Ep.059: Psalm21: Game of Thrones.

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

In our journey through the psalms, you may have noticed the immense role that imagination plays. The poets invite us to see the world as they see it, to experience life as they experience it, and to pray to God as they pray to him. Today, as we look at Psalm 21, the poet invites us to imagine God as the king of kings, sitting on his throne in heaven. We celebrate this great unseen king as he helps the earthly king of Israel prosecute military adventures and destroy his enemies.

The heavenly kingdom where God rules is not a democracy. The high king, God, rules over a council of lesser gods (as described in Psalm 82:1), and over the kings on earth. Psalm 21 celebrates the special relationship between this highest God and the king of Israel. Their relationship is based on the covenant, a mutually binding contract, in which the nation of Israel agreed to be a faithful client of God, and God in return agreed to be faithful and loving to Israel and to their king.

The first half of the psalm emphasizes that God is the one who makes the king of Israel successful. The psalm says:
The heavenly King gives military victories. (vv. 1, 5)
The heavenly King places a crown of gold on the earthly king’s head. (v. 3)
The heavenly King gives long life and great joy and rich blessing. (vv. 1, 3, 4)
The heavenly King establishes the earthly kingdom so it will not be shaken. (v. 7)

The second half of the psalm describes the earthly king’s exploits, enabled by his heavenly connections.
The earthly king captures his enemies. (v. 8)
The earthly king foils their plans. (v. 11)
The earthly king makes them retreat in fear. (v. 12)
The earthly king destroys his enemies and their descendants. (v. 10)

Let’s pray.

Our father, your kingship is a foreign idea to us. In our western democracies, we vote for prime ministers and presidents, who then humiliate themselves chasing after opinion polls and popularity and power. I’m afraid there’s no room for you in our system, God. We have closed our imagination to the idea of a king in heaven, we live under the illusion of political cause and effect, our western civilization marches to the tunes we compose and the drums we beat.

In those rare moments when we pray that you will influence politics on earth, the best we can imagine is a choice between bad alternatives. In Canada we choose between the liberals who incur debt to build “inclusive” social programs; and the conservatives who urge fiscal responsibility and social conservatism. American evangelicals choose between Donald Trump who supports their anti-abortion, anti-gay agenda, and the Democrats who prefer social liberalism, moral relativism, and socialized medicine.

Our father, if you are indeed the king over earthly kings, show us a third way. Surely the world you imagine does not leave us caught on the horns of an evil dilemma. Surely Christ’s kingdom, if we could only see it and live in it, offers a rule of freedom from the culture wars, freedom from the battles of church politics, freedom from the conflict of nations, freedom from our disordered and selfish appetites

Surely Christ’s kingdom gives us freedom to love and serve you in our communities and nations.

Our father in heaven, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen

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

Ep.058: Weep, Pray, and Complain.

The book of Jeremiah is the longest book in the Bible. It is mostly a collection of long prophetic poems that
– denounce Judah’s sins,
– predict the downfall of Jerusalem, and
– declare judgment on surrounding nations.

Occasional breaks in this monotonous prophetic material tell bits of Jeremiah’s story.

He was a prophet who was unhappy with his jobIt was no fun telling the Jerusalem establishment that God was angry with them, and that their political system, their temple, and their city would soon be destroyed. While Jeremiah preached sin and destruction, other more optimistic prophets were saying to the people, “Don’t listen to Jeremiah. God is not against us. He is for us. He will bring us lasting peace.” Little wonder Jeremiah was often embroiled in conflicts with these prophets.

After many years of predicting the fall of Jerusalem, it finally happened. The Babylonians invaded and conquered. Jeremiah lived through the Babylonian siege, he witnessed the destruction of city and temple, and he watched the forced exile of many Israelites. For him, the only thing sadder than prophesying the disaster was living through it. That’s why Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet.

Let’s consider three of Jeremiah’s prayers. At one point he prays,
    “You deceived me, Lord . . .
       you overpowered me and prevailed.
    I am ridiculed all day long;
       everyone mocks me.
    Whenever I speak, I cry out
       proclaiming violence and destruction.
    Your word has brought me
       insult and reproach all day long.
    But if I say, ‘I will not mention your word
       or speak anymore in your name,’
    your word is like fire in my heart,
       a fire shut up in my bones.
    I am weary of holding it in;
       indeed, I cannot.” (Jeremiah 7:7-9, paraphrased)

That’s Jeremiah’s prayer. “God, you tricked me into this prophetic ministry. All I get from it is ridicule and insults. But if I try to shut up, your word burns like fire in my bones. You’ve made me a volcano, spewing fire and brimstone whenever your word erupts. I’m tired of it, God, what am I to do?”

In another prayer he says,
Although our sins testify against us,
       do something, Lord, for the sake of your name.
For we have often rebelled;
     we have sinned against you.
    You who are the hope of Israel,
       its Savior in times of distress,
    why are you like a stranger in the land,
       like a traveler who stays only a night?Why are you like a man taken by surprise,
       like a warrior powerless to save?
    You are among us, Lord,
       and we bear your name;
       do not forsake us! (Jer. 14:7-9)

Jeremiah knew the pain of unanswered prayer, the feeling that God should show and do something, instead of letting the situation grew worse and worse.

And a third prayer:
    Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own;
       it is not for them to direct their steps.
    Discipline me, Lord, but only in due measure—
       not in your anger,
       or you will reduce me to nothing. (Jer. 10:23-24)

What a beautiful picture of life in God’s care. Our lives are not our own, we don’t direct our steps, we cannot control our fate. Discipline us, Lord. Teach us what we need to know, take us where we need to go. But do it gently, Lord, for we are fragile. If you are angry with us, you will destroy us.

Let’s pray.
Our father, like Jeremiah we often find your word embarrassing, out of touch with the thinking and values of our culture, and personally confusing. What is the right path for our present and future? Our lives our not our own, they are yours. Direct our steps Lord, discipline us gently. Do not destroy us, but save us.
Amen.

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

Ep.057: Psalm 20: The King and Plan B.

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

Psalm 20 ends in a grand finale: “Lord, save the king. Answer us when we call” (v. 9). Using the same phrase as the psalm, we Canadians occasionally sing, “God Save the Queen”. Listen to some words from the song. Fortunately for you, I will quote them instead of singing them.

    God save the queen.
    Send her victorious,
    Happy and glorious . . .

    Oh Lord our God arise,
    Scatter our enemies,
    Confound their politics
    Frustrate their knavish tricks,
    On Thee our hopes we fix
    Oh save us all.

The psalm and the song bring together politics and religion in a way that we moderns find strange. What are we to make of this?

Here’s one perspective on God’s plan for the world.
In Plan A, God created the world and he delegated to humans the responsibility to be his representatives in creation, to care for it and rule over it. Adam and Eve and their descendants failed badly at this task and the world descended into chaos. Instead of declaring the project a failure and shutting it down, God initiated Plan B.

Plan B was a rescue operation for humanity and creation. It started with a human family, Abraham, and continued with the people of Israel. The goal was to bring God’s blessing and restoration back into the world. So how did Plan B work out? Instead of sticking with the plan, Israel imitated the world they were supposed to rescue, until they themselves were as bad as everyone else and they also needed rescuing.

The Psalms and the Old Testament carry a hint of Plan C, which God designed to rescue Plan B. The central feature of Plan C is a new kid on the block, a king in the line of Israel who will rule the world rightly, a Messiah and rescuer. This one will at last be God’s perfect representative caring for creation and implementing a just rule over all the nations.

That’s the space in which the psalms live. Sometimes in the psalms, Plan B, God’s rescue operation through Israel seems promising and possible. Other times, it seems completely hopeless, like when Israel persisted in idolatry and God sent them into Babylonian captivity. In times like that, the poets seem to be looking for someone to rescue Plan B.

Psalm 20 is a Plan B psalm. The poet sings to the king of Israel, “We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God” (v. 5). God gives the king victory! Plan B is working out! Celebrate and shout for joy! But the poet also says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (v. 7). God saved the king in battle and confounded the enemy. Israel’s horses and chariots gave the king victory, but the enemies’ horses and chariots were a vehicle of their defeat. The poet chooses to trust in in God rather than the military industrial complex. And later, in a complicated turn of history when Israel’s army fails and the king is defeated, the poet will still be praying, “We trust in the name of the Lord our God.”

Let’s pray.

Our father, your plans for the world haven’t worked out very well. Plan A with Adam and Eve, Plan B with Israel, and now Plan C with Christ and the church. Nations rage, kingdoms rise and fall, the human race plunders and destroys Creation. Yet with ancient Israel we share a vision of God’s Messiah ruling the world through humans, caring for creation, implementing peace and justice. But when will this happen?

Our father, some Christians expect the political solution only after Armageddon, when creation and humanity crash to destruction and fire. Others believe that Jesus began establishing his kingdom when he was here on earth and the church’s job is to continue his project. Our father, these details of politics and religion confuse us. We may not understand Plan C, but we pray:
  Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as in heaven.
  God save Christ the King, and give him victory and glory.
  Rescue us from those who believe that guns and missiles will bring peace and justice.
With the poet we pray “Now I know that the Lord rescues his anointed, he answers him from his holy heaven.” May Christ rescue us who serve him. Save us, Lord.

Amen

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

Ep.056: House of Prayer.

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

When Isaiah was writing about the return of exiles to Israel, he included non-Israelites, saying:
    Foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord . . .
        these I will bring to my holy mountain
    and give them joy in my house of prayer.
        for my house will be called
    a house of prayer for all nations.’ (Isa 56:6-7).

When Jesus drove the foreign exchange traders and merchandisers out of the temple, he quoted Isaiah saying, “‘‘Is it not written: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”? But you have made it “a den of robbers”.’” (Mark 11:17)

So what is this place Isaiah and Jesus call “a house of prayer”? It seems to be the temple in Jerusalem. Solomon built the original temple around 950 BCE, which the Babylonians destroyed about 400 years later in 587. About 70 years after that, some exiles returned from Babylon and built a second temple on the same spot, finishing it in 515 BCE. Five hundred years later, before and during the life of Jesus, Herod the Great did major renovations and additions to this second temple. Then about 40 years after Jesus’ death, the Romans destroyed it, and much of Jerusalem with it.

During Jesus’ life, the temple proper had three sections, one for priests, one for Israelite men, and one for Israelite women. Outside these exclusive areas was a general purpose area, the Court of the Gentiles, where foreign exchange merchants set up their stalls and others sold animals and souvenirs.

Jesus’ anger at them seems odd to me. Perhaps instead of getting angry and turning over tables, he could have invited some ecumenical dialogue about the problem. If I had been there I might have suggested that there was room for everybody in the court of the Gentiles. Perhaps Jesus could build a small prayer chapel in one corner instead of overturning the whole operation.

Jesus, however, was decidedly NOT ecumenical. He was angry. The Jews said to him, “What authority do you have to do this?” Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple and I will build it again in three days” (John 2:19). The Jews were stunned and dismissive of Jesus’ claim that he could build the temple on a three-day weekend. After all, Herod’s renovations had been in progress for 46 years. But John gets round this by explaining that Jesus was talking about the temple of his body, not the temple of Herod.

Here are some observations.

1. Jesus chose not to defend his anger or his authority for his actions in the temple. Instead, he mysteriously switched the meaning of “temple” from “this place Herod is renovating” to “my body.” That was a weird and confusing direction to steer the conversation.

2. Despite its history of being built and destroyed, Jesus had a deep respect for the temple, including the outer court. Places were important to Jesus: he fasted in the desert, he was baptized in the river, he wept over Jerusalem, he met Moses and Elijah on the mountain, he cleansed the temple. We too live our lives in places that impact us spiritually. A temple or a church is not “just a building” — it is a place with a history, a place with meaning and memories, a place where we might pray or meet God.

3. Finally, today, two thousand years after Jesus spoke and almost two thousand years after the temple was destroyed, we still resonate with Jesus’ words, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Where is that house today?

Let’s pray.
Our father, your house is a house of prayer for all nations. Help us participate in your project. Help us build a house of prayer in the temple of our bodies. Help us build a house of prayer in the cathedral of creation. Help us build a house of prayer in the cities of human civilization.
Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel Pray with Me.

Ep.055: Psalm 19: The School of Words and Worlds

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

One summer, I backpacked with a friend into Kananaskis country in the Canadian Rockies. We walked through a high alpine valley with steep cliffs on left and right, and a blue summer sky above. The valley opened onto a turquoise glacial lake, with black snow-capped mountains beyond. That view opened a window for me into a majestic creation, and into the heart of the creator. The winter that followed was difficult for me, but I was sustained by knowing that God was looking after my alpine valley in fierce blizzards, impassible snow, and relentless cold. Surely he was present also in the winter of my soul. In his time, the snow would go and the world would return to warm days and summer skies.

The poet who wrote Psalm 19 also experienced the beauty of God’s creation. He wrote,
    The heavens declare the glory of God,
    Day after day they pour forth speech;
        Night after night they display knowledge.
    There is no speech nor are there words,
        Their voice is not heard;
    Yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
        And their words to the end of the world. (v. 1-4, see footnote 1 for translation)

Yes, that captures my experience of creation. The sky, the stars, the mountains, the valleys: “they have no speech, nor are there words” yet “day after day they pour forth speech”, “their words [go] to the ends of the world.” Their language is silence, but they speak with the voice of God.

The poet who met God in creation also met God in his word. Verse 7 says, “The torah of the Lord is perfect, giving life to the soul.” Most modern translations reduce the beautiful and evocative word torah to the plain and narrow English word law, as if legislation and lawyers and litigation are somehow at the heart of God’s life-giving words. The torah that gives life is the first five books of the Bible, telling God’s story from creation to the Promised Land. It is God’s verbal gift to the poet. It is not primarily a system of laws that tells him how to behave and threatens him with punishment if he doesn’t. God’s verbal gift includes teaching and laws and stories. In the torah, Adam and Eve found and lost the garden of Eden, Noah waited out the flood, Abraham looked for God’s country, Moses lead the slaves to the promised land.

In Psalm 19, then, the poet celebrates the God of creation who set the sun marching across the sky. He also celebrates the God of torah who told us about people he cared for, how he worked on their behalf to give them experiences and words that would lead them to freedom and community.

Let’s pray.

Our father, your creation continues year after year. We see it in the bleakness of winter and the warmth of summer, in the dying leaves of fall and the new growth of spring. The circuit of the sun and the shining stars speak to us without words. They speak to us in words we know are your language.

Our lives are stories in the theatre of creation. You made us, and we wander east of Eden, looking for food and pulling thistles and finding our way to the Promised Land.

Help us accept our place as creatures in your creation.
Help us to interpret our story by your story.
Help us receive your gift of created universe and sacred writings.
Help us listen to your voice in the silence of the cosmos and the teachings of torah.
Give us light by the burning of the sun and the radiance of your word.
Give us riches in the beauty of the night sky and in the story of your people.
Give us direction in the circuit of the sun and in the dictates of your law.

May the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. (v. 14).

Amen.

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

Footnote 1: Brueggemann, Walter, and William H. Bellinger, Jr. Commentary. Chapter 19. In Psalms, pp. 99-101. New Cambridge Bible Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
See also: Alter, Robert. The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary. New York: W.W.Norton & Co., 2009. Chapter 19. [Kobo Books edition].

Ep.054: Do-It-Yourself Gods.

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

A story in the book of Isaiah tells about a man who chops down a tree. He uses the wood for two projects. First, he makes a fire over which he cooks a meal and warms himself. Then he uses he rest of the wood to make a god, his idol. He bows and worships it, saying “Save me! You are my god!” (Isaiah 44:16-17).

Isaiah says this person feeds on ashes, that a deluded heart misleads him, because he cannot see that is idol is a lie, it is not god (v. 20). I want to ask the idol builder, “How do you know which part of the tree is the god? If you get it wrong, are praying to firewood and roasting your meat over your god?”

In Isaiah’s time, an idol was a statue that represented a god. Today, we are more sophisticated. We don’t cut down trees and carve idols. We build idols in our minds. We imagine that modern philosophy and technology and culture are the key to controlling and managing our lives.

Here are some modern idols, and the prayers we pray to them.

Money is an idol when we pray, “Keep us from want, keep us from poverty, help us live comfortably, bless our lottery tickets and help them to hit.”
Guns are an idol when we pray, “Protect us from enemies, keep us safe and secure, don’t let the government take our guns.”
Entertainment is an idol when we pray, “Keep us from boredom. Make us forget our anxiety. Help us escape the smallness of our lives and live vicariously in a story that is large and exciting and fun.”
Right doctrine is an idol when we pray, “I have learned the right way to interpret the Bible. I have the system that defines truth. I have the doctrines that make me right, and show me how wrong most others are.”
I am my own god when I pray, “I’m on a journey to find myself. I’m on a journey to live a full life. I can become whatever I choose. ‘I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul’” (William Henley, Invictus, stanza 4).

In each of these prayers we ask the idol to give us something only God can give.

Money can not keep me from need. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing.
Guns can not keep me safe. The Lord is my refuge and strength.
Entertainment can not provide fulfillment. Jesus came to give us life to the full.
Right doctrine does not make us right. Jesus said, “You search the scriptures because you think they will give you eternal life, but you will not come to me. I am the one who gives life.”
I can not be my own god. My life is a one-way ticket to death, and I do not control the journey. As the psalmist says to God, “My times are in your hand” (Psalm 31:5).

Let’s pray.
Our father, we live in a world of management and control. Our jobs require competence, our vehicles maintenance, our bodies exercise and food, and our mental health requires positive thinking. We want to manage you too. A few prayers, a bit of devotion, church occasionally — surely you should respond by blessing our lives and work. But you are a God we cannot control. Help us place our lives and talents at your disposal, and say with Job, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Amen.

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

Footnote. Eugene Peterson’s description of idols: “An idol is god with all the God taken out. . . . “ (Christ plays in Ten Thousand Places, p. 254)
– The idol is a [god] that requires no personal relationship.
– The idol is a [god] that I can manipulate and control.
– The idol reverses the God/creature relationship: now I am the [creator] and the idol is the creature.”

Ep.053: Psalm 18: The Warrior King and the Warrior God.

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

Today we look at Psalm 18. On average, the psalms have 17 verses. Psalm 18 weighs in at 51 verses, three times longer than average. This poses a difficult problem: Is one episode sufficient for this psalm? Or should we divide it into two or even three episodes? This question will become pressingly important when we get to Psalm 119 which has 176 verses, 10 times longer than average.

For what it’s worth, here’s my opinion. One episode is not enough to do ANY of the Psalms justice. They all deserve more. However, I am planning to get through all 150 Psalms in three years, including time off for summer vacations. So I’m sticking with a Psalm a week.

This week’s psalm, Psalm 18, has an astonishing first line. It says, “I love you, O Lord, my strength.” The Bible gives a high profile to the command, “Love God.” But this is the only time in my Bible where someone says to God, “I love you.” This is probably not a good model for how often you should say “I love you” to your partner.

Another astonishing thing is that Psalm 18 casts God as the God of war. David, the warrior king, celebrates God’s military adventures. Listen to the martial themes in the psalm:
    Smoke rose from his nostrils,
        Consuming fire came from his mouth,
   He soared on the wings of the wind. (v. 8-10)
    The Lord thundered from heaven
        . . . he shot his arrows and scattered the enemies,
       great bolts of lightning and routed them. (v. 13-14)
    He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
       From my foes who were too strong for me. (v. 17)
    He is the God who avenges me
       Who subdues nations under me. (v. 47)

Wow. Is your God out there in the fray doing battle for you, taking revenge on your enemies, delivering you from attacks, subduing nations under you, guiding your military adventures to victory?

It looks like God is providing air support for David’s combat mission on the ground. Picture God riding the cherubim across the stormy sky, shooting arrows and bolts of lightning at the enemies until they retreat with David pursuing. He’s how the Psalm puts it:
    He parted the heavens and came down,
        He mounted the cherubim and flew;
    Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
        With hailstones and bolts of lightning
    You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
        And I destroyed my foes.
        I crushed them so they could not rise;
    They cried for help
        But there was no one to save them
    To the Lord
        But he did not answer.
That’s God, thundering about the heavens harassing the enemies, supporting David’s on the ground to overrun and crush them. Warrior God supports warrior king in battle.

The psalm ends with thanksgiving for the great rescue and the great victory God has given the king. David says,
    The Lord lives!
    Praise be to my Rock!
    Exalted be the God who rescues me! (v.46).

Let’s pray.

Our father, in the Narnia books, Susan asks about Aslan, the lion, “Is he safe?” Mrs. Beaver replies, “Of course he’s not safe, but he’s good. He’s the king I tell you.” In Psalm 18, you are not a safe God, but you are a good God, a God who can be trusted and loved by those who trust you and love you.

Thank you for being a strong God. In our world of tanks and F18s, of land mines and assault rifles, of nuclear submarines and hydrogen bombs, we need you, a strong God, a warrior God. Engage with our world today. Mount your strategies against persons and nations who destroy each other and creation. Be for us a warrior God.

Thank you also for your gentleness and love. As the psalm says,
    You brought me into a spacious place,
       You rescued me because you delighted in me. (v. 19)
   To the faithful you show yourself faithful. (v. 25)
    You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning,
       You turn my darkness into light. (v. 28)
    Who is God, besides you, Lord?
        And who is the rock except you? (v. 31)
   You show unfailing kindness . . . forever. (v. 50)

Amen.

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

Ep.052: God is not Listening!

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

Today we look at three verses in Isaiah, in which God said to Israel,
“When you spread your hands in prayer,
   I hide my eyes from you.
When you offer many prayers,
   I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood!
   Stop doing wrong.
Learn to do right.” (Isaiah 1:15-17)

That sounds serious. If you do wrong, God will hide his eyes from you and he won’t listen to your prayers. It also works in reverse: if you quit doing wrong and start doing right, God starts listening to you again. What could be simpler? If you want a better prayer life, get your act together and do right.

When St. Augustine, who lived about 300 years after Christ, was thinking about becoming a Christian, he prayed about his sex life, “Lord, make me chaste, but not yet.” (Augustine, Saint, and Maria Boulding. The Confessions. New York: Vintage Books, 1998, VIII,17, p.198, paraphrased). In modern language he would say, “Lord, help me lose my sexual addiction and learn self-control. But not yet.” Do you think God listens to that kind of prayer? Augustine said to God, “I was afraid you might hear me immediately and heal me . . . of the morbid lust which I was more anxious to satisfy than to snuff out” (Augustine and Boulding, p. 198).

Isaiah and Augustine raise two important questions about prayer:
1. First, a general question: Does God always stop listening to prayers from people
caught deep in sin?
2. And second, a personal question: How do we know if God has quit listening to us
because of our sin?

In the New Testament, James says, “We all sin in many ways” (James 3:2), so if God never listens to those who sin persistently, we might as well quit praying right now. If we have sins we aren’t prepared to give up, or addictions so entrenched that we can’t evict them, what can we do? I like St. Augustine’s approach. Instead of hiding from God until he could change manage his addiction, he spoke to God about his love of sin and his desire for holiness.

The personal question raised by Isaiah and St. Augustine goes like this: “What does God think of me? Has he quit listening to my prayers because of my sin?” Is God’s word to Israel also his word to me: “Even when you offer many prayers, I will not listen”?

If you want to know what God thinks about you, ask him! You could say “God, do you think the bit of scripture I need most right now is Isaiah’s angry pronouncement, “I am not listening because your hands are full of blood”? Or should I listen to Christ’s compassionate invitation, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened” (Mat 11:28)? It can also be helpful to ask a more mature Christian about your situation. But choose your counsellor carefully. If you talk to someone who thinks God is generally angry and unhappy with humans, guess what answer that person will give you.

Let’s pray.
Our father, we are troubled by sins that infect our lives, by impure motives, by a worldview where we think you sit in stony silence waiting for us to improve. We invite you into these crazy mixed up lives of ours, into our selfish motives, into our unmanageable behaviour. Speak to us the word that will set us free. Show us the next step to grow in love for you and our neighbours. Change our heart’s desire, until all we desire is you.
Amen.

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

Ep.051: Psalm 17: Contract with God.

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

Today we look at Psalm 17. The background to this psalm (and to many other psalms), is Israel’s covenant with God. Since a covenant is a signed agreement between two parties, I call it a “contract”. Israel’s contract with God was negotiated at Mt. Sinai, where the Ten Commandments summarize Israel’s duty. At the signing ceremony, Israel agreed to love, honor, and obey God. They agreed to build a God-centered community and not to chase after other gods who appeared more powerful or exciting or accommodating.

God’s part of the contract was conditional. When Israel honored the contract, God promised to “love, honor, and protect” them. And when Israel violated the contract, God would discipline and punish them.

With this contract is in the background, the poet develops his prayer in three movements. In verses 1 – 5, he asks God to listen to his just cause. He’s confident his cause is “just” and “righteous” because he has been faithfully performing his part of the contract. He confidently says to God, “Even if you probe me and test me at night, you won’t find anything wrong” (v. 3).

In the second movement of Psalm 17, the poet makes a request. He says to God, “Since I have been faithfully doing my part, I’m calling on you to perform your part of the contract.” But instead of using legal language or contract language to make his request, the poet surprises us with the language of personal relationship. He invites God to “love, honor, and protect” him in three lovely pictures: “Show the wonder of your great love” (v. 7), he says, “keep me as the apple of your eye” (v. 8), “hide me in the shadow of your wings” (v. 8).

The third movement of the psalm describes the poet’s enemies as hunters tracking him down (v. 11) and as a lion crouching to spring on its prey (v. 11). “I need a major rescue,” he says to God. “That would be your part of the contract.”

Let’s pray.

Our father, Israel’s contract with you reminds us of their freedom journey from slavery in Egypt, through the Red Sea, across the dangerous desert to their new home in the Promised Land. Our freedom journey is with Christ who negotiated a new contract with you, to liberate us from the guilt and power of sin, to invite us to new life in Christian community, and to write your law in our hearts (Hebrews 9:15).

Under this new contract, you adopted us as sons and daughters, you gave us the gift of your spirit, you called us to love each other and you. This we do, as much as we are able. We have turned our hearts from hatred to love, we have turned our motivation from self-righteous obedience to a heartfelt desire to imitate you. We measure our progress not by what we achieve but by how your spirit of grace and holiness fills us and flows through us each day.

As we live out this new contract, our enemies are ever near. We are unloving to your sons and daughters for we often find them unlovely. We are drawn to the gods of money, sex,self-interest, and power. We feel the spirit of this world mocking and taunting and resisting the good spirit you put in us.

With the poet we pray, “Show us the wonder of your great love, keep us as the apple of your eye, hide us in the shadow of your wings. Rescue us by your right hand from from the mortal enemies that surround us” (vv. 7-9). With the hymn writer we say,

“My foes are ever near me,
Around me and within;
But, Jesus, draw Thou nearer,
And shield my soul from sin.” (John E. Bode, hymn: O Jesus I Have Promised, 1869)

Amen.

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

Ep.050: Proverbs on Prayer

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

Today we look at the Book of Proverbs. First, some context.

There are five books of poetry or wisdom literature in the Old Testament. They are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. Here’s a summary of their themes.

I call the Book of Job “The Mystery of Faith” because God and Satan agreed to take away everything Job had except his life, to see if his faith would stand up. But nobody told Job or his friends about the plan, so they were in the dark, trying to figure out the meaning of Job’s string of disasters. They were stuck in a living mystery. The friends’ simple explanation that God rewards good and punishes evil simply did not apply to Job. Job’s angry demand that God explain himself was met with silence. Today, God still does stuff without explaining it to us, and too get confused. This is the mystery of faith.

The next book, Psalms, are “The Emotions of Faith” because they express the full range of human emotion — anger at God, fear of enemies, feeling discontent, sad, abandoned, depressed, despairing. They also express joy, wonder, excitement, thankfulness, hope, and love. The books of Job and Psalms display all the wonder and diversity of creation and the mystery of human experience in a random collection of metaphors and word pictures, a wide assortment of stories and pictures.

Another book of poetry is Ecclesiastes. It begins, “Meaningless, meaningless. Everything is meaningless” (Eccles 1:2). That is a harsh statement about life. I think the original meaning is a bit softer, like this: “A puff of air, a breath of wind. Everything is vapour, just smoke and mirrors. What do we gain from our labor?” (1:3). The answer given is, “No matter how hard you work and how much stuff you collect, you end up buried in the ground, a meal for worms” (Eccles. 2:18-21). Who wins? You or the worms? Ecclesiastes teaches that neither work nor wisdom nor wealth nor pleasure will change our lives from that elusive breath of wind into something substantial. Not even faith will change the reality that your next breath could be your last. I call Ecclesiastes “The Fragility of Faith”. Faith receives a breath or a spirit we do not see to sustain an inner life that cannot control. Ecclesiastes’ advice for such a life is: “Don’t take yourself so seriously, don’t get depressingly philosophical, don’t be a workaholic. Life is short. Spend it with the people you love, enjoy good food, work hard, worship God. He will sort it out in the end” (Eccl. 7:15-18; 9:7-10).

The last book of poetry is Song of Solomon, which I call “The Ecstasy of Faith” — the enjoyment of faith, that is, not the drug. It starts out, “let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth — for your love is more delightful than wine.” Sounds like someone is headed for ecstasy. Even though God’s name does not appear in in this poem, the Christian church interprets it as an allegory of the love between humans and God.

You may have heard someone say, “All religions are basically the same because they all say, “Do good to others and worship God.’” Countering this reductionist view of religion, the books of poetry describe the Mystery of Faith, the Emotions of Faith, the Fragility of Faith, and the Ecstasy of Faith. Clearly, the poets promote an experience of God that is more complex than the simple command to do good.

That’s how the books of poetry present religion . . . until you read the Proverbs, the book in the middle, after the mystery and the emotions of faith, before the fragility and ecstasy. Proverbs paints the religious life as black-and-white, good-and-evil, wise-and-foolish. No mystery here, no unnecessary emotion, nothing fragile or exciting. Just simple commands to do good and avoid evil. Reading only the three proverbs that use the word “pray”, we hear:
– The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him (15:8)
– The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous (15:29).
– If anyone turns a deaf ear to God’s instruction, even their prayers are detestable (28:9).

Clear, simple, straightforward, black and white moral teaching. God listens to you if you’re good, he rejects you if you’re bad. I call Proverbs “The Behaviour of Faith.” Yes, like other religions, the Bible promotes a moral standard. But in biblical religion, it’s only one part of the deal, not the central tenet of faith.

Let’s pray.
Our father, we have imagined that the most important thing in our faith is good behaviour. But the wisdom literature promotes not just a moral code, but a lifelong journey of faith, facing into the mystery of God, experiencing the depths of human emotion, bringing fragility and ecstasy and moral behaviour into a living relationship with you. Help us reject the religion of behaviour management. Help us embrace the many complexities of faith. And as we embrace a life of faith, may we discover that we are embracing you, and that you are embracing us.
Amen.

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