... 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.
A Song of Ascent of David.
If [it
had not been] the Lord Who was on our side, may Israel
now say. If [it had not been] the Lord Who was on
our side, when men rose up against us. Then
they had swallowed us up alive, when their fury was kindled against us. Then the waters had overwhelmed us. The stream had gone over our soul. Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
Blessed [be] the Lord, Who has not given us [as] a prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare
of the fowlers. The snare is broken. We are escaped.
[1] In
Psalms Book I, David would have viewed this subject matter from the perspective
of being in the thick of trouble; but now he looks back on his long gone woes
from the peace of his established kingdom with a more analytical
perspective. The only reason that Israel
is established as a kingdom is that God wanted it so. “The waters had overwhelmed us,” could be a comparison
with the destruction of the earth in Noah’s day; more likely, it refers to the
Red Sea crossing with Moses. “The stream had gone over,” possibly looks at the Jordan crossing
with Joshua. David’s point is that he
has lived his life on the brink of death, but “Yahweh was on our side.” This is our side too. Life is full of trouble. Life’s only real treasure is Yahweh
Himself. Herein lies the consummation of
the kingdom.
“Blessed be Yahweh” for all these
things. He has saved us. He has brought us to the eternal city. He has provided for our escape; yes, even from
the hands of Satan.
Now David does a curious thing. He attributes all these saving acts of God to
the fact that Yahweh is the Creator of all things. We, on the other hand, tend to underrate the
importance of creation. Creation, in and
of itself, is a mighty display of God’s infinite love. God is determined to extricate His creation
from the clutches of Satan.
[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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