The Week of April 21, 2008

The Week of April 21, 2008

Psalm 38, 39, and 41

These psalms exemplify individual lament. Each prayer cries to God in the midst of great personal travail. Psalm 38 and 41 beg for healing; illness of some kind threatens death, friends have betrayed and abandoned, enemies plot a coup, and sin has separated the faithful one from God. Desperation and loneliness mark these prayers, and the complaints mount as the psalmist lists verse after verse of adversity. Psalm 39 adds the additional element of reflecting upon the brevity of human life, and urging God to hurry in bringing salvation, since time flies by! Read one after another, these three psalms do seem to cover all of the heartache and difficulty that humankind has faced in the past, and continues to deal with to this day.

Psalm 40

In the middle of these prayers of lament, Psalm 40 stands as a beautiful prayer of thanksgiving for the first 12 verses, and then ends with a short four verse lament (vs. 13-17). Once again, we have the expectation that God delivers and God hears the prayers of the faithful - in any situation. Those who "wait upon the Lord" will see salvation, and their trust will be justified.

My Thoughts

For I am your passing guest, an alien, like all my forebears.
Turn your gaze away from me that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more.
Psalm 39:12-13

God drew me up from the pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. God put a new song in my mouth - and I will sing God's praise.
Psalm 40:2-3

The variety and the range of emotions expressed in the Psalms challenges me. Here in just a few brief verses God is far away and alien, yet near enough to pull one from sinking sand. God's severe gaze is more than humans can bear, yet God's salvation brings music from the human soul. God cares little for fleeting human life, yet cares enough to give sure footing to a single rock climber. What exactly is going on here? Which God does the psalmist sing about or address in prayer?

From our human perspective God can feel absent, aloof or "alien." All around us people live life assuming that God has nothing to do with their actions, their activities, their hopes, dreams, or nightmares. Yet the faithful continue to contend and witness to God's closeness, compassion and blessing. Truthfully, God does not change. The psalms witness to God's unchanging and steadfast love. At the same time the psalms remind us that our human experience jumps all over the map! We walk through deep valleys, and we experience great joy. We see God at work in the past tense of our lives, and miss God's care in the present. These psalms challenge us to better vision and clearer sight. In every situation and every season of life God remains in control; a steady and powerful foundation. May God take OUR laments and travails, and give us the eyes to see Divine Power at work within us.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul's Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Dal­lan For­gaill - 8th century Poet

Blessings,
Pastor Stacy

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