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, A Maschil.
Blessed [is he whose] transgression [is]
forgiven, [whose] sin [is] covered. Blessed [is]
the man to whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, in whose
spirit [is] no guile.
When I kept silence, my bones grew old
through my roaring all the day: for day and night Your hand was heavy on me. My moisture is turned to the drought of summer. Consider.
I acknowledge my sin to You, My iniquity
have I not hid. I said, I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord. You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Consider.
Here [is why] everyone who is godly shall
pray to You in a time when You may be found. Surely the floods of great waters shall not
come near him. You [are] my hiding place. You shall
preserve me from trouble. You shall circle
me about with songs of deliverance. Consider.
I will instruct you and teach you in the
way that you shall go. I will advise you
with My eye. Be not as the horse, [or] as the mule, [which] have no understanding. Their mouth must be held in with bit and
bridle, lest they come near you. Many
sorrows [shall be] to the wicked. But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall circle about him.
Be glad in the Lord, Rejoice, you righteous. Shout for joy, all upright in heart.
________
If you have been
blessed or helped by any of these meditations in Psalms, please repost or share
all of them.
[1] Perhaps
Psalm 32 is more difficult than most to analyze. It is written by David around 1000 BC; the
meaning of Maschil remains a mystery.
The first paragraph indicates that this is primarily a Psalm
of confession: this idea is supported by the following paragraphs. This paragraph emphasizes that David has
transgression, sin, iniquity, and guile; that the remedy for these things comes
from God, not from his own flesh. Accordingly,
it is impossible to perceive any hint of self-righteousness in the Psalms. If, in Psalms, we suppose that we see any
goodness in man, we must be mistaking what God has given to man, for what comes
from man himself. Goodness comes from
God alone, it is impossible that goodness be sourced in man.
David notes that his silence, his delay in making his confession,
aged him, because Yahweh was leaning on him to get him to do the right
thing. God’s gentle persuasion made him
feel dehydrated, a sensation of approaching death; in Hebrew idiom, the opposite
of spiritual prosperity, which is to be planted beside the
water path (Psalm 1).
The good news is that in confession
David finds forgiveness and relief. He
did not wait for his priest, but went directly to God with his confession. In the context of Israelite worship, he doubtless
backed up his confession with the appropriate animal sacrifice, more formal
public confession, and received formal absolution from God, at the hands of the
priest.
The difficulty here is in knowing
whether these ideas belong with what comes before or with that which comes
after. The word, consider, convinces us
that these ideas fit best with the following statements. Now David, in examining the motivations behind
confession and prayer, looks back to the Red Sea crossing: he remembers how the
Israelites were untouched by the waters, while Pharaoh and his chariots
perished in the sea. Here is the precursor
for the use of the Exodus song in Christian worship (The Great Canon of St.
Andrew, Exodus 15).
Now God speaks to David.
David is to be so sensitive to God’s leadership in his life that the
merest glance tells him which way to go.
To what could this possibly refer, other than the operation of
conscience? There is mounting scientific
evidence to show that our moral impulses are not driven by DNA, genetic
tendencies, but by what we program onto our DNA by behavior. There is nothing new here: the Bible has said
this all along. However, it is
refreshing to see fresh evidence. The
person who programs their conscience with pornography, will soon find themselves
enslaved in sexual deviation. For the
conscience to work properly the mind must be programed with the Law of God: for,
“On His law, he meditates day and night (Psalm 1).” Many folks are overly concerned about
discovering the will of God for their lives.
Here is the answer to their concern: for horses and mules don’t even
know which road to take. The person who
programs his soul with God’s law by incessant meditation upon it will have
constant guidance from the eye of God, down to the smallest detail, down to the
sorts of minutia that concern horses and mules (Psalm 40:8).
God’s conclusion is that those who sow evil will reap corruption, but
those who sow His Law will reap mercy and joy (Galatians 6:8).
Isn’t it amazing that small children
have such tender consciences, and hang their heads in shame when they have done
the slightest wrong. It is no less
amazing that grown adults, who should know better, puff themselves up, and know
no shame: they have murdered their consciences.
The modern joke would be that “It’s bad code.” The good news is that the brain can be
reprogrammed by God’s grace. Grace,
however, operates from the inside out: God expects our obedience in His war
against sin.
