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

Today we look at Psalm 8. Since we don’t know who wrote the psalm, I will refer to the author as “the poet.”

The first and last lines of the poem are exactly the same: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” If I wrote a poem that started majestically like that, I would continue with a vision of magnificent mountains, stunning oceans, rippling rivers, wild forests, and grand canyons. But this poet took a completely different direction. He or she made humans central to the theme.

Building up to this theme, the poet says, “When I consider the heavens you made, the sun and moon and stars, the vastness of the universe, it makes humans look minute and insignificant.” But then verse 5 turns smallness into largeness. The poet says, “People may be small, but look! You made them just a little lower than the heavenly beings — little lower than the angels, a little lower than God himself.”

And he caps this observation with the word “glory.” Verse 2 says, “You have set your glory in the heavens.” That’s easy to agree with. Then verse 5 says, “You have crowned the humans with glory and honor.” There it is, God’s glory in the grand creation of the universe, God’s glory in the special creation of the human race. This human glory looks back to the climax of creation, Day 6, when God created man and woman in his own image. God gave them the gift of all the earth. He delegated to them the job of ruling and looking after creation. That is the glory of the human race, that is what it means to be the image of God — to receive from him the gift of the earth, to accept our job as God’s rulers and caretakers and representatives in the world.

Let’s pray.
Our father, how glorious is the universe you made. And how glorious are the people you created in your image. We see our species in its glory when it obeys to the mission you assigned.

• When the UN creates World Heritage sites that preserve natural beauty and human history.
• When national parks protect and honor animals and birds and all created things.
• When governments are peaceful and well-ordered, when they care for the poor and honor all humans, when they create just laws and reward good behaviour.

But we also see our species in all its ugliness when it disobeys the mission you assigned.

• When we pollute and overuse and destroy creation to satisfy greed and desire
• When governments harass and oppress and make war on people, not seeing your image in them, not honoring the glory you gave them.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. But what a mixed bag of glory and corruption we have brought to the task of representing you and caring for your creation. We thank you for Christ, who like us, became a little lower than the heavenly beings, so that he could begin your project to restore people and creation to the glory you intended.
Amen.

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

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

Today we consider Psalm number 7, which is titled, “A song of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjamite.” We don’t know anything about Cush except what we infer from this psalm.

I find Psalm 7 remarkable in three ways.

First, David uses a variety of names for God. He twice calls him “Jehovah my God”, three times “Jehovah”, once “the Most High”, “God Most High”, “O righteous God”, and “Jehovah Most High”. The first words in the psalm are “O Lord my God” and the last words are “Jehovah Most High.” How good it is if our prayers and our life are bookended by God. God at the beginning, God at the end, and God in all parts of the middle.

The second remarkable thing about Psalm 7 is that David appeals to God on the basis of his, David’s, righteousness. David complains to God that his pursuers want to shred him like a lion and rip him to pieces with no one to rescue him. David responds to this threat by saying to God,

“If I done evil to one who is a peace with me,
if I am guilty,
then let my enemy catch up with me
let him trample my life to the ground,
let him make me sleep in death.
Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness.”

If your background is North American evangelical (like mine), you probably recoil at the thought of pointing out your righteousness to God. But David has no such reluctance.

The third remarkable thing about Psalm 7 is how it describes evil as a boomerang. Listen to how it works:

“He who digs a hole . . . falls into the pit he has made,
The trouble he causes recoils on himself;
His violence comes down on his own head.”

One of the strongest arguments against doing evil is that you reap what you sow! One of God’s most terrible judgements is to let our evil take its natural course, until it comes full circle to hurt or destroy us.

Let’s pray.

Our father, David calls you Jehovah my God. There is a relationship here. We have adopted you as our God, you have adopted us as your children. In the dysfunction and violence of our human relationships we turn to you, our God. You are God Most High. Protect us by judging of the peoples of the earth.

Arise, O Lord, wake up, O God.
Attend to your relationship with us.
Notice that we have tried to serve you in righteousness and honor.
See that we have listened to your word and obeyed your laws.
Do your work as judge.
Put a restraining order on our enemies, lock them up in prison.
Respond to their anger with your anger.
Let their evil boomerang on themselves.
Let them fall into the hole they have dug
Let their violence land on their own heads.

As for us, you are our shield, God Most High.
You are a righteous judge.
You save the upright in heart.
We will sing praise to your name, Lord Most High.
Amen.

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

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

Psalm 6 is titled, “A Psalm of David.”  We are not sure whether this means that David wrote the psalm, or whether someone else wrote it “in the style of David.” Since the Psalms are Hebrew poetry, I will refer to the author as “the poet” instead of calling him or her “David” or “the psalmist.” You can think of your journey through life as an extended poem that you are writing. The Psalms are an invitation to share your poem with another poet.

In Psalm 6, the poet feels vulnerable, exposed, unprotected, hopeless.  

• He says, “O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.” He feels that God is angry and wants him to shape up. But he can’t. He’s stuck.
• The poet says, “I am faint, my bones are in agony, my soul is in anguish.” Her body is tired, her bones ache, her insides are constant pain.
• She says, “No one remembers you when he is dead, who praises you from the grave?”  The poet’s thoughts turn to death. Her life feels like a one-way spiral into the grave.
• She says, “I am worn out with groaning, I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears, my eyes grow weak with sorrow.” Eyes are made to see, but all hers do are weep. The poet can’t see beyond her current pain.

Author Anne Lamott writes of a similar experience, “. . .I felt like my heart had been so thoroughly and irreparably broken that there could be no real joy again . . . I just had to lie in the mud with my arms wrapped around myself, eyes closed, grieving. . .” (Operating Instructions: A Journal of my Son’s First Year. New York Anchor Books, 1993).

Hasty Words describes depression as “The assassin inside me”  (Hasty Words, Darker Side of Night. Self-published, 2013. See also https://hastywords.com).

Author Nina LaCour writes, “The sun stopped shining for me. . .”  (Hold Still. Speak: New York, 2009)

Yes, that was the poet’s experience in Psalm 6. Then suddenly, out of the blue, the psalm resolves into hope. “Away from me all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping, the Lord has heard my cry for mercy, the Lord accepts my prayer.” Where did the poet find hope? Did he order it from Amazon? Did it come unbidden? Was it an answer from God for the pain and tears?

Let’s pray.
Our Father in heaven, Jesus the Savior knows our depths of depression, for he was despised and rejected by men. He felt rejected by you, his father, when he said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Today, we bring you our feelings of hopelessness and depression.

• Don’t be angry at us. Have compassion on our darkness.
• Don’t turn away from us. Look at our tears.
• Don’t hide from our misery. Expose and defeat the assassin inside us.
• Don’t keep your distance, God. Stand with us in our pain.

We believe that you listen, God.
We believe that the sun still shines.
We believe that life is a gift worth living.
We believe that our sadness is not forever.
We believe that you will walk with us through depression.
We believe that your mercy will bring us hope and freedom.

Accept our prayer, O God. Hold us gently in your arms. May your heart of love mingle with our heart of sadness, until our sickness is healed and our life restored. Amen.

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