... 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,
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.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy
Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).
Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the
beginning, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
This Psalm is autobiographical to David and
outside the number.
I was the smallest of my brothers, the
youngest in my father’s house; I tended my father’s sheep. My hands made a musical instrument; my
fingers tuned my psalterion.
will report [this] to my Lord? The Lord
Himself; He hears [my prayers and my psalms]. It is He, Who sent His messenger, took me
from my father’s sheep, and Christened me with His Chrismating oil.
My brothers are handsome and tall, but the
Lord was not pleased with them.
I went out to meet the Philistine; he
cursed me by his idols; but I drew his own sword; beheaded him, and took away shame
from Israel’s children.[2]
http://unsettledchristianity.com/2009/11/psalm-151-a-new-translation/
[1] As
the Psalms heading indicates, this is David’s autobiography, short and
sweet. It tells the story of how David
came to love God so deeply.
As a boy or adolescent he was insignificant and unimportant,
so he was put to work at the most menial task available. He had no friends, nothing much to do. So while he made sure that the sheep were
safe, he made musical instruments out of available materials and sang songs to
Yahweh. He didn’t have anything else to
do, so he learned to live a life of prayer in Psalm.
David’s concern is that nobody cares what he is doing, will
God care? He eventually would realize
that God does care, God does answer prayer.
David was probably as surprised as anyone when the day came that Samuel
visited his father. Samuel was also a
man who spent a lot of time talking to God.
Because of this prophetic conversation, Samuel knew that David was God’s
chosen king; thus David was made king by anointing his head with oil. It was probably this event of Samuel’s visit
and this anointing that made David aware that God heard his prayer and initiated
the gift of prophetic utterance in David’s life (1 Samuel 16).
David points out that he was rather small, compared to his
brothers, who were real soldier material; but they were not victorious, because
they did not please God. Evidently, they
were not men of prayer.
Yahweh had given a miraculous victory at Ebenezer through the
hands of Samuel, because he was a man of prayer (1 Samuel 7). Now David would win his first great battle (1
Samuel 17). David’s courage was
exemplary; but such courage is the gift of God’s miraculous grace. Saul never understood that. The only factor in this Psalm that makes
David exceptional and outstanding is his prayerful singing of Psalms. David knew how to ask God for victory.
[2] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations in
Psalms, please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish.
These meditations are not controlled by
Creative Commons or other licenses, such as: copyright, CC, BY, SA, NC, or
ND. They are designed and intended for
your free participation. They were
freely received, and are freely given.
No other permission is required for their use.
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