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

Psalm 131 says: 
  My heart is not proud, Lord,
      nor my eyes haughty;
  I do not occupy myself with things
    too great and too marvelous for me.
  I have calmed and quieted my soul,
      like a weaned child with its mother;
      my soul is a weaned child within me (vv. 1-3).

In Ecclesiastes, the preacher said, “There is a time for everything” (Eccl 3:1a). The poet in today’s psalm talks about a time to be quiet, a time to let go of ambition, a time to be content with our lot. Perhaps it is a time to set aside our endless questions and doubts, a time to rest in the answers we have, even if they are incomplete and ambiguous.We can rest from organizing and categorizing our lives and our thoughts and theology. It is a  time to simply be still in God’s presence.  

Our lives are full of unread books, people we should have coffee with, social media to review, and incessant debates about politics and religion and war. But the poet suggests we won’t solve the world’s problems this week. Let’s give ourselves a break from being grown-ups. It’s time to be still like a child.

Like a weaned child with its mother–not desperate to find a meal, not concerned about taxes or pandemics or enemies of the state. Just peaceful and calm in the mother’s arms, trusting her care, content in her love.

Do you ever find a quiet place like that with God? Or are you always asking, doing, seeking, striving? 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we settle quietly into your presence. As thoughts disturb us, we let them go. 
– We release to you the problems of nuclear proliferation and ballistic missile testing
– We release to you our obsession with COVID
– We release to you our fears for our children and their future
– We release to you our anxiety about aging 

We rest in your arms, God, like a child with its mother. We trust you to watch over us today and tomorrow. We trust you to gather our small thoughts into your big thoughts, to collect our small works into the big work of your kingdom. 

We trust you to hold the world together. We trust you to hold us together as we rest in you. Teach us to live in the sabbath of your eternal rest. 

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep267_Psalm130. Out of the Depths.

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

Psalm 130 begins with the well-known phrase, “Out of the depths”. The psalm says:  
   Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
      Lord, hear my voice,
    Let your ears be attentive
      to my cry for mercy (vv. 1-2). 

Out of the depths I cry to the Lord. When I pray that phrase, I sometimes experience a sinking feeling in my stomach. A feeling that things have gone wrong again; this time, to the depths of my being. And I am unable to fix it. 

Part of the poet’s genius is that he doesn’t describe the depths he was experiencing. He creates space for us to bring our depths to the psalm and to God. In the poet’s world, the deepest depth was the primeval sea of chaos that God conquered at creation. That ancient sea serves as metaphor and mirror for chaos in the poet’s personaI, national, and international experience. Maybe it works for us too, as we bring our modern depths to the ancient poem. Think about some of the things we might bring.
 
  – We bring to the psalm the chaos of  politics and wars, recently highlighted in America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.

  – We bring to the psalm the COVID chaos, a disease of the body that has inspired a disease of the mind with conspiracy theories about blame and control and loss of freedoms and microchips in vaccines.

  – We bring to the psalm people hunkering down in survival mode as they and their friends grow old and forgetful and sick.

  – We bring people who pray from depths of regret for past mistakes, whose present is filled with confusion, and whose future is bleak. 

Gillian Welsh sang about the depths, saying:
  There’s a world of trouble
  trying to take its turn.
  I can hear it shaking underground. 

        (David Rawlings and Gillian Welsh. Lyrics to “One and Only”. Revival, 1996.)

Let’s pray. 

Out of the depths we cry to you O Lord. We have tried to organize and control our lives, to calm our troubled sea and ignore its black depths. But we sense, like Gillian Welsh, a world of trouble shaking underground. The monsters in our sea churn the waters. Unresolved troubles pull us under. Violence and war cause fear. Tension and disharmony sadden us. 

O gracious Lord, walk with us. Lift us from the depths that confound us. Calm our troubled waters. Heal the diseases we cannot cure. 

With the poet,
   We wait for you, Lord,
      more than watchmen wait for the morning,
      more than watchmen wait for the morning (v. 6).

As we wait and watch through our dark night, we hear your promise of morning. We wait patiently for your help. 

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

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

Psalm 129 says:  

 They have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
    but they have not gained the victory over me.
  Ploughmen have ploughed my back
      and made their furrows long.
  but the Lord is righteous;
      he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked (vv. 2-4). 

This psalm returns to a frequent theme: oppression and persecution. The poet uses a striking agricultural image: his enemies have ploughed a furrow in his back. Despite this cruel and inhuman treatment, God has seen and rescued him. 

The second part of the psalm invites God to punish the wicked ploughmen. It says:
  May all who hate Zion
    be turned back in shame.
  May they be like grass on the roof,
    which withers before it can grow;
  a reaper cannot fill his hands with it,
    nor one who gathers fill his arms (vv. 5-7). 

Using grass to thatch a roof or sod to waterproof it doesn’t produce a harvest. The grass dries up and withers. The hopeful reaper finds the opposite of harvest–no grain to rub in his hands, no stalks to gather into sheaves.That’s how the poet wants God to deal with his enemies: uproot them from their native soil, place them where there is no opportunity for growth, no hope of harvest, no joy and blessing from arms full of produce. 

Let’s pray. 

Ou father, with the poet we pray:
  They have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
      but they have not gained the victory over me (v. 2). 

We invite you to sustain us in our long battle against things that oppress us.
– When we sink into depression, draw us into joy
– When we react in anger, teach us peace
– When we isolate ourselves, restore us to community
– When we are lazy, help us to show initiative
– When we are critical, teach us to be helpful

May the grass of our old life dry up and wither, producing no harvest. May the new life you give us find rich soil and grow. We do not curse our enemies as the poet does, but we pray that you will prevent harvests of evil, and bless a harvest of good.

We ask you to break every curse against us. Where family or teachers or preachers have thought ill of us and highlighted our failures, grant us justice. Define our present and future by your promises, our growth by the good rain you send on us. May our lives yield a harvest of righteousness. 

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

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

Psalm 128 says:  

   Blessed are all who fear the Lord,
      who walk in obedience to him.
  You will eat the fruit of your labor;
      blessings and prosperity will be yours.
  Your wife will be like a fruitful vine. . .
  Your children like olive shoots
        round your table 

Two comments on this passage. 

First, the good life God gives to those who fear him is not wealth nor success nor power. The poet describes the good life as a life of sufficiency, not excess, as a domestic life enjoying the fruits of one’s labor, as a life at peace with one’s spouse and children. It’s a stretch to suggest that today, God’s blessing and prosperity should include a big car, a big house, a big bank account, and a vacation cottage. 

My second comment is about the fear of the Lord. What does it mean to fear God?

Recently, I hiked to Sarrail Ridge in the Rockies. On a 6-kilometer trek, we gained one kilometer of elevation. Standing on the Sarrail Ridge, looking down a steep, rock-strewn cliff to the lake a kilometer below, I got that queasy feeling of vertigo, and stepped back from the edge. Then we sat on a rock overlooking the cliff, munching potato chips and sandwiches, enjoying the view.  

The hike reminds me of my walk with God, mostly trudging uphill, avoiding roots and rocks, stepping over fallen trees, trying not to slip on shale and gravel. Occasionally the path winds past a serene mountain lake or through a rippling stream. Gravity is present on the journey, ready to pull me to the ground if I stumble, quick to dump me over a cliff if I give way to vertigo. On the journey, I am careful, but not fearful. 

God is always with me, just 10155like gravity, but my response to him is not fear of his power and punishments. God is present in the air I breathe and the world I live in. He gives me freedom to act, he encourages me as I take each step in life, in relationships, in work, or rest. If I run afoul of his laws of spiritual gravity, if I consistently ignore or wander from his path, I will experience consequences. But God’s attitude to me is father and friend and guide, encourage. He gives me his Spirit, he leads me through his high country, he picks me up when I stumble. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, creator, as you built the universe with a strong force of gravity, so you created human life for true morality. Help us to walk in love you and our neighbors. May the gravity of that task not weigh us down and crush us, but may it show us the way to go. May we experience it, as Frances Havergal wrote:
  The narrow track upon the mountain side,
  With ever-widening view, and freshening air,
  And honeyed heather. . . 
        from Frances Ridley Havergal, “The Two Paths,” Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
        Accessed 27 August 2021. https://ccel.org/ccel/havergal/keptuse.h5.html  

We fear displeasing you, father, we fear to incur your anger. But we trust that you are for us, not against us. Walk with us through this life, correct us where we are wrong, encourage us to do right. We are not fearful children, but trusting. 

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube