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

In Psalm 55, the poet is once again overwhelmed by trouble and doubt. 
– His enemies threaten him (v. 3).
– His thoughts trouble him (v. 2).
– His city is rife with violence and abuse (v. 9)
– His friend betrayed him (v. 13).
– He is overwhelmed with horror (v. 5).

Of his traitorous friend he says:
    His talk is smooth as butter,
        Yet war is in his heart.
    His words are more soothing than oil,
        Yet they are drawn swords (v. 21). 

The poet makes two responses to his troubles. His first impulse is to run away. He says,
    Oh that I had wings like a dove,
      I would fly away and be at rest (v. 6).
    I would hurry to my place of shelter,
      Far from the tempest and storm (v. 8).

I identify with that prayer. “God, don’t let it be my problem. Make it all go away. Take me to an island of peace far from the maddening crowd, far from the noise of the city, far from evil and distress. Help me escape the war zone that is my life.” 

The poet’s second response to trouble goes like this: 
     Cast your cares on the Lord
        and he will sustain you
    He will never let
        the righteous be shaken (v. 22). 

Let’s pray. 

Hear us, O God. Our thoughts trouble us when we consider the state of the world and the state of our nation and the state of our own hearts. We thought the bomb would protect our western civilization, but enemies use our technology to build their own bombs. We thought medical science would cure human disease, but viruses change and adapt, outwitting our best efforts. We thought psychology and reason and mood-enhancing drugs would create mental health and stability, but our progress is slow and uncertain. 

Like the poet we see poverty and crime in our cities, violence and strife, malice and abuse. Opioids made to ease pain have spawned an addiction crisis far worse than we could have imagined. Once-vibrant inner cities are violent slums. Lord, we want to escape the noise and confusion and evil. We want to fly to the wilderness, to a place of unspoiled beauty. But if we went there, would we take our evil with us? 

With the poet, we turn our hearts to you, saying,
    We call to God
      and the Lord saves us.
  Evening, morning and noon
      We cry out in distress
      and you hear our voice (vv. 16-17).

You see us, God. You hear us. You call yourself our father, you have adopted us as your children. Look on our world of violence and evil. Remember us when friends betray us, remember us when the public discourse is dishonest and dishonourable, remember us when our enemies plan violence against us, when
    Their talk is smooth as butter,
        but war is in their hearts (v. 21). 

With the poet we pray,
    Cast your cares on the Lord
      and he will sustain you (v. 22).
    But as for me, I trust in you, Lord (v. 23). 

Amen.

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

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

Psalm 54 follows a familiar trajectory. The poet has been attacked by his own enemies and God’s. So he asks God to remember his covenant, to deliver and protect Israel, to implement justice, and to crush the enemy. The poet combines his request with a strong affirmation that God hears him, and that God sees his pain and will deliver him. 

Is your response to this psalm like mine? I ask, “Haven’t we heard this psalm before? Hasn’t the poet prayed this prayer of desperation and deliverance many times? Why pray it again? Perhaps the poet’s life, like mine, is a recurring cycle of despair and hope, fear and courage, doubt and faith. 

In this part of the psalms, the poet repeatedly feels the weight of frustration and evil and opposition. Like living through a Canadian winter. The weather is cold, the days short and cloudy-dark, the nights long and frigid. Though I sometimes see a beautiful winter sunset or sun glistening on hoarfrost and snow, the dark and cold still provoke lethargy and dreariness. But I choose to live in hope. Each new day of winter is one day closer to robins and daffodils. The gray and featureless skies of February are a forecast of the sunny skies and white clouds in June. 

So we continue praying through the psalms, knowing that these dark days of Psalm 54 are but days on the journey to the psalms of praise that lie ahead. 

Today, in the spirit of Psalm 54, let’s begin praying for deliverance from the seven deadly sins, which are our enemies and God’s. 

Our father, we know the sins that so easily entangle us (Heb. 12:1). They are not just behaviors we exhibit but the motion of our hearts; they are attitudes of our life; they are deeply held perspectives we do not question. Free us from our sins.

We pray against lust. Save us from views of sexuality that disguise themselves as personal freedom–freedom to define own sexuality, freedom to be unfaithful to relationships we have vowed, freedom to create and view all manner of pornography, freedom to define sexuality as an amoral human activity that no one has a right to judge. Jesus, what we call freedom you call the slavery of lust. Deliver us from this web of sin.

We pray against the sin of gluttony. Two-thirds of adults in Canada and the U.S. are overweight or obese. Because of our emotional attachments to food, we are unable to eat in moderation. We love our junk food, the pantry is our closet of worship, the fridge our favorite solution to loneliness and depression. Our deepest comfort is that cup of coffee or that bite of chocolate. Lord, help us grow up, help us exchange our obsession with food for what the psalmists had–a rich emotional life with you. 

We pray against the sin of greed. We are lovers of money and hoarders of things. When we try to declutter, we fail because of our emotional attachment to stuff. O Jesus, help us lose our dependence on money and things, to grow in our love for you.  

We pray against the sin of sloth or laziness. How often we prefer our quiet comforts in front of TV or computer to the challenge of working creatively, helping a neighbour, or spending more time with family. How much of our life is wasted when it could be invested. O Jesus, deliver us from our laziness and from justifying our inaction. Help us exert ourselves in your service and the service of others.  

Bring us to a place where we can say with the psalmist,
    You delivered me from all my troubles,
        My eyes look in triumph on my foes (Ps 54:7). 

Amen.

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