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.
A Psalm of David.
Lord, who shall abide in Your tabernacle? who shall dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, works righteousness,
and speaks the truth in his heart. He [who] backbites not with his tongue, nor does
evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is scorned. But he honors those who fear the Lord. [Who] swears to [his own]
hurt, and changes not. [Who] puts not out his money to usury,
nor takes reward against the innocent. He
who does these [things] shall never
be moved.
________
If you have been
blessed or helped by any of these meditations in Psalms, please repost or share
all of them.
[1]
David asks a truly profound question.
Human tents (booths or tabernacles) were made for human habitation. What about God’s tent? What about God’s temple that Solomon will
build. Samuel lived in God’s tent. An important tradition insists that Samuel
even slept in the most holy place, the oracle.
Yet, it doesn’t seem that David is asking about Samuel, or listing
Samuel’s virtues.
One interpretation would note that these are the virtues of a
perfect person, virtues to be copied and practiced, which is true enough. However, when such works are made into an
attainable obsession, this interpretation falls flat. Nobody is that good: not Samuel, not David,
not anybody. Such goodness cannot be
obtained by human effort. This raises
the profound question. Adam failed. Perfect man is gone from the earth. Will there ever be a perfect man, who comes
to abide in this tent of God. Somehow,
David knows that this is the ultimate purpose of perfect man, to abide with
God. David even paints a glowing picture
of what that man will be like.
Possibly, David has not yet been given the promise of an
eternal son: for when David receives that covenant promise he has the final
answer to his question, “Who?” We now
know that the answer is Jesus, that in the miracle of Jesus life, He lives in
us and we live in Him. Jesus is the
final answer to David’s question. In the
abiding relationship between Jesus and His people, He brings us into God’s
abiding presence, His tabernacle, with Him.
What we cannot do ourselves, Jesus gives as a wedding present to His
bride. James explains the meaning of
this Psalm in detail, showing the sins of double mindedness, the tongue, and
abuse of wealth. Only in Jesus is the
defeat of these sins possible. Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have mercy on us sinners.
No comments:
Post a Comment