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.
To You will I cry, O Lord my rock. Be not silent to
me. Lest, You are silent to me, and I
become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my
supplications, when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands to Your holy oracle. Draw me not away with the
wicked, with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors, but
mischief [is] in their hearts.
Give them according to their
deeds, according to the wickedness of their endeavors. Give them after the work of their hands. Render to them their desert. Because they regard not the
works of the Lord, nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them, and not
build them up.
Blessed [be] the Lord, because He has heard the voice
of my supplications. The Lord [is] my strength and my
shield. My heart trusted in Him, I am
helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. With my song will I praise Him.
The Lord [is] their strength, He [is] the saving strength of His Christ. Save Your people, Bless Your
inheritance. Feed them also, Lift them
up forever.
[i] David
spills out his prayer in a torrent.
There was considerable temptation to group it in one paragraph: because
one thought rushes onward to the next.
The “Oracle” is the Holy of Holies, the Most Holy place in the
tabernacles and temples of the Israelites.
It is the place where the Ark of the Covenant, the Throne of God, is
kept, it is God’s special residence, the place where the Glory of God sits, from
which He speaks, and where He hears and judges petitions: it was active among
the Israelites for eight hundred sixty years, it is very likely the place where
Samuel slept.
David is painfully aware that it is this presence of The
Living God that separates him from wicked men and not his own behavior.
The entire security of David and his kingdom rests on this
visible Flaming-Smoking Presence of God: nothing else. Israel is a tiny country, which could have
been easily overrun by truly powerful empires, like Egypt to the south; or
Syria, Assyria, and Babylonia from the north.
Israel exists as a nation for eight hundred sixty years, for one, and
only one reason; the Glory of God, Who calls Himself God and Jehovah, dwells
among them, speaks to them, and listens to them from the Oracle. There was, at that time, one place on earth,
where the Ubiquity allowed Himself to be seen and heard by men. Of course, the infinite, omnipresent God
cannot live in a small manmade room: but the living picture was always there to
remind the Israelites that God rules the Universe, God is the only reason that
they exist, the only reason we exist.
The fact that God speaks and listens, is central to this Psalm and all
the Psalms. He hears our prayers and
answers.
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