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

Psalm 68 contains some of the most memorable and some of the most mysterious verses in the entire book of Psalms. It presents the complex personality of God. He is the God of war, the God of temple worship, the God of law, and the God who cares for individuals. 

The psalm opens with an imperative,
    Let God arise,
      his enemies be scattered.
    May you blow them away like smoke–
      as wax melts before the fire,
      may the wicked perish before God (v. 1a-1b).
I wish I could blow away my enemies like smoke.

In praise of the personal justice God gives to individuals the poet writes:
    Sing to God. . .
      extol him who rides on the clouds. . . (v. 4)
    He sets the lonely in families
      he leads out prisoners with singing;
      but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land (v. 6).
That’s what our God does: he rides the clouds of heaven, he sets the lonely in families, he leads prisoners on a journey of song and freedom.

For sheer poetic beauty, try these lines:
    Even while you sleep among the sheepfolds,
        the wings of my dove are sheathed in silver,
        its feathers are shining with gold (v. 13).
Not sure what exactly it means? Neither is anyone else, but it’s beautiful and mysterious imagery. 

In similarly beautiful and enigmatic imagery, the poet describes God, perhaps when he moved from Mt. Sinai where he delivered the law into his temple in Jerusalem. The poet says:
    When you ascended on high,
        you led captives in your train,
        you received gifts from humankind,
    even from the rebellious —
        that you, Lord God, might dwell there (v. 16).
Consider for a moment: Do you think of yourself as God’s captive, giving him gifts, inviting him to dwell with you?

One of the greatest comfort verses in the Bible is in Psalm 68:
  Praise be to the Lord, to God our Saviour,
      who daily bears our burdens (v. 19).
Think about yourself in this verse. Does God bear your burdens in the COVID crisis? In your troubled family?

The poet calls on God to defeat his enemies, saying:
    Rebuke the beast among the reeds. . .
        Scatter the nations who delight in war (v. 30).
Part of the horror of our age is the nations who take delight in war, who want to use their armaments, who look for excuses to kill and destroy. 

The psalm concludes with this memorable praise:
  You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary,
      the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people (v. 35).

Let’s pray. 

Our father, this psalm opens for us new ways of thinking about you, new images of your strength and activity. 

We praise your power that melts your enemies like wax and blows them away like smoke. 

We praise you that you ride on the clouds, that you shook the earth at Mt. Sinai, that you send abundant showers to refresh your weary inheritance (vv. 4, 8-10). We are your weary inheritance. Refresh us we pray.

We praise you for placing the lonely in families and releasing the prisoners with singing (v. 6). Lead us out of our prisons, prisons of fear and lethargy and despair. Place us in the family you are building. 

We praise you that you ascended on high, taking captives in your train and receiving gifts from humankind (v. 18). As Geroge Matheson wrote, “Make me a captive Lord, and then I shall be free” (poem: Make Me a Captive Lord).

We praise you that you daily bear our burdens (v. 19). Bear the burdens of today with us: COVID-19, personal isolation and family troubles, a world in chaos. Defeat those who think that order and justice are born in war and anarchy. 

You are awesome in your sanctuary, God. You give power and strength to your people. We praise you God, you alone. (v. 35).

Amen.

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

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

Almost 250 years ago, hymn writer William Cowper became severely depressed and attempted suicide. During that dark year of his life, he wrote a poem called Light Shining out of Darkness, which includes these lines,
    Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
        But trust him for his grace;
    Behind a frowning providence,
        He hides a smiling face. 

Maybe you know this poem as the hymn, God Moves in a Mysterious Way. What a wonderful picture of God. Our feelings and life circumstances may be frowning, dark, difficult, sorrowful. But behind our difficulties, God cares for us and smiles on us.  

Like Cowper, the poet in Psalm 67 trusts God to smile. He says,
    May God be gracious to us and bless us
        and make his face shine on us (v. 1). 

In the psalm, God smiles not just on his own people. He is creator and sustainer of the world. He smiles at all he has made. The favor he shows his chosen people is his invitation that flows through them to the whole world, inviting all the nations to praise God and to enjoy the favor of his smile.  As the poet says,
    May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
      for you rule the peoples with equity
      and guide the nations of the earth (v. 4). 

Brueggemann says of Psalm 67, “The sum of the entire poem is gladness for the life-giving, world-ordering power of God that makes a viable, shared life in the world possible.” (Brueggemann, Walter, and Bellinger, William H., Jr. 2014.  Psalms. In New Cambridge Bible Commentary. New York:: Cambridge University Press. p. 290).

Let’s pray.

     O God, be gracious to us and bless us
        and make your face smile upon us–
    so that your ways may be known on earth,
        your salvation among all nations (vv. 1-2).

For us, as for ancient Israel, your plan is not to create a cowering, fearful chosen people. You don’t want us just to hide out of sight in a dangerous world until the coming Messiah rescues us. Rather, in all generations you order the world for the benefit of all people. Summer and winter, springtime and harvest, oceans and mountains and plains give us a place to call home, to experience your beauty, and to grow food that sustains and satisfies us. You send your rain on the just and the unjust. You care for your creation, both the earth and the people. As the poet says,
    The earth has yielded its increase;
        God, our God, has blessed us. . .
        let all the ends of the earth praise him (vv. 6, 7b). 

We also hear the poet say,
  May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
        for you rule the peoples with equity,
        and lead the nations of the earth (v. 4).

God, we do not see that happening yet. We see a world caught in the COVID-19 pandemic. Nations bicker internally, castigate other nations for perceived faults, and move toward political and economic isolation and self-reliance. O God, as the pandemic exposes the fractures and foolishness of our world systems, as nations move toward self-protection and isolation, it is time for you to act as the poet suggests: to rule the peoples with equity and to lead the nations of the earth. Just do it, God! Bring justice to the earth. Bring leadership that will guide the nations wisely. Show the world your smiling face. Let the whole world be glad and sing for joy.

Amen.

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

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”.