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

Psalm 66 is a hymn of thanksgiving and praise to God. It has four stanzas and each one begins with a call to praise:
  – verse 1: Shout for joy to God, all the earth
  – verse 5: Come and see what God has done
  – verse 8: Praise our God, all peoples
  – verse 16: Come and hear, all you who fear God. 

“Shout for joy” the poet says, but it isn’t something we do much of these days. Part of the deep appeal of Pentecostalism and other more expressive forms of faith is that they create space for the noisier and more chaotic expressions of emotion that frequent the psalms.

Another key message from Psalm 66 is that we need to pay attention.
– We can pay attention with our memory, reciting and rejoicing in what God did for his people in the past (vv. 5-7).
– We can pay attention to our world, reflecting on and talking about what God is doing today (vv. 1-4).
– We can pay attention to our experience, telling others what God is doing for us and in us (vv. 16-20).

Let’s pray. 

    Shout for joy to God, all the earth
        Sing the glory of his name;   
    Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
        Your enemies cringe before your great power” (v. 1-2a).

Our Father, when we look at what is wrong with our world, we are tempted to think you are weak. Wars continue unabated, selfish tyrants promote their own power and glory, the poor everywhere are hungry and oppressed. And now the Covid-19 pandemic cuts a brutal swath through our healthcare systems, our economy, our comfort. 

But with the poet, we lift our eyes to what is right with the world. The sun rises and sets, the moon regulates the tides, we rely on the seasons for planting and harvesting. The beauty of mountains and fields and sky is not obscured by human troubles. How awesome are your deeds, O God. 

We remember and pay attention to what you have done. Long ago you parted the Red Sea so your people could pass, humiliating the rebellious Pharaoh and drowning his pursuing army. You led your people through the Jordan River to the Promised Land. Empires rise and fall at your command. Long gone is the greatness that was Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Passing is the greatness that is America and China. You stilled the black plague and the world wars and the Spanish flu. On your timeline, God, only Christ’s kingdom will grow and flourish without end.

With the poet we pray,
  Praise our God, all peoples. . .
  he has preserved our lives
        and kept our feet from slipping (v. 8a, 9).

Thank you, God, for saving our lives, for bringing us through sickness and danger, through busyness and joblessness, through good times and bad.

   You have tested us,
        You have refined us as silver,
        You have brought us through fire and water
    into a spacious place (v. 9, 12b).

Thank you, God, for being active in our lives, for testing us, training us, and bringing us through fire and water to a good place. In everything you work for the good of those who love you (Rom 8:28). As the pandemic restrains and haunts us and world politics confuse us, we thank you for helping us grow upward and outward into this good space in which we live.  

Amen.

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

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

Psalm 65 is notable for what is absent from the psalm and what is present. 

First, what is missing?

• The poet’s enemies are absent. They aren’t threatening him, they aren’t building traps or shooting arrows, they have disappeared for now!
• The poet’s desperation has also disappeared. He’s no longer stuck in a dark pit, pleading for rescue and salvation.
• The poet’s thirst and longing for God? That’s absent too. There’s no hint of his “dry and weary land where there is no water” (Ps. 63:2). This poem is full of refreshing water!
• And finally, the sense of God’s anger and rejection is absent, very different from Psalm 60 where the poet said,
      You have rejected us, God. . .
          you have been angry–now restore us (Psalm 60:1). 

So. . .if all that is absent from Psalm 65, what is present? 

The most striking presence in the poem is an atmosphere of peace and confidence, because God is redeemer and creator. 

As redeemer, God:
– answers prayer
–  he forgives overwhelming sin
– he gives hope to all the earth
– he welcomes people into his house
– and stills the tumult of the nations.

As creator, God:
– quiets the roaring sea of chaos
– he calls forth joy at morning and evening
– he waters the land with gentle rain
– and dresses the land with grass for the livestock and grain for the people

Let’s pray this joyful psalm.

    Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion;
        to you our vows will be fulfilled.
    O you who answer prayer,
        to you all people come (vv. 1-2). 

Our God, we praise you for this work as redeemer. You are the God of answered prayers, the God who receives our good works, who welcomes all people into your presence. 

   When we were overwhelmed by sins
        you forgave our transgressions.
  We are filled with the good things of your house,
        and of your holy temple (vv. 3, 4b). 

Our sins and the sins of the world overwhelm us. But you forgive them all. You replace our overwhelm with joy in your house, with joy as we worship you. Our sense of despair and emptiness gives way to fullness of life under your care.

    You formed the mountains by your power,
        having armed yourself with strength.
    You stilled the roaring of the seas,
        the roaring of their waves,
        and the turmoil of the nations (vv 6-7). 

You are the God of creation. You flexed your muscles and raised up the mountains. You rebuked the primordial sea of chaos and stilled its angry waves. You silence the turmoil of the nations, until all the earth is quiet before you.

       The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders,
            where morning dawns and evening fades,
            you call forth songs of joy (v. 8).

O creator God,  we see in sunrise and sunset the glory in the skies you created. We rejoice in your faithfulness as you call each day into being, then let it pass with a glorious sunset. 

          You care for the land and water it (v. 9a).
          You drench its furrows and level its ridges,
              you soften it with showers and bless its crops (v. 10).
          … the hills are clothed with gladness
          The meadows wear flocks like a robe,
                the valleys wear grain like a garment,
                they shout for joy and sing (vv. 12b-13). 

Each year you continue the work of creation. You water our crops and soften the soil and make grain and flowers grow again. The hills are glad under your care, the valleys shout for joy at the robe of grain you clothe them in.

And we, your people, join all creation in glad song to you, our creator and redeemer. 

Amen.

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

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

Psalm 64 describes the poet’s enemies as hunters and warriors. For example:
– They sharpen their tongues like swords (v. 2).
– They aim cruel words like deadly arrows (v. 2).
– They hide in a blind and shoot at their victims (v. 4).
– Their minds and hearts are cunning as they aim at the righteous (v. 6).

Little do they know that God is also a hunter!
– He will shoot them with his arrows (v. 7).
– He will strike them down (v. 7).
– He will turn their sharpened tongues and cruel words back on them, destroying them with their own weapons (v. 8).

Let’s pray. 

Our father, with the poet we say,
  Hide us from the conspiracy of the wicked,
      from the plots of evildoers (v. 2).

We try not to be overly dramatic, Lord, but we like that word “conspiracy”. Often we feel we are victims of  conspiracy. We know we should pray, but it’s more interesting to catch up on coronavirus news. We want to make better use of our time, but play too many computer games. We want to exercise more and eat less, but we hear the ice cream and the chocolate calling our name. What is this a conspiracy that corrupts us? Are we oblivious to some malevolent influence that causes our failure? 

Our father, in this business of life we reject conspiracy theories. Instead we arm ourselves against our soul’s great enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. With the poet in Psalm 64, we invite you, our God to hunt and destroy these enemies of our soul. 

Our first enemy is the flesh. We confess that our appetites are out of control. We prefer food and comfort to work and discipline, we choose lethargy over exercise, we choose conspiracy theories over personal responsibility. When we look after our own interests, we are strong-willed and diligent. But in our service for you, Lord, we are weak-willed and complacent. Search and destroy the enemy within, strengthen our ability to make good choices and our discipline to follow through.  

Our second enemy is the world. Not the physical world that you created, God, but the world of human culture and philosophy that shapes our values and feeds our desires. This world offers us money, sex, entertainment, food, shopping, travel, sports, not as good gifts from you, God, but as ends in themselves. And we use them to hide from you, to numb our pain, to avoid difficult choices, to escape reality. O God, expose the places where human culture is our enemy. Teach us to value the giver more than the gifts, to love the creator more than things created. Destroy the world’s power over us, tame all things that attract us until we love you with our whole heart, and until we love the world for you sake. 

Our third enemy is the devil, who Paul says schemes against us. Shall we conclude that we fail because “the devil made me do it?”  Rather, with Paul. we put on the armour of God to protect us. There is a battle that rages within us as the good spirit and the evil spirit influence our thoughts and behaviours, as we feel impulses to true love and obsessions with evil. Cleanse us from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit (2 Cor. 7:1). Help us to embrace the good and resist the evil. 

Our father, we invite you who search our mind and spirit to hunt these hunters who hunt us. Strike them down in their cunning evil. Then with the poet we will:
  Rejoice in you
      and take refuge in you
      and praise your name (v. 10). 

Amen.

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

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

Psalm 63 says,
    O God, you are my God,
        earnestly I seek you
    my throat thirsts for you
        my body longs for you
    in a dry and weary land
        where there is no water (v. 1).

One summer day, my brother and I hiked two-and-a-half miles on a dusty gravel road to the top of a hill. Lunch with a view. Bologna-lettuce-and-mayonnaise sandwiches with a drink of milk, some of which I saved for the thirsty trip home. Sitting on the hill, we enjoyed a fourteen mile view of patchwork prairie farmland: squares of green wheat growing, fields of brilliant yellow canola,and fields of black soil lying fallow in the sun. 

On the hot road home, my brother said, “Hey, did you save some milk?” I took out my bottle, swished the milk around, smelled it and said, “It’s gone sour.” And I poured it out on the ground. My brother said, “Hey, I’m thirsty. I wanted that!” 

I tell this story not to comment on my brotherly kindness, but to offer a perspective on thirst. The poet in Psalm 63 experienced his relationship to God as extreme thirst and physical longing. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we understand the poet’s dry and weary land where there is no water. Like a hot gravel road under the prairie sun without even sour milk to drink. We long for your presence, but we feel the dryness of your absence. We look for you, but cannot find you. Are you present to us in the sun that burns our face? In the dust that chokes our throat? In the vast blue sky without shade or rain? 

Like the poet, we have seen your power and glory in the sanctuary. When you shone your light on us at a life-changing conference. When we felt your presence in a church that nurtured our spiritual growth.  When someone’s kindness helped us feel your deep deep love. But today you are absent. We are stuck in the desert where the only water is a mirage and the only comfort a memory of how things used to be.

With the poet we treasure our memories. When your presence filled our hearts. When your spirit quenched our thirst. When your love washed away our sorrows and sins. 

With the poet we say, “Because your love is better than life, my lips will praise you . . . I will lift up my hands in your name” (v. 3-4). This is our gravel-road statement of faith. In our thirst, we speak your praise with parched lips; we shelter under your unseen wings, we think of you in our sleepless hours at night (vv. 4, 6, 7). Our life is desert until your river flows through it. Our spirit is empty until you fill it. Our days are wasted until we voice your praise. 

With the poet we sing as we travel the dusty road of life. We sing with lifted hands, we sing in the shadow of your wings, we sing of love that watches over us at night and upholds us in the day. We sing of living water that quenches our thirst.

O God, receive our song. Show us the way on our thirsty journey. Lead us to rivers of life. 

Amen.

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

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

In Psalm 62, the poet finds a quiet place of rest from his busy life and noisy enemies. He says,
    Only in God my soul finds rest;
        my salvation comes from him.
    Only he is my . . . fortress;
      I will not be shaken (vv 1-2). 

This psalm is unique because the poet doesn’t make any requests to God. Though he complains about enemies, he doesn’t ask God to save or rescue or deliver him. Instead, he finds in God a quiet shelter in his stormy life, a strong refuge in his weakness.

Let’s pray. 

Our father, this psalm tells us to trust in you at all times, to pour out our hearts to you, for you are our refuge (v. 8).

Thank you for welcoming the outpouring of our hearts, with their muddled thoughts and feelings. We present to you our thanks for food and shelter, our relief that spring has come at last, our fear of the coronavirus pandemic, our concern for the economy, and our faith that you are good. Take our hearts, Lord, protect and heal them.

With the poet we form a prayer of rest around three times our psalm uses the word “only”.

About his enemies, the poet says,
    How long will your assail [me]
       will you batter [me],
        like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
    Your only plan is to bring me down. . .
    With your mouth you bless,
        but in your heart you curse (vv.3-5, paraphrased).

O God, our enemies are single-minded–their only plan is to bring us down. The enemy in our minds discourages and depresses us. The enemy in our hearts creates numbness and apathy. The enemy in our relationships destroys trust and goodwill. The enemy in our spirits tells us faith is an illusion. O God, how often, like the poet, we are a leaning wall, a tottering fence. Fragile and vulnerable, we live on the edge of failure and ruin. But we choose with the poet to rest in your shelter. 

In a second use of the word “only”, the poet says,
    Those of low estate are only a breath,
          those of high estate only a delusion;
          in the balances they go up;
    together they are lighter than breath (v. 9). 

O God, the heavyweights of our world are not as weighty as they imagine–they are only a breath of air. When they stand on the scales, the needle doesn’t move. When they walk through the sand, they leave no footprints. When they stand before you, O God, their haughty speech and mighty words are reduced to silence. They cannot provide a reliable fortress or a  trustworthy salvation.

The poet also uses the word “only” to talk about you, God, for you alone are his focus. Twice he says,:
    Only in God does my soul find rest,
    Only he is my rock and my salvation (vv. 1-2, 5-6). 

Thank you that our souls find rest in you. Thank you for each night of sleep. Thank you for each day of peace. Thank you for the downtime that coronavirus imposes on our hyperactive society. As we take a break from shopping, eating out, commuting, and attending church, we invite you to bring us to rest. May this coronavirus sabbatical become a holy time of rest in your name. Bring us through the epidemic with a new desire to seek you in our lives and to follow you in our world. Care for the unemployed, the displaced, the weary, and the sick in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

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