Salutation
... in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen. Through the prayers of our
holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Glory to You,
our God, glory to You.
O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy
Ghost
O Heavenly King, the
Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things,
Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us
from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
To the Chief Musician, [A
Psalm] of David.
In the Lord I put my
trust. Why do you say to my soul, “Flee [as] a bird to your mountain?” for, lo, the wicked bend [their] bow, they make ready their arrow on
the string, so that they may secretly shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations are
destroyed, what can the righteous do?
The Lord [is] in His holy temple, The
Lord’s throne [is] in heaven. His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children
of men. The Lord tries the righteous. But the
wicked and he who loves violence His soul hates. On the wicked He shall rain
snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. [This
shall be] the portion of their cup: for the righteous Lord loves righteousness. His
countenance beholds the upright.
[i] David
raises questions about wicked activity around him, threatening his life and
foundations: his enemies want him to fly away.
David remembers that all his foundations are in God. Here we see that David's understanding of
God's throne and temple is greater than any place on earth. When David was a little boy, the sin of
Israel had resulted in God’s Self-willed exile together with His throne among
the Philistines: God simply got fed-up, and left the Israelites to their own
corrupt devices. David lived to see God return
to Jerusalem, with His throne (the Ark or the Covenant), to Zion, to live in a
tent. Solomon would build the first
temple. Nevertheless, David always
understood that these temporal things were merely ways for the invisible God to
make Himself known to the world. The
presence of God in flaming-smoking Glory, riding on and speaking from the Ark,
were never more than pictures of a greater reality. God is everywhere, but He is rarely audible
or visible. Now we hear and see Him in
Jesus, His eternal Son. Now we hear and
see Him by the power of the Holy Ghost.
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