesus —  abandoned by his acquaintances, forgotten like broken pottery, slandered, plotted against, persecuted.  Since this Psalm is the Lectionary reading for the beginning of Holy Week, it is impossible for us not to think of Jesus as we read these lines.

However, these lines may also apply to us, when we also experience grief; when our eyes and soul and body waste away with grief; when our years are spent in sorrow and sighing; when we feel abandoned by those we once relied on as neighbors and friends.

Then, like David, we will need to find the same refuge that he did, and pray:

I trust in you, Yahweh.
I said, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.

This Psalm provides the example of a life that turns from despair and darkness to hope in God and his light.

RESPOND: 

What shines through this Psalm is the promise that despite distress and grief and despair, our hope is in God.  There is a transition in this Psalm that can give us courage, as we are reminded to trust in God.

One phrase leaps out at me, though.  When David extols Yahweh,  he says:

My times are in your hand.

This resonates with me.  The times in which I live are supremely uncertain.  Geopolitics, national politics and economics, my own denomination, and the culture in which I live, are all in a state of flux and chaos, it seems to me.

When I think of my own life in relation to all this, I feel rather small and insignificant.  I’m reminded, though, of a classic scene in the movie Casablanca.  Rick, an embittered hard drinking night club owner has met again with the one love of his live, Ilsa. He had lost her only to find her again during the chaotic times early in World War II.  Now she is married to a hero of the Czech resistance, and must choose whether to stay with him or return to Rick. But Rick realizes that there is something bigger at that moment than two people who were in love, and he must let her go:

I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.

For some reason, I’m reminded of this when I remember that my times are in God’s hand. 

I find this very reassuring — that no matter what happens, I have turned the keys over to God.  And I can trust that his face will shine on me, and his loving kindness will save me. 

Lord, distress and grief and abandonment are likely to happen in this broken world.  Thank you that your presence shines on me, and your loving kindness will save me.  Keep me faithful to you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:

"Psalm 31-5" by New Life Church Collingwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.