Tag: Pray with me

Ep.224: How God’s Covenant Went Wrong.

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

The book of Hebrews makes this comment about the covenant Moses mediated with God at Sinai: “If there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, there wouldn’t be a need for another” (Heb 8:7). That’s strong language. Something was wrong with the covenant God organized? So he had to abandon it? And make a new one? 

To describe what was wrong with the covenant, Hebrews quotes the prophet Jeremiah,
    The days are coming, declares the Lord,
        when I will make a new covenant
        with the people of Israel. . .
    It will not be like the covenant
        I made with their ancestors
    when I took them by the hand
        to lead them out of Egypt,
    because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
        and I turned away from them,
            declares the Lord (Heb 8:8-9). 

Did you notice: the author used that quote to turn a hidden corner in his argument. Instead of telling us what was wrong with the covenant, he tells what was wrong with the people who agreed to the covenant. That’s a big difference.

Then, Hebrews tells us what the new covenant will look like, again quoting Jeremiah:
    This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel. . .
          after that time, declares the Lord.
    I will put my laws in their minds
          and write them on their hearts. . .
    No longer will they teach their neighbours,
          or say to one another, “Know the Lord,”
    because they will all know me,
          from the least of them to the greatest (Heb 8:10-11).  

I have three observations about the new covenant. 

First, it was promised to Israel, not Gentiles. So does the new covenant belong to the Church? Jesus and the New Testament do not clarify how the transition from Israel to the church worked. The church has discarded parts of the old covenant, like animal sacrifice, and claimed other parts as its own, such as God’s promise to bless the whole world through Abraham. The church has consigned much of the Old Testament to the category of “stories about God from which we can learn lessons”. What we learn is not to repeat Israel’s wars, its politics, or its religion. Instead, we want to reproduce something of the relationship with God which Israel expressed through the prophets and the psalms. 

A second observation on the new covenant: it has not yet been fulfilled in the way Jeremiah explained it. For example, he says,
    No longer will they teach their neighbours,
      or say to one another, “Know the Lord,”
    because they will all know me (Heb 8:10-11).

If you’ve attended church or browsed some Christian books recently, you’ll notice that a frequent topic is, “How to know God better”. Clearly, we’re not yet where Jeremiah promised, where it’s no longer necessary to preach that sermon. 

My third observation on the new covenant is a personal question: “Has God put his law in your mind and written it on your heart?” Or does your heart, like mine, keep going astray? As far as I can tell, God has not given me one life-changing event in which he wrote his law on my mind and heart. Rather, he writes it bit by bit, day by day, as I meditate on scripture and engage in spiritual disciplines.  

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we want to receive the new covenant you promised Israel. We want your law written on our hearts and in our minds. Help us grow out of our immaturity, out of our need for constant teaching and reminders. Help us grow into the place where we know you in a deep and permanent way. 

We pray the Anglican collect, “Grant us so to hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest [the scriptures] that by patience and the comfort of your Holy Word we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ. . .” (Book of Common Prayer, collect for Second Sunday of Advent).

Amen. 

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

Ep.223: Psalm 103: Bless the Lord, O My Soul.

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

Psalm 103 opens with a well-known call to worship:
    Bless the Lord, O my soul,
        and all that is within me
        bless his holy name (v. 1). 

Some modern translations say “Praise the Lord” instead of “Bless the Lord”, but I prefer the word bless. I like the reciprocity, the relationship implied by mutual blessing: God blesses us, and we bless him back. When we feel God’s goodness in our lives, we respond by speaking blessing to others and back to God. Bless the Lord, O my soul. 

The poet blesses God for the good things he gives. God forgives, heals, redeems, crowns us with love and compassion, satisfies our desires with good things, and renews our life like the eagle’s (vv. 3-5). God’s blessings move us toward  lives of wholeness, health, and meaning. 

The poet, who has faced God’s anger and displeasure, does not give way to fear, but asserts positively:
  He will not always accuse,
      nor will he harbour his anger forever;
  he does not treat us as our sins deserve,
      or repay us according to our iniquities.
  For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
      so great is his love for those who fear him;
  as far as the east is from the west,
      so far has he removed our transgressions from us (vv. 9-12). 

Author Walter Brueggemann says, “Psalm 103 stuns those in the chaos of the exile with the proclamation that YHWH [God] acts out of compassion rather than a precise moral calculus. Divine generosity far outlasts the encounter with divine wrath” (Psalms, by Walter Brueggemann and William H. Bellinger, Cambridge University Press, 2018, Kindle, chapter “Psalm 103”). God doesn’t crunch the numbers, weighing our bad deeds against our good. He  forgoes punishing sin, he discards the memory of it, and acts with infinite love. 

Let’s pray to this generous God. 

   As a father has compassion on his children,
    so you have compassion on us, Lord.
  You know how we are formed,
    you remember that we are dust (vv. 13-14). 

Our father, where we have castigated ourselves for broken relationships, failed resolutions, and endless sin, we come to you for forgiveness, healing, and redemption. Where we have lived with long regret for things done and said, and for things not done and not said, we come to you. We remember your promise to satisfy our desires with good things and to renew our life like the eagles (v. 5). Satisfy us, Lord, with the healing of our bodies and minds, with the restoration of relationships, with growing character, and hearts at rest. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days (Ps 90:14). 

The poet says,
    The life of mortals is like grass,
        they flourish like a flower of the field;
    the wind blows over it and it is gone,
        and it’s place remembers it no more.
    But from everlasting to everlasting
        your love is with those who fear you,
        and your righteousness with their children’s children (vv. 15-17). 

Yes Lord, we feel our lives and our world passing away like grass. The great American democracy drifts toward chaos, Russian politics revert to brutal dictatorship, and the Chinese empire assets its power in a violent world. Our bodies age, our loved ones decline, we attend more funerals than weddings. But your love, O Lord, is from everlasting to everlasting, and your righteousness with our children’s children. 

With poet John G. Whittier, we respond to your love, as he says:
    Yet, in this maddening maze of things,
        And tossed by storm and flood,
    To one fixed hope my spirit clings,
        I know that God is good.
    I dimly guess from blessings known,
        Of greater out of sight,
    And with the chastened psalmist own,
        His judgments too are right (The Eternal Goodness, lines 41-44, 53-56).. 

Judge us, O Lord, as you must, but in mercy and love, in kindness and gentleness. 

Amen.

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

Ep.222: Psalm 102: The Ephemeral and the Eternal.

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

Psalm 102 has a two-line title which describes it as:
    The prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak
        and pours out a lament before the Lord. 

In this psalm, the poet is shaken to his core. He says,
    My days vanish like smoke;
        my bones burn like glowing embers.
    My heart is blighted and withered like grass; (vv. 3-4a).
    I eat ashes for food
        and mingle my drink with tears
    because of your great wrath. . . (vv. 9-10a). 

Sleepless nights. Tearful days. Starvation diet. Burning bones. Little wonder the poet feels his life is lost, vanishing like smoke in the wind. Shadows lengthen on his years. He withers in the heat of the day and passes into evening like sun-scorched grass. 

Not only is the poet shaken: his city, Zion, is also shaken. He prays for restoration, saying:
    You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
        it is time to show favour to her. . .
      For her stones are dear to your servants;
        her very dust moves them to pity (vv. 13a, 14).

Returning to his personal troubles, the poet contrasts his brief, painful, and ephemeral life with God’s eternity:
    In the course of my life, [the Lord] broke my strength;
        he cut short my days.
    So I said
    Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;
        your years go on through all generations.
    In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,
        and the heavens are the work of your hands.
    They will perish, but you remain;
        they will all wear out like a garment.
    Like clothing you will change them
        and discard them.
    But you remain the same,
        and your years will never end (vv. 23-27).

The poet frames the brevity and pain of his life against God’s eternity and creative activity. The poet’s life is wearing out. The world he lives in running down. The heavens above are aging and passing away. God made them all like a fashion show, where the costumes that dazzle the runway today will be discarded at the end of the season.

Let’s pray. 

O Lord, our life is smoke, a vapor that disperses in the air, a grass that withers and dies. We live a few short days, never achieving the glory you made us for, leaving no permanent trace of our passing. 

But you, O Lord, outlive the changes. The earth that to us is unshakeable will wear out like a garment, the heavens will collapse like clothes thrown in the laundry hamper. But your life and watchfulness outlast it all. You remain the same, your years will never end. 

With the poet we pray, 
     Do not hide your face from me
        when I am in distress (v. 2a).
    Do not take me away in the midst of my days (v. 24a). 
    May the children of your servants live in your presence;
        establish their descendants before you (v. 28). 

Amen.

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

Ep.221: Endless Intercession.

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

Hebrews 7 points out that Jesus is superior to other high priests of the Hebrew tradition, because his lineage traces back to Melchizadek, an obscure priest in Genesis to whom Abraham tithed his plunder of war. 

Of the Hebrew high priests, the author says,
    There have been many of those priests,
        because death prevented them from continuing in office;
    but Jesus has a permanent priesthood,
        because he lives forever.
    Therefore he is able to save completely
        those who come to God through him,
        because he always lives to intercede for them.
                  Hebrews 7:23-25

Two comments on this passage. 

First, the author suggests that a central weakness of the Hebrew religion was that priests had to make yearly sacrifices to keep up with the annual accumulation of sins. When a high priest died, another took over to keep the forgiveness going. 

Jesus, in contrast, has a permanent priesthood. He made one sacrifice to deal with all sin for all time. But like the old-time priests, he didn’t entirely solve the problem of sin. The author says Jesus lives forever to intercede for us, implying that we, like the Hebrews, need someone to help us obtain recurring forgiveness for recurring sins. 

I do wish Jesus had solved the sin problem. But despite my relationship with him, I keep on sinning day after day, year after year, and Jesus keeps interceding on my behalf with God.

A second comment on this Hebrews passage: it says Jesus is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he lives forever to intercede for them. I don’t feel he’s saved me completely yet, because I keep sinning. My mind, my imagination, my relationships, and my behavior often seem more unsaved than saved. I hope Jesus is planning a future state in which he will save me completely, as he promised. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, here are three things I believe. 

I believe I am a sinner. As I age, the problem of sin seems more deeply entrenched than ever. I am not the man I set out to be. I have not had great success at living a holy life, or loving you and my neighbors as I ought. I agree with the author of Hebrews that what I need is not just a yearly brush-up of forgiveness, but a dose of eternal salvation. 

I believe that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. That he dealt with the problem of sin, that he is present at your throne, and that he always prays for me. Do receive his prayers, accept me because he has introduced me to you, look at me in the light of his intercession, and forgive all my sins: past, present, and future. 

I believe Jesus is on my side, that he deals with the sins I have confessed, with the sins I have not yet confessed, with the sins I confess but am unable to shake, and with the sins I am unaware of.

Jesus has made me his brother, your child. Have mercy on your family, O God.

Amen. 

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

Ep.220: Psalm 101: What to do until God Comes.

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

Psalm 101 opens with  a song to the Lord, praising his love and justice. Then it moves quickly to personal application as the poet says:
    I will be careful to lead a blameless life–
        when will you come to me? (v. 2).

What a poignant question. If prayer is a dialogue with God, when will God show up and speak with us? And what shall we do while we wait for him? 

The poet starts the psalm with two things he does while he waits:
    First, he sings to the Lord, praising his love and justice (v. 1).
    Second, he affirms his commitment to lead a blameless life (v. 2a). 
The remainder of the psalm describes this life the poet intends to live. 

Let’s pray some phrases from the psalm. 

Our father, we wait for you. When will you come to us? We long for your presence. As we wait, we renew our commitment to you and to your law, our commitment to live lives that are moral, loving, holy. As we review our commitment, we invite you to remember your commitment to us as our saviour, shepherd, helper, and friend. 

The poet says,
    I will conduct the affairs of my house
        with a blameless heart (v. 2b).

Give us blameless hearts, Lord. Pure hearts, free of self-promotion, self-indulgence, self-pity. Hearts that act in love and mercy, treating our neighbors with dignity and respect. 

The poet says,
      I will not look with approval
          on anything that is vile.
      I hate what faithless people do;
          I will have no part in it (v. 3).

Yes, Lord,  help us to discern good and evil in our hearts, our lives, and our society. Cure us of delusions, of false dreams about the good we would do if we were rich and powerful and influential. Help us to live graciously and thankfully our small lives of faith. As we wait for you, we submit our lives and our thoughts to your law. 

The poet says,
    The perverse of heart shall be far from me;
        I will have nothing to do with what is evil.
      Whoever slanders their neighbour in secret,
          I will put to silence;
      whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
          I will not tolerate  (vv 4-5).     

Yes, Lord, save us from personal and professional relationships that would corrupt us. Give us courage to silence those who slander others. Help us to recognize haughty eyes and proud hearts, and to avoid them. 

The poet says,
      My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
          that they may dwell with me;
      the one whose way of life is blameless
          will minister to me (v. 6). 

Set before our eyes the faithful in the land. May we reject what is violent and corrupt and evil, and learn from those who live by faith and righteousness.

 The poet says,
      No one who practises deceit
        will dwell in my house;
      no one who speaks falsely
        will stand in my presence (v. 7).

With the poet, Lord, we commit ourselves to the truth, and to those who speak truly. We renounce conspiracy theories and fake news; we renounce those who spend their spiritual energy by meditating on the evils of big pharma and deep state and lamestream media. Help us to meditate on your word, to discern and live by its truth. Help us to see this present evil age as you see it, God. Give us eyes of faith to see Christ and his kingdom. 

And do not forget to come to us as we wait for you. 

Amen.

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