Psalm Reading for June 26, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 77:1-2,11-20
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Psalm of lamentation attributed to Asaph.  The Asaphites were the temple singers.

The Psalmist mourns in the night:

my soul refuses to be comforted.

Verses 7-9 (omitted from today’s lectionary passage) list questions that are the source of the Psalmist’s misery:

“Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love ceased forever?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” (Psalm 77:7-9).

Where will the Psalmist find answers and comfort?  He turns to memory, and particularly to the history of God’s mighty acts.  Memory and meditation on the past serve as reminders of the greatness of God.

I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
    I will remember your wonders of old.
 I will meditate on all your work,
    and muse on your mighty deeds.

Then the Psalmist recites the specific persons and events through whom God worked wonders in the past.  He alludes to the deliverance of Jacob and his son Joseph — Jacob redeemed from the threats of Esau and the cheating of Laban; Joseph who rose from slavery to the right hand of Pharaoh and saved his family and Egypt from famine.

He alludes to the deep that trembled, and the path that was cut through the mighty waters for the Israelites under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  The imagery that he uses suggests that the Lord is at war against Egypt by means of rain, thunder and lightning:

the skies thundered;
your arrows flashed on every side.

In contrast, Moses and Aaron are the shepherds of their people, who lead them like a flock.

Memory of God’s triumphs in the past is a source of comfort and strength in the present.

APPLY:  

There is a therapeutic benefit that comes from remembering what God has done in the past.

When we have one of those sleepless nights of worry and discouragement, people of faith have a source of strength — memory.  What God has done in the past for his people is a reminder to us that he will be faithful in the future.

RESPOND: 

I have arrived at the point in my life that recollecting the past isn’t such a great idea, generally.  While there are many things for which I’m grateful, there are others that I’d rather not think about — disappointments, miscalculations, etc.

And yet, the Scriptures tell us to remember what God has done in the past:

I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
I will remember your wonders of old.
 I will meditate on all your work,
and muse on your mighty deeds.

The subject of our memory changes everything.  Remembering my own pale successes and embarrassing failures is not edifying.  However, remembering what God has done — in Biblical history as well as in my own life — is enormously fulfilling.

What God has done is also a reminder of what God will do, in history as well as in my own life.

Dag Hammerskjold, the deeply spiritual Secretary General of the United Nations in the 1960s, once wrote in his diary:

For what has been, thanks. For what will be, yes.

Lord, thank you for your great triumphs in the past.  And especially I thank you that what you have done in the past you can also do today and in the future.  For what will be — yes.   Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Psalm 77:19” by Sapphire Dream Photography is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for June 19, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 42
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Psalm 42 contains some of the most beautiful and haunting imagery in all the Psalms — which is quite a claim, given the rich language found there.

There are a few interesting items about Psalm 42 that might also enhance our appreciation:

• It is the first Psalm in Book II of the Psalms. We note that there are five Books, or sections of the book of Psalms — this no doubt mirrors the five books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
• This Psalm is one of thirteen that are called a maskil which has been interpreted to mean it is a wisdom Psalm.
• And this Psalm is also a maskil of the Korahites. There are eleven Psalms attributed to the Korahites.  The Korahites were descendants of Levi, and were assigned to duties in the temple as guardians of the threshold and caretakers of the pans for the sacrifice of the meat.

The Psalm itself reflects the aspirations and anxieties of the human spirit.

The metaphor that the Psalmist uses to describe the deep and unsatisfied desire for God is evocative:

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?

Why is the Psalmist expressing such deep longing for God?

My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”

Presumably, people are mocking the Psalmist because of some misfortune that has occurred in his life.  Although the Psalm doesn’t give us specifics about the source of his angst, we do get a hint a little later in the Psalm:

I say to God, my rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because the enemy oppresses me?”
As with a deadly wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”

However, the Psalmist finds comfort in remembering his experience of worship in the temple, and joining the throng as they entered:

with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.

And when he feels cast down and uneasy, the Psalmist exhorts his soul to hope in God, and remembers the waterfalls and torrents at the mountainous source of the Jordan River:

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.

What exactly does the Psalmist mean to express with this very descriptive metaphor?  Perhaps the overwhelming depth and presence of the Lord’s abundant love that pours forth into the life of the Psalmist. God satisfies his thirst.  He continues by declaring:

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

Despite the adversity and the taunts, the Psalmist affirms that God’s steadfast love attends him day and night.

As the Psalmist has stated earlier in verses 5-6, he has good reason to trust in God:

 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

APPLY:  

What a vivid description of the soul’s thirsty yearning for the presence of God, for the living water. Thirst denotes the absence of something that is absolutely essential to life and God is absolutely essential to the life of the believer.

The crisis for the believer, though not specified exactly in this Psalm, is certainly exacerbated by the taunts of the unbelievers.  When a believer goes through difficult times such as sickness, tragedy, or even natural calamity, they certainly do experience the mocking of those who ask:

“Where is your God?”

But how does God respond to this thirst?  Perhaps the best image possible is the one the Psalmist chooses:

Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.

God’s grace and love are so satisfying they are like waves and billows of powerful torrents of water!

So, when we do experience the cast-down soul and the disquiet that comes from time to time, the answer is to remember what it is like to truly worship God, and to remember the torrents of grace that we have experienced in the past.   And we are to trust that God’s grace will wash over us yet again.

RESPOND: 

Years ago I ran across a story about the thirst for God.  Although it comes from a non-Christian tradition, the story nonetheless captures for me some of my longing for God.  Obviously, for me God is the one who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit — i.e., the One God who manifests himself in Three Persons.

The story is told of a young man who was searching everywhere for God. His quest took him to temples and holy places everywhere.  And then he came to a river and discovered there a holy man who spent his days by the flowing waters.

The young man explained his quest to the old holy man, anticipating that the saint might impart some great wisdom, or refer him to some holy text.  Instead, the old man grabbed the young man by the ears and wrestled the young man down into the river, holding his head under the water.

The young man fought and clawed, trying to escape the strong grip of the old man, to no avail.  He was just about to give up helplessly and drown, when suddenly the holy man yanked him up out of the water.

The young man gasped and sputtered.  But before he could speak to admonish the old man, the saint said to him: “Until you desire God as much as you just now desired air, you will not find him.”

Of course, in the Christian revelation, God is the one who always takes the initiative.  He comes seeking us before we even know that we need him.  However, there is also a sense in which God comes to us and creates a thirst for him.  Sometimes he seems to “hide” and we desperately seek him — although he is actually already present in our lives.

Our thirst for God is ultimately satisfied by torrents of grace.

Our Lord, I am so thirsty for you.  In this time of harsh criticism directed toward people of faith, we need so desperately to know that you do satisfy us. I pray that my times of worship and reflection will draw me closer to you — and I thank you that you meet me in times of drought and of plenty.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“It is the God we trust who keeps us (Psalm 42:1-2)” by John 9:25 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for February 20, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

A NOTE FROM CELESTE LETCHWORTH:

As most of you know, Tom went to be with the Lord in June 2018.

Since the lectionary cycles every 3 years, I am able to copy Tom’s SOAR studies from the archives and post them each week with our current year’s dates.

However — since Easter falls so late in 2022, this Sunday (February 20, 2022) is the Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany. We haven’t had a Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany for Year C since way before Tom started a Lectionary Bible Study.

Psalm 37 is an acrostic Psalm.  The following is what I have copy/pasted from the SOAR archives. Here’s what Tom has said about acrostic Scripture passages:

• Each phrase begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
• As with any literature, something is usually lost in the translation, and we miss the literary skill of the Psalmist in his use of this particular medium.
• Acrostic patterns also occur in four of the five songs of Lamentations, in Proverbs 31, and in Psalms 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 119, and 145.
• This was likely a mnemonic device that aided the worshiper in memorization.

I’m sorry I can’t find anything in the archives that Tom wrote specifically about Psalm 37.

Celeste’s reflections on Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40

I see a lot of “Do This” and “Do That” and “Don’t Do This” and “Don’t Do That” in this Scripture passage:

• Don’t fret.
• Don’t be envious.
• Trust in the Lord.
• Do good.
• Dwell.
• Enjoy.
• Delight in the Lord.
• Commit your life to the Lord.
• Trust in the Lord.
• Rest in the Lord.
• Wait for the Lord.
• Don’t fret.
• Don’t be angry.
• Don’t be wrathful.
• Don’t fret.

Did I miss any?

Now check out that list — anything mentioned more than once?

DON’T FRET
TRUST IN THE LORD

As Tom used to say — that’ll preach.

Reflections on verse 4:

This is my go-to verse when I am trying to discern God’s will in my life. I know that some people interpret this verse as — if I delight myself in the Lord, then he will grant me all my wishes.

But I like to think of it as — if I delight myself in the Lord, then he will put the desires in my heart that should be there in the first place. Desires that are righteous. Desires that are pure. Desires that are unselfish.

So if I’m delighting myself in the Lord, then it would stand to reason that when I come to a crossroads in my life and need to discern which way to go, then God’s way will be the way that I have a desire to go. I know that was a long run-on sentence, but I hope you get the meaning.

So my take-home for this passage for myself is:

Don’t fret.
Trust in the Lord.
Delight yourself in the Lord.

What is going to be your take-home for this passage? There’s so much here in this one psalm, it’s hard to choose.

PHOTOS:

"VB-Psalm 37 4-5 V2" by New Life Church Collingwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for June 30, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Psalm of lamentation attributed to Asaph.  The Asaphites were the temple singers.

The Psalmist mourns in the night:

my soul refuses to be comforted.

Verses 7-9 (omitted from today’s lectionary passage) list questions that are the source of the Psalmist’s misery:

“Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love ceased forever?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” (Psalm 77:7-9).

Where will the Psalmist find answers and comfort?  He turns to memory, and particularly to the history of God’s mighty acts.  Memory and meditation on the past serve as reminders of the greatness of God.

I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
    I will remember your wonders of old.
 I will meditate on all your work,
    and muse on your mighty deeds.

Then the Psalmist recites the specific persons and events through whom God worked wonders in the past.  He alludes to the deliverance of Jacob and his son Joseph — Jacob redeemed from the threats of Esau and the cheating of Laban; Joseph who rose from slavery to the right hand of Pharaoh and saved his family and Egypt from famine.

He alludes to the deep that trembled, and the path that was cut through the mighty waters for the Israelites under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  The imagery that he uses suggests that the Lord is at war against Egypt by means of rain, thunder and lightning:

the skies thundered;
your arrows flashed on every side.

In contrast, Moses and Aaron are the shepherds of their people, who lead them like a flock.

Memory of God’s triumphs in the past is a source of comfort and strength in the present.

APPLY:  

There is a therapeutic benefit that comes from remembering what God has done in the past.

When we have one of those sleepless nights of worry and discouragement, people of faith have a source of strength — memory.  What God has done in the past for his people is a reminder to us that he will be faithful in the future.

RESPOND: 

I have arrived at the point in my life that recollecting the past isn’t such a great idea, generally.  While there are many things for which I’m grateful, there are others that I’d rather not think about — disappointments, miscalculations, etc.

And yet, the Scriptures tell us to remember what God has done in the past:

I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
I will remember your wonders of old.
 I will meditate on all your work,
and muse on your mighty deeds.

The subject of our memory changes everything.  Remembering my own pale successes and embarrassing failures is not edifying.  However, remembering what God has done — in Biblical history as well as in my own life — is enormously fulfilling.

What God has done is also a reminder of what God will do, in history as well as in my own life.

Dag Hammerskjold , the deeply spiritual Secretary General of the United Nations in the 1960s, once wrote in his diary:

For what has been, thanks. For what will be, yes.

Lord, thank you for your great triumphs in the past.  And especially I thank you that what you have done in the past you can also do today and in the future.  For what will be — yes.   Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Psalm 77:19” by Sapphire Dream Photography is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for June 23, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 42
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Psalm 42 contains some of the most beautiful and haunting imagery in all the Psalms — which is quite a claim, given the rich language found there.

There are a few interesting items about Psalm 42 that might also enhance our appreciation:

• It is the first Psalm in Book II of the Psalms. We note that there are five Books, or sections of the book of Psalms — this no doubt mirrors the five books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
• This Psalm is one of thirteen that are called a maskil which has been interpreted to mean it is a wisdom Psalm.
• And this Psalm is also a maskil of the Korahites. There are eleven Psalms attributed to the Korahites.  The Korahites were descendants of Levi, and were assigned to duties in the temple as guardians of the threshold and caretakers of the pans for the sacrifice of the meat.

The Psalm itself reflects the aspirations and anxieties of the human spirit.

The metaphor that the Psalmist uses to describe the deep and unsatisfied desire for God is evocative:

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?

Why is the Psalmist expressing such deep longing for God?

My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”

Presumably, people are mocking the Psalmist because of some misfortune that has occurred in his life.  Although the Psalm doesn’t give us specifics about the source of his angst, we do get a hint a little later in the Psalm:

I say to God, my rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because the enemy oppresses me?”
As with a deadly wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”

However, the Psalmist finds comfort in remembering his experience of worship in the temple, and joining the throng as they entered:

with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.

And when he feels cast down and uneasy, the Psalmist exhorts his soul to hope in God, and remembers the waterfalls and torrents at the mountainous source of the Jordan River:

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.

What exactly does the Psalmist mean to express with this very descriptive metaphor?  Perhaps the overwhelming depth and presence of the Lord’s abundant love that pours forth into the life of the Psalmist. God satisfies his thirst.  He continues by declaring:

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

Despite the adversity and the taunts, the Psalmist affirms that God’s steadfast love attends him day and night.

As the Psalmist has stated earlier in verses 5-6, he has good reason to trust in God:

 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

APPLY:  

What a vivid description of the soul’s thirsty yearning for the presence of God, for the living water. Thirst denotes the absence of something that is absolutely essential to life and God is absolutely essential to the life of the believer.

The crisis for the believer, though not specified exactly in this Psalm, is certainly exacerbated by the taunts of the unbelievers.  When a believer goes through difficult times such as sickness, tragedy, or even natural calamity, they certainly do experience the mocking of those who ask:

“Where is your God?”

But how does God respond to this thirst?  Perhaps the best image possible is the one the Psalmist chooses:

Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.

God’s grace and love are so satisfying they are like waves and billows of powerful torrents of water!

So, when we do experience the cast-down soul and the disquiet that comes from time to time, the answer is to remember what it is like to truly worship God, and to remember the torrents of grace that we have experienced in the past.   And we are to trust that God’s grace will wash over us yet again.

RESPOND: 

Years ago I ran across a story about the thirst for God.  Although it comes from a non-Christian tradition, the story nonetheless captures for me some of my longing for God.  Obviously, for me God is the one who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit — i.e., the One God who manifests himself in Three Persons.

The story is told of a young man who was searching everywhere for God. His quest took him to temples and holy places everywhere.  And then he came to a river and discovered there a holy man who spent his days by the flowing waters.

The young man explained his quest to the old holy man, anticipating that the saint might impart some great wisdom, or refer him to some holy text.  Instead, the old man grabbed the young man by the ears and wrestled the young man down into the river, holding his head under the water.

The young man fought and clawed, trying to escape the strong grip of the old man, to no avail.  He was just about to give up helplessly and drown, when suddenly the holy man yanked him up out of the water.

The young man gasped and sputtered.  But before he could speak to admonish the old man, the saint said to him: “Until you desire God as much as you just now desired air, you will not find him.”

Of course, in the Christian revelation, God is the one who always takes the initiative.  He comes seeking us before we even know that we need him.  However, there is also a sense in which God comes to us and creates a thirst for him.  Sometimes he seems to “hide” and we desperately seek him — although he is actually already present in our lives.

Our thirst for God is ultimately satisfied by torrents of  grace.

Our Lord, I am so thirsty for you.  In this time of harsh criticism directed toward people of faith, we need so desperately to know that you do satisfy us. I pray that my times of worship and reflection will draw me closer to you — and I thank you that you meet me in times of drought and of plenty.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“It is the God we trust who keeps us (Psalm 42:1-2)” by John 9:25 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for February 24, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

A NOTE FROM CELESTE LETCHWORTH:

As most of you know, Tom went to be with the Lord 7 months ago.

Since the lectionary cycles every 3 years, I am able to copy Tom’s SOAR studies from the archives and post them each week with our current year’s dates.

However — since Easter falls so late in 2019, this Sunday (February 24, 2019) is the Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany. We haven’t had a Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany for Cycle C since way before Tom started a Lectionary Bible Study.

Psalm 37 is an acrostic Psalm.  The following is what I have copy/pasted from the SOAR archives. Here’s what Tom has said about acrostic Scripture passages:

• Each phrase begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
• As with any literature, something is usually lost in the translation, and we miss the literary skill of the Psalmist in his use of this particular medium.
• Acrostic patterns also occur in four of the five songs of Lamentations, in Proverbs 31, and in Psalms 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 119, and 145.
• This was likely a mnemonic device that aided the worshiper in memorization.

I’m sorry I can’t find anything in the archives that Tom wrote specifically about Psalm 37.

Celeste’s reflections on Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40

I see a lot of “Do This” and “Do That” and “Don’t Do This” and “Don’t Do That” in this Scripture passage:

• Don’t fret.
• Don’t be envious.
• Trust in the Lord.
• Do good.
• Dwell.
• Enjoy.
• Delight in the Lord.
• Commit your life to the Lord.
• Trust in the Lord.
• Rest in the Lord.
• Wait for the Lord.
• Don’t fret.
• Don’t be angry.
• Don’t be wrathful.
• Don’t fret.

Did I miss any?

Now check out that list — anything mentioned more than once?

DON’T FRET
TRUST IN THE LORD

As Tom used to say — that’ll preach.

Reflections on verse 4:

This is my go-to verse when I am trying to discern God’s will in my life. I know that some people interpret this verse as — if I delight myself in the Lord, then he will grant me all my wishes.

But I like to think of it as — if I delight myself in the Lord, then he will put the desires in my heart that should be there in the first place. Desires that are righteous. Desires that are pure. Desires that are unselfish.

So if I’m delighting myself in the Lord, then it would stand to reason that when I come to a crossroads in my life and need to discern which way to go, then God’s way will be the way that I have a desire to go. I know that was a long run-on sentence, but I hope you get the meaning.

So my take-home for this passage for myself is:

Don’t fret.
Trust in the Lord.
Delight yourself in the Lord.

What is going to be your take-home for this passage? There’s so much here in this one psalm, it’s hard to choose.

PHOTOS:

"VB-Psalm 37 4-5 V2" by New Life Church Collingwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for June 26, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is a Psalm of lamentation attributed to Asaph.  The Asaphites were the temple singers.

The Psalmist mourns in the night:

my soul refuses to be comforted.

Verses 7-9 (omitted from today’s lectionary passage) list questions that are the source of the Psalmist’s misery:

“Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love ceased forever?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” (Psalm 77:7-9).

Where will the Psalmist find answers and comfort?  He turns to memory, and particularly to the history of God’s mighty acts.  Memory and meditation on the past serve as reminders of the greatness of God.

I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
    I will remember your wonders of old.
 I will meditate on all your work,
    and muse on your mighty deeds.

Then the Psalmist recites the specific persons and events through whom God worked wonders in the past.  He alludes to the deliverance of Jacob and his son Joseph — Jacob redeemed from the threats of Esau and the cheating of Laban; Joseph who rose from slavery to the right hand of Pharaoh and saved his family and Egypt from famine.

He alludes to the deep that trembled, and the path that was cut through the mighty waters for the Israelites under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  The imagery that he uses suggests that the Lord is at war against Egypt by means of rain, thunder and lightning:

the skies thundered;
your arrows flashed on every side.

In contrast, Moses and Aaron are the shepherds of their people, who lead them like a flock.

Memory of God’s triumphs in the past is a source of comfort and strength in the present.

APPLY:  

There is a therapeutic benefit that comes from remembering what God has done in the past.

When we have one of those sleepless nights of worry and discouragement, people of faith have a source of strength — memory.  What God has done in the past for his people is a reminder to us that he will be faithful in the future.

RESPOND: 

I have arrived at the point in my life that recollecting the past isn’t such a great idea, generally.  While there are many things for which I’m grateful, there are others that I’d rather not think about — disappointments, miscalculations, etc.

And yet, the Scriptures tell us to remember what God has done in the past:

I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
I will remember your wonders of old.
 I will meditate on all your work,
and muse on your mighty deeds.

The subject of our memory changes everything.  Remembering my own pale successes and embarrassing failures is not edifying.  However, remembering what God has done — in Biblical history as well as in my own life — is enormously fulfilling.

What God has done is also a reminder of what God will do, in history as well as in my own life.

Dag Hammerskjold , the deeply spiritual Secretary General of the United Nations in the 1960s, once wrote in his diary:

For what has been, thanks. For what will be, yes.

Lord, thank you for your great triumphs in the past.  And especially I thank you that what you have done in the past you can also do today and in the future.  For what will be — yes.   Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Psalm 77:19” by Sapphire Dream Photography is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for June 19, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 42

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Psalm 42 contains some of the most beautiful and haunting imagery in all the Psalms — which is quite a claim, given the rich language found there.

There are a few interesting items about Psalm 42 that might also enhance our appreciation:

• It is the first Psalm in Book II of the Psalms. We note that there are five Books, or sections of the book of Psalms — this no doubt mirrors the five books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
• This Psalm is one of thirteen that are called a maskil which has been interpreted to mean it is a wisdom Psalm.
• And this Psalm is also a maskil of the Korahites. There are eleven Psalms attributed to the Korahites.  The Korahites were descendants of Levi, and were assigned to duties in the temple as guardians of the threshold and caretakers of the pans for the sacrifice of the meat.

The Psalm itself reflects the aspirations and anxieties of the human spirit.

The metaphor that the Psalmist uses to describe the deep and unsatisfied desire for God is evocative:

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?

Why is the Psalmist expressing such deep longing for God?

My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”

Presumably, people are mocking the Psalmist because of some misfortune that has occurred in his life.  Although the Psalm doesn’t give us specifics about the source of his angst, we do get a hint a little later in the Psalm:

I say to God, my rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because the enemy oppresses me?”
As with a deadly wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”

However, the Psalmist finds comfort in remembering his experience of worship in the temple, and joining the throng as they entered:

with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.

And when he feels cast down and uneasy, the Psalmist exhorts his soul to hope in God, and remembers the waterfalls and torrents at the mountainous source of the Jordan River:

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.

What exactly does the Psalmist mean to express with this very descriptive metaphor?  Perhaps the overwhelming depth and presence of the Lord’s abundant love that pours forth into the life of the Psalmist. God satisfies his thirst.  He continues by declaring:

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

Despite the adversity and the taunts, the Psalmist affirms that God’s steadfast love attends him day and night.

As the Psalmist has stated earlier in verses 5-6, he has good reason to trust in God:

 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

APPLY:  

What a vivid description of the soul’s thirsty yearning for the presence of God, for the living water. Thirst denotes the absence of something that is absolutely essential to life  and God is absolutely essential to the life of the believer.

The crisis for the believer, though not specified exactly in this Psalm, is certainly exacerbated by the taunts of the unbelievers.  When a believer goes through difficult times such as sickness, tragedy, or even natural calamity, they certainly do experience the mocking of those who ask:

“Where is your God?”

But how does God respond to this thirst?  Perhaps the best image possible is the one the Psalmist chooses:

Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.

God’s grace and love are so satisfying they are like waves and billows of powerful torrents of water!

So, when we do experience the cast-down soul and the disquiet that comes from time to time, the answer is to remember what it is like to truly worship God, and to remember the torrents of grace that we have experienced in the past.   And we are to trust that God’s grace will wash over us yet again.

RESPOND: 

Years ago I ran across a story about the thirst for God.  Although it comes from a non-Christian tradition, the story nonetheless captures for me some of my longing for God.  Obviously, for me God is the one who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit — i.e., the One God who manifests himself in Three Persons.

The story is told of a young man who was searching everywhere for God. His quest took him to temples and holy places everywhere.  And then he came to a river and discovered there a holy man who spent his days by the flowing waters.

The young man explained his quest to the old holy man, anticipating that the saint might impart some great wisdom, or refer him to some holy text.  Instead, the old man grabbed the young man by the ears and wrestled the young man down into the river, holding his head under the water.

The young man fought and clawed, trying to escape the strong grip of the old man, to no avail.  He was just about to give up helplessly and drown, when suddenly the holy man yanked him up out of the water.

The young man gasped and sputtered.  But before he could speak to admonish the old man, the saint said to him: “Until you desire God as much as you just now desired air, you will not find him.”

Of course, in the Christian revelation, God is the one who always takes the initiative.  He comes seeking us before we even know that we need him.  However, there is also a sense in which God comes to us and creates a thirst for him.  Sometimes he seems to “hide” and we desperately seek him — although he is actually already present in our lives.

Our thirst for God is ultimately satisfied by torrents of  grace.

Our Lord, I am so thirsty for you.  In this time of harsh criticism directed toward people of faith, we need so desperately to know that you do satisfy us. I pray that my times of worship and reflection will draw me closer to you — and I thank you that you meet me in times of drought and of plenty.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“It is the God we trust who keeps us (Psalm 42:1-2)” by John 9:25 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for June 12, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 5:1-8

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

While it impossible to know the exact context of this Psalm of David, we need only survey David’s biography to imagine where this Psalm might apply to his life.

David certainly experienced his share of conflict and danger, as well as heart-ache and joy.

In this Psalm his prayers to God rise with sighs and the sound of a cry, suggesting that he is in crisis of some kind.  He balances faith that God hears him with a deep awareness of the character of his adversaries:

O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.
For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil will not sojourn with you.
The boastful will not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.

This seems a pretty concrete description of bad character: boastful, evildoers, liars, the bloodthirsty and deceitful.

In contrast, David is aware of God’s immense and bountiful grace towards himself, and responds to that grace with worship:

But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house,
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in awe of you.

David’s path is made difficult by his enemies, but he has confidence that God will guide him through the challenges:

Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.

APPLY:  

What a great gift, to be able to sing even in the face of adversity!  We are reminded by the superscription to the Psalm that this is to be sung with the flutes!

Only those whose faith in God is secure, who are confident that God does hear them, can possibly pray and sing and even worship although they are surrounded by the:

boastful, evildoers, liars, the bloodthirsty and deceitful.

This is a reminder that our circumstances are not to set the agenda for our lives — whether those circumstances are good or bad — God is to set the agenda for us!

But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house,
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in awe of you.
Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.

RESPOND: 

I have a good friend who joked one time that physically he was very healthy, and almost never ill.  And he said, “All my illnesses are mental.”

Obviously, on one level this is not really very funny.  Mental illness is a very serious matter, that requires healing and loving patience every bit as much as physical illness.

My point is simply that I am not aware that I have any actual lying, bloodthirsty and deceitful enemies such as David had.  Oh, I’m sure there are some folks who are less fond of me than others.  But I venture to say that most of my enemies are spiritual and internal. But I pray that God will hear my prayers and guide me in the straight paths with those enemies as well.

Our Lord, thank you that you hear my prayers and you know my need no matter what my circumstances — in times of joy and in times of adversity as well.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Psalm 5 3 copy 2” by New Life Church Collingwood is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Psalm Reading for June 5, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 146

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm of praise provides perspective.  The Psalmist praises God with his whole being and his whole life, but cautions against trust in the political powers of this world.

The contrast is stark — princes are mortals whose plans and visions, even for the good, are terminated the moment of their death.

The Lord, on the other hand, has been the source of strength for Israel since the days of Jacob.  The Lord’s power is demonstrated by his creation of heaven, earth and the sea.  And unlike the transient power of princes, the Lord’s power endures forever.  The Lord is the one who:

keeps faith forever.

And the Lord’s power is never used for selfish purposes, but for those who are weak and powerless.  He is the one who:

executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,

However, the Lord’s justice does have consequences for the unjust:

the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

Unlike the princes of the earthly kingdoms, and the wicked, the Lord is everlasting:

The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!

APPLY:  

Human beings have a difficult time maintaining an eternal perspective, let alone a divine perspective.  We tend to get caught up in the politics of current events, and define our values as Republican, Democratic, socialist, capitalist, and on and on.

However, our world has seen political systems come and go.  Kings and queens and princes tend not to have the power that they once did.  The Iron Curtain in East Europe fell in 1989, exposing the frailties of Communism.  Even western democracies reveal serious fissures and a failure to deliver justice and well-being and freedom for all.

This Psalm reminds us that ultimately we have a Monarch — the Lord.  He will lift up the weak and the oppressed, and he will judge the wicked and the oppressor.  And his kingdom will have no end.

RESPOND: 

Currently, the United States is engaged in a controversial political contest.  Three prominent and well-known candidates are competing for the presidency of the United States — a billionaire, a socialist, and a former president’s wife.

I would be dishonest if I didn’t admit I’m not sure I have a clear conscience about voting for any one of them.

But I am reminded that the political powers of any president, prince, prime minister, or tyrant are temporary.  Ultimately we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.  May those who govern always be mindful that they will also be accountable for how they discharged their duties.

Our Lord, when I grow anxious about politics and the next elections, remind me that you alone are King.  We will all bow the knee before your throne.  And I am grateful that because of your grace, I may hope for mercy and not justice.  Amen. 

PHOTOS: “Bibel (Stuttgart-West)” by Ph Urban is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.