Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalm 113 is the first in a sequence of six psalms of praise. At the end of the book of Psalms,.we will encounter another sequence of six. If you have felt, as I have, that the book of psalms has tilted too much toward grief and laments and enemies and trouble, then fasten your seatbelts. From here on the psalms will fly through the skies singing God’s praise instead of moping in the pit of despair. 

I’m not sure I’m ready for this. I have grown accustomed to the dark, to praying from deep in the mud rather than flying on wings of praise. The psalms have been a welcome companion in my darkness, but the poet doesn’t build his home there. He doesn’t give the last word to despair, but praise. God’s faithfulness is a lamp, his loving kindness a light.  Let’s go to that place with the poet. 

The first three verses of Psalm 113 are overloaded with calls to praise. Repeating his favorite word five times, the poet urges us to: praise, praise, praise, bless, and praise the Lord. Do you catch the hint? The poet praises God in time, both now and forevermore (v. 2b) and he praises God in space, from the rising of the sun to its setting (v. 3). Everywhere, every time, is a time for praise. No exceptions. 

The remaining six verses of Psalm 113 explain what God does that deserves our praise. 

Who is like our God, the poet asks, seated high above the heavens, looking a long way down to heaven and earth? God sees the poor in the dust and he lifts them up, he sees the needy on the dunghill and he makes them sit with princes. He sees the barren woman and he makes her a mother of children.  

Praise the Lord. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we welcome this day to look away from our pandemic ridden world, away from our menial employments, away from our cares for self and family. In the routine of life, we have become drudges, stuck in darkness, focusing on what is wrong, weary of pressing on. With the poet, we lift our eyes to you, rejoicing in what is right.

You, our God, are still above the heavens, above the dictators and presidents of the world. You watch this play we stage on earth, the politics we invent, the drama we generate. You see our exits and entrances. We praise you that you write the script and direct the play we stage.

We praise you for what you do. You see the needy and provide a food bank, the homeless and you create a home. You see the jobless and give them a vocation with princes. The childless woman you make a  mother. To struggling church members, you give grace. To the mentally ill a new life. To the war-torn countries you bring peace.  

Lord, if we look with cynical eyes, we see endless poverty and injustice. But in our moments of faith, we see Christ’s work of compassion and healing, delivered in medical missions and social programs and church potlucks and neighbourhood parties. With the poet, we praise you for every person who has a place to call home, has enough to eat, and a job and a family. Look upon those still in the dust and dung heaps of the world, and lift them also to a new life.

With the poet, we praise you as the God of nations and the God of individuals, the God who sustains the life of the world, who intervenes in the muddled mess, who creates joy and beauty. 

Who is like you, O God? We praise your holy name. 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

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Ep241_Psalm112. Happy.  

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalms 111 and 112 are alphabetic acrostic poems, in which each line begins with consecutive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Psalm 111 concludes:
  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. . . .
      To him belongs eternal praise (v. 10). 

Psalm 112 begins by repeating these themes, saying:
    Praise the Lord.
    Happy are those who fear the Lord,
      who find great delight in his commands (v. 1).

First, a comment on the word “happy”, a difficult word to translate well. The translation “blessed are those who fear the Lord” may sound pretentiously spiritual to modern ears, though we who are religious do long for God’s blessing. Translating it as “content” sounds lame –”content are those who fear the Lord”. How about “joyful”? Might be a good choice, but it unhappily limits the verse to one fleeting emotion among the many we experience. 

The sense of the original word is that in our life journey, those who honor God and keep his commands are on a path, a good path that leads to wholeness, integrity, health, and happiness. 

Walmart, Best Buy, and Amazon promise similar results to serious shoppers, but it does not happen. Purveyors of health food and natural medicines promise a simple, whole, and healthy life. Practitioners of yoga and meditation promise lower stress and more enjoyment, a place where body, mind, and soul are at peace. And the prosperity gospel treats Christianity as a vending machine with automatic and repeatable transactions: you do right by God and God will do right by you. A sweet package where God delivers health and wealth and success.

Psalm 112, in contrast, is about wholeness, not riches and health purchased by right living, but the fruit of a life lived humbly before God, a life that is the outcome of participating in community with God and others. “Happy are those who fear the Lord”–not because God immediately and conclusively delivers them from evil and pain, but because their lives move consistently against the curses and evil, against the river of self, moving toward the wholeness God intends for his creation. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, the relentless onslaught of news gives us  police brutality, pandemic deaths, economic disaster, and dysfunctional politics. With the poet we look for life as you intended, a fruitful life in a just society in a friendly world you created and continue to supervise.

With the poet, we reflect on your promise:
  Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
      for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.
  Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely,
      who conduct their affairs with justice (vv. 4-5).

Idolaters of old sacrificed to fertility gods to get a good harvest. We, the new idolaters, prescribe the right theology and the right prayers, hoping for a happy life on earth and a comfortable place in heaven. 

O Lord, help us to lose our mechanical, transactional, and legal views of how you operate. Help us approach you daily with respectful and trusting hearts. Help us live with grace, compassion and righteousness in the world you created. Help us build societies of mutual respect and cooperation. Help us participate fully in the life of the world and the blessings of creation.

Happy are those who fear you, O Lord. Bring us to that deep sense of wholeness and integrity which flows from a rightly ordered life. 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Psalm 111 is an acrostic poem, in which each line starts with the next  letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Its main theme is the mighty acts of God, which elicit praise from the poet’s mind and heart. 

The poets describes God’s mighty acts like this:
  – Great are the works of the Lord (v. 2)
  – Glorious and majestic are his deeds (v. 3)
  – He has caused his wonders to be remembered (v. 4)
  – He has shown his people the power of his works (v. 6)
  – The works of his hands are faithful and just (v. 7)
  – He provided redemption for his people (v. 9) 

The poet  responds to God’s work with statements like these:
  – I will extol the Lord with all my heart (v. 1)
  – His works are pondered by all who delight in them (v. 2)
  – He provides food for those who fear him (v. 5)
  – All his precepts are trustworthy (v. 7)
  – Holy and awesome is his name (v. 9) 

Let’s join the poet in a prayer of praise. 

Our father, we praise you for your great redemption. As you delivered the Israelites from slavery, so you have redeemed us from slavery to sin, adopting us into your family. 

With the poet, we ponder your works. You work in those  we love. Whether they seek or ignore you, they display your image in acts of kindness, in faithfulness to spouse and children, in sensible and honest approaches to life and work. Others we know seek you amid problems of physical and mental health, anxiety and trouble. We have felt the broadening and softening movements of your spirit, changing us from harsh judges to quiet companions as we travel through life, deterring us from becoming curmudgeonly and irritable as we age. 

With the poet we fear you. Not with the fear of a slave for a cruel master, nor with the fear of one held at gunpoint, but a fear of respect as your light penetrates the dark places in our minds and hearts. We fear you with awe as we ponder the vast unknowable universe. We fear you with desire, as we hunger to participate in your goodness, and with dismay as we feel our propensity to sin. Receive our fear as the worship that is due you, our praise as our expression of honor.

The poet says,
  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
      All who follow his precepts have good understanding (v. 10).

O Lord, the foundation of our knowledge and understanding is not science that explains the laws of physics, nor artistic exploration that explores human potential. Our modern technologies bring knowledge and entertainment, but not wisdom and understanding. Modern psychology brings insight but not clear moral standards. You alone are the source of wisdom. Understanding follows obedience to your laws. A good life is one that seeks you. 

With the poet we conclude:
    To you belongs eternal praise (v. 10). 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”.

In Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, General Macbeth’s wife encourages him to stage a coup, murder King Duncan, and take the Scottish throne. During Macbeth’s brief, paranoid, and murderous rule, she is the power behind the throne. 

If we ask, “Who was the power behind the throne of Israel?”, Psalm 110 gives this answer:
  The Lord said to my master,
      “Sit at my right hand
          until I make your enemies
          a footstool for your feet”.
  The Lord will extend your mighty sceptre from Zion, saying,
      “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
    Arrayed in holy splendour,
        your young men will come to you
        like dew from the morning’s womb (vv. 1-3). 

The Lord Jehovah is clearly the power behind the throne of Israel. Don’t look for a General and Lady Macbeth fiasco, with a manipulative partner inciting rebellion. No, this is the almighty God of the universe inviting the king of Israel to sit at his right hand and participate in God’s rule of the whole world. 

Modern scholarship classifies this as a royal psalm, probably written by a court poet or composer, in praise of the king of Israel. But the New Testament interprets this psalm as speaking in King David’s voice. David’s comment, “The Lord (God) said to my master” prompts the question, “David wasn’t a slave to anyone. Who is this person he calls his master?” 

In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees were waiting for a Messiah who would have King David in his family tree. Jesus quoted Psalm 110 and asked the Pharisees, “Who is this person, King David’s master, who God invites to sit at his right hand? You think it is the Messiah, but the Messiah is David’s son, not his master. How can he be greater than David?” The Pharisees were stumped.  (See Mat 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44). 

Psalm 110 also references Melchizedek, a king and priest of Jerusalem in Abraham’s time. He blessed Abraham and served him bread and wine. Abraham responded by tithing his spoils of war to Melchizedek. The Book of Hebrews interprets this as applicable to Jesus, the Messiah, quoting our psalm:
    The Lord has sworn
        and will not change his mind:
      “You are a priest forever,
        in the order of Melchizedek.”  

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we can’t imagine you saying to modern world leaders, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” That seems to be an offer reserved for Old Testament characters like King David, or perhaps for his son, the Messiah.

Like Israel, we wait for a Messiah who will set the world right, shatter the heads of evil rulers, and bring justice and peace. We also look for a forever priest in the line of Melchizedek, a king of righteousness, who will come in holy splendor wearing the bright dew of morning (v. 3). 

All praise to you, our father. All praise to Christ who sits at your right hand, waiting for you to make his enemies his footstool. All praise to the Holy Spirit who broods over the world, calling us to truth and righteousness. All praise to you, triune God, as you reign forever in glory. 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me.”

Psalm 109’s message sounds like the opposite of Jesus’ prayer on the cross. Jesus prayed, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing.” In Psalm 109 , the poet prays:
  Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy . . .
  When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
      may his prayers condemn him.
    May his days be few,
      may another take his place of leadership. 

    May his children be wandering beggars,
    May a creditor seize all he has,
      may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
    May no one extend kindness to him,
      or take pity on his fatherless children (phrases from vv. 6-15). 

How’s that for a sustained and vengeful list of curses! I have four comments:

First, Jesus sometimes confronted great evil with great anger. In Matthew 23, he calls the Pharisees hypocrites, snakes, murderers, and tombs full of bones. He asks, “How will you escape being condemned to hell?” (Mat. 23:1-36). His anger is an appropriate response to evil and injustice. We accept Jesus’ anger at the Pharisees and the poet’s anger at his enemies as legitimate emotional responses to people who perpetrate evil. 

Second, there is at least one major difference between Jesus’ anger and the poet’s anger: Jesus expressed anger by pointing out and giving examples of the Pharisees’ sins. The poet’s approach? He wants revenge! He steps beyond the Old Testament’s “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” rule by inviting evil to avalanche destructively on evildoers and their descendants. 

Third, I like the poets’ description of his enemy:
    He wore cursing as a garment,
          it entered his body like water
          and his bones like oil.
      May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,
            like a belt tied forever round him.
      May this be the the Lord’s payment to my accusers,
            to those who speak evil of me (vv. 18-20). 

What an interesting word picture–an enemy wearing curses like a garment. The enemy’s garment begins to shape his identity. The attitude and practice of cursing seeps into his body like water, into his bones like oil, consuming his thoughts and life. 

Words are powerful. By constantly cursing others, the enemy creates a culture of verbal abuse and violence and he must live in the culture he creates. The poet praysGod permit this to occur, that God will let the enemy inhabit the cursed world his curses create. The poet here is not seeking vengeance on his enemy, just asking that he will experience the consequences of his speech and actions.

And finally, I note that the poet does not take up weapons or make plans to avenge himself against his enemy. His words are a prayer that God will avenge him. A wise choice, not to loose our vengeance and violence on the world, but to express our anger in prayer and invite God to bring about justice.

Let’s pray. 

Our father, the anger and vengeance of this psalm are words expressed to you. Help us, like the poet, to see clearly the injustices in the world, to be angry at perpetrators, to bring evil to your attention. Help us to walk with the poet in praying, to walk with Jesus in confronting evil, and to learn to say with Jesus, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.” 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.