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.
Rejoice in the Lord, O righteous. Praise is
comely for the upright. Praise the Lord with harp. Sing to Him with
the psaltery, an instrument of ten strings.
Sing to Him a new song. Play skillfully
with a loud noise: for the word of the Lord [is] right. All His works [are] done in truth. He loves
righteousness and judgment.
The Lord’s goodness fills
the earth. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the armies of them by the breath of His
mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea
together as in a bowl. He lays up the deep
in storehouses. Let all the earth fear
the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of
the world stand in awe of Him: for He spoke, and it was. He commanded, It [was] established.
The Lord brings the plans
of the heathen to naught. He makes the
devices of the people of no effect. The plan
of the Lord stands forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations. Blessed [is]
the nation whose God is the Lord; the people
He has chosen for His own inheritance.
The Lord looks [down]
from heaven. He beholds all the sons of
men. From the place of His dwelling, He looks
on all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashions
their hearts alike. He considers all
their works. There is no king saved by
the size of an army. A mighty man is not
delivered by much strength. A horse [is] a vain thing for safety: nor shall
it deliver by its great strength. Behold,
the eye of the Lord [is] on those who fear Him,
on those who hope in His mercy: to deliver their souls from death, and keep
them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the Lord. He [is] our help and our shield: for our heart shall rejoice in Him,
because we have trusted in His holy name.
Let Your mercy, Lord, be on us, just as we [have
put our] hope in You.
________
If you have been
blessed or helped by any of these meditations in Psalms, please repost or share
all of them.
[1]
The unknown psalmist exhorts us to praises the Lord.
This is appropriately done with accompanied singing. I do not know how or when the preference for
unaccompanied singing arose: this is a cantata.
This is the language of theology.
Theology that becomes too far detached from poetry and singing, loses
touch with reality: it becomes abstract and about God, rather than conversation
with God. Theology is God’s conversation
with man. In the process of listening to
God speak, man is lifted up from the dirt, with which he is made, and brought into
heaven. Who will not sing?
The psalmist first remembers God’s relationship with
creation. In contrast to God’s great
goodness, creation is a mere word, a breath, the stuff of His mixing bowl, the
contents of His pantry. Nothing on earth
is more expressive of power and fear than the sea; man looks at the mighty
waves of the sea and is amazed; to God, it’s just a little water in a dish. They mysteries of the deep, where great
whales, and strange sea creatures play, are just God’s closets. The psalmist exhorts us to be awestruck by
God, not by the universe, which He built with His speech.
Nor are the plots and plans of mankind to be given much
consideration, altogether they amount to nothing. The great pyramids, the Sphinx, the magnificent
architecture of the world; nothing. The
great programs for world domination: the Sumerians, Akkadians, Egyptians, Hittites, Syrians,
Assyrians, and the future Babylonians, Medo-Persians, Greeks, Romans; nothing. God’s plan to draw all peoples of the earth
to heaven through the worship of a single, small, insignificant nation; that is
really something. Yet today, that Church
may be as large as one billion strong, and praying for all seven billion plus
people on earth; that is really something.
Whatever God builds is something.
The world planned to put Jesus to death and succeeded. The Father made Jesus Lord of all; He has
even conquered death and hell: such is the magnitude of God’s plan.
From the Lord’s
perspective all human power and might, the employment of fierce animals,
particularly in war, are of no great concert to God. Man is absorbed with kings, armies, might,
fighting. God is absorbed with “those
who fear Him … who hope in His mercy.”
We are told to expect the continuation of war, famine, and death. We have no real hope outside of God’s mercy
and fear. The powerful and wealthy will
continue to oppress. We must look to God
if we wish to live.
Waiting is a hard thing, when one is virtually helpless. Waiting is what we must do. “Our soul [must] wait
for the Lord.” We “have need of patience (Hebrews
10:36).” We wait in prayer and worship,
singing to God. That is hard to live
with, when every fiber in our bodies wants to do something, anything. “Wait on the Lord
(Psalm 27:14).” “Even so, come, Lord
Jesus (Revelation 22:20).”
No comments:
Post a Comment