Tag: Prayer

Ep.275: A Consuming Fire.

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

Hebrews 12 compares Sinai, mountain of law and fear, with Zion, mountain of joy and community. It concludes the comparison, saying:  

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks.
If they did not escape when they refused him who warned on earth,
    how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns from heaven?
    At that time his voice shook the earth,
          but now he has promised,
            ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’
    The words ‘once more’ indicate removing what can be shaken –
        that is, created things –
        so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
      let us be thankful, and worship God with reverence and awe,
      for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’  (vv. 25-29) 

I am not sure why I take deep comfort in a passage full of stern warnings, a passage that sees God as a consuming fire. What emotions are these warnings designed to produce? Listen to them:
  – See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks
  – How much less will we escape if we turn away from him who warns from heaven?
  – Once more the heavens and the earth will be shaken
  – Our God is a consuming fire

The warnings produce fear when I meditate on them. But the passage does not dwell in fear. It looks to what God has promised, and suggests we dwell on that. Listen: 
  – We are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
  – Let us be thankful and worship God with reverence and awe.

As the author points out, there is no escape from God, no escape from his laws, no escape from the consuming fire. Better to face reality than run from it, to lean into the fire and let it purify me, to shake off things that can be shaken, and to receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, through Jesus we have come to believe that you are for us, not against us. We understand that you play the long game to expose and overcome our sin. You teach us to fear evil, to pursue holiness. And you promise that this present evil age will soon end. 

You shook Mt. Sinai when you gave the law, and you promise to shake the whole of creation one day. But we do not fear the shaking or the consuming fire, because your goal is not to destroy, but to recreate and restore and replenish. 

We have experienced your shaking in our lives. You have shaken loose the sins we cling to, the lies we love, the selfish interests we cultivate, the narrow vision of you that we build. To our surprise, your shaking loosens our fears and gains love. Your shaking causes us to lose our attachment to things and gain an attachment to you. We thought your fire would burn us and cripple us, but it leaves us refined and healed. 

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.274: Psalm 135: Creator Redeemer.

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

Psalm 135 celebrates God as creator and redeemer. About God as creator, the poet says,
  The Lord does whatever he pleases,
    in the heavens and on the earth,
    in the seas and all their depths.
  He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
    he sends lightning with the rain,
    and brings out the wind from his storehouses (vv. 6-7). 

Following an ancient view of the universe, the poet declares that God can do whatever he pleases in all three parts of creation: the heavens above, the earth around, and the waters of chaos beneath. The creator overcame the violent waters below, making them bubble up into the seas and oceans. And then God created an irrigation system with the tamed waters, sending rain clouds with lightning and wind to water the earth. Clearly the creator was and still is in control.

The creator also became redeemer when he intervened in political chaos on earth. Having chosen Israel as his treasured possession (v. 4), he persecuted Pharaoh and his Egyptian slave-drivers until they released his people (vv. 8-12). God then struck down the evil kings of Canaan to create a home for his people.

Creator. Redeemer. This is the God that Israel loved and worshiped!

The poet disparages the gods of the nations, calling them idols of silver and gold who are blind, deaf, and mute. But the poet’s most striking criticism is that the idols can’t breathe. Israel’s creator God breathed the breath of life into humans, but the idols who pose as gods neither breathe nor give the gift of breath. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, with the poet, we praise you as creator and redeemer. Your spirit brooded over the waters of chaos, preparing for creation. Your spirit brooded over the Red Sea, preparing Israel’s great redemption. Your spirit brooded over Jesus’ life and death, preparing salvation for the world. In creation and redemption, you alone are God.

Our father, Israel did not understand why you chose them out of all the nations on earth. And we do not understand why you chose us out of all the people on earth. But we have heard and received your message of freedom and redemption. You have made your home with us, and you have begun to conquer the powers that rule our lives–lust and greed and anxiety and fear. 

You who breathe into us the breath of life, teach us to walk in the Spirit. You who send the wind and rain to irrigate the earth, send us the water of life. 

You who redeemed Israel through the Red Sea and the thief on the cross through death, redeem us from our wandering and bring us to your eternal home. 

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.273: Psalm 134: Closing the Conference.

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

Psalm 134 reads, 

  Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord

    who minister by night in the house of the Lord.
    Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
        and praise the Lord.
  May the Lord bless you from Zion, 

    he who is the Maker of heaven and earth (vv. 1-3). 

This is the last of 15 psalms that share the title, “A Song of Ascents”. We don’t know exactly what this title means, but scholars suggest they are road trip songs for pilgrims on a journey up to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. 

Psalm 134 reminds me of a week-long Bible and missionary conference I attended. When it ended, I had a feeling of let-down, of unreality, as I released the intensity of the conference, gathered my notes, and prepared to travel home. Mundane duties awaited. The problems I avoided by attending a conference now needed urgent attention. I think this psalm transitions the Jerusalem pilgrims from their time of worship to the long road back home, from the beauty of the temple back to the homeliness of daily life.. 

Let’s review the conference highlights with the pilgrims, accept the poet’s end-of-conference blessing, then  move on from this collection of psalms. First the highlights:
– Psalm 120: “I call on the Lord in my distress”
– Psalm 121: “I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from?” 
– Psalm 122: “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go the house of the Lord’.”
– Psalm 126: Those who go out weeping carrying precious seed
                  will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.
– Psalm 127: Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.
– Psalm 130: “Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord” and
              “I wait for the Lord,
                  more than watchmen wait for the morning.
– Ps 133 “How good and pleasant it is when families live together in unity.” 

Psalm 134 concludes this 15-psalm collection with a last invitation to worship, “Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord” (v. 1). Then it sends the worshipers home with this blessing:
    May the Lord bless you from Zion,
        he who is maker of heaven and earth (v. 3). 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, our lives are a pilgrimage in search of your presence. When we feel your face smile on us, we are glad. When we feel your absence or disapproval, we are sad. 

Thank you for these psalms that lift our eyes above the hills, to you who gives us help. Thank you that these poems bring our lives and feelings into the light of your presence. Build with us this house we are building, sow with us the seeds we sow in tears, cry with us in the depths from which we cry to you, teach us to live in unity with our family and community. 

Send us back to our daily lives with the blessing of this psalm:
  May the Lord bless you from Zion,
    he who made heaven and earth (v. 3). 

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.272: A Tale of Two Mountains.

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

Hebrews 12 says:
  You have not come to a mountain that can be touched
        and that is burning with fire; 
        to darkness, gloom, and storm; 
        to a trumpet blast or to a voice speaking words such that 
            those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 
           because they could not bear what was commanded,
            “If even an animal touches the mountain,
              it must be stoned to death.”
  The sight was so terrifying that Moses said,
            “I am trembling with fear” (vv. 18-21).  

This passage reads almost like a Victorian novel: It was a dark and stormy night, deep gloom hung on the mountain, lightning flashed vivid warnings, a trumpet blasted dangerously. This is how the book of Hebrews describes the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai. A death sentence hung on any who came too close. Even Moses was terrified.

To the author of Hebrews, the law given this way had two important characteristics: 

– First, it was God’s law, his very words, warning humans about sin and judgment.
– Second, the law was a revelation of God’s goodness. It gave his guidelines for a community to live together in love and justice, escaping the calamity of evil. 

The author struggles with the question: Why did God’s law not produce the society he wanted? What made God’s project fail?

This search led the author of Hebrews to Christ, who he introduces as another word of God, saying, In these last days God has spoken to us by his son whom he loves, through whom he created the worlds (Heb 1:2). 

Jesus, who is himself God’s word, gives a different message than the words spoken from Mt. Sinai. Hebrews says: 

  But you [who trust in Jesus] have come to Mount Zion,
    to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
    to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,
    to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.
  You have come to God, the Judge of all,
    to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
    to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant,
    to the sprinkled blood 
           that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (vv. 22-24). 

Yes, Jesus speaks a better word. He speaks to us not from gloom and tempest, but from a mountain of joy, a city of light, in the company of saints and angels. On this mountain, Jesus consecrates a new covenant, not founded on a legal system delivered in the terror of night, but given as a  gift: his own life. On this mountain, gentle hope replaces overriding fear. Quiet confidence replaces the dread of making a misstep. Glad community replaces lonely angst. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, all our lives we have done our duty, obeyed your law, kept your commands. We have lived in fear of judgment, anxious lest we should misstep or overstep or fall.

Today we come to Mount Zion,
  to a joyful assembly of angels and saints,
  to a savior who washes us clean
      and teaches us to live out of love, not fear. 
We walk with him on a path of glad obedience. 

Establish our hearts on this mountain.

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.271: Psalm 133: Unity.

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

Psalm 133 reads, 
   How good and how pleasant it is
      when families live together in unity.
  It is like precious oil poured on the head,. . .
      running down on Aaron’s beard,
      down the collar of his robe.
  It is like the dew of Hermon
      falling on Mount Zion.
  For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
      life forevermore  (vv. 1-3). 

What’s your take on the good life? In this psalm, the poet sees it as a family living together peacefully. They have a wider family, a community of faith that follows after God. Morning dew refreshes their land, bringing days of peace and nights of rest. God blesses the family and the community with his best gift: life forevermore. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, how good it is when families live in unity. When they don’t permit differences in wealth or success or politics or vaccines to cause dissension. They may cheer for different hockey teams, but always for each other. Though some are liberal in their theology and politics and others conservative; still, they feast together at Thanksgiving and Christmas and love each other in between. 

The goodness of unity is like the anointing oil running down the hair and beard of Aaron, a sign of peace and plenty. Perhaps in our day it is like standing in the shower, hot water massaging sore muscles, soap cleansing hair and body, the rhythm of the water soothing mind and heart. O God, wash us with the water of your word. Anoint us with the oil of your Spirit. 

You respond to this unity of families and community by blessing their land, as morning dew refreshes the earth, the crops grow, and their world is at peace.

O God, we honor you and each other and creation. Bestow the blessing you promise, protect our temporary home in this world, and prepare our forever home with you. As the poet says,
    The Lord bestows his blessing,
      life forevermore (v. 3). 

Amen. 

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

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube