... 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.
Psalm 130:1-8[1]
A Song of Ascent.
From the depths have I cried to You, Lord.
Lord, hear my voice. Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my
supplication. If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand? But [there
is] forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.
I wait for the Lord. My soul waits. I hope in His word. My soul [waits]
for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning. [I say,
more than] those who watch for the morning.
Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord [there is] mercy. With Him [is] plentiful redemption. He shall redeem Israel from all his
iniquities.[2]
[1] This
is a Psalm based on a lament. We think
it strange that a Psalm based on tears should be mixed with prayers about the consummation
of the kingdom. Yet, here we are. Jesus has proclaimed the year of Eternal Jubilee
(Luke 4:18-21). Even so we are to bear
our cross for the nature of the First Advent age is of Crucifixion and Resurrection:
so our joy is mingled with suffering and tears (Matthew 16:24-28; Mark
8:34-9:1; Luke 9:23-27; John 12:25).
Again, we are confronted with our constant need for confession,
expiation, and absolution (John 13:1-17; Romans 10:9-10; 1 John 1:8-10). Suffering and tears are of the nature of the consummation
of the kingdom prior to the Second Advent.
This is the normal part of the Bride, The Church being made ready
(Revelation 19:7). Here is a Mystery:
that which was consummated in Luke 4, is not yet consummated, which is the
Mystery of the Two Advents. The purpose
of this Mystery is that men might learn to fear God.
Since these things are the true nature of the kingdom, man’s
task is to pray, and to pray, and to pray.
Nowadays, prayer is looked down upon as an unnecessary waste of
time. The greater reality is that most
of our activity is a useless waste of time, a futile spinning of the wheels in
the mud. For the fact of the kingdom is
that we are suck in the mud, and have no means of our own to extricate ourselves. Cross bearing, following, confession, communion,
and prayer are the sum and substance of the real world from our perspective: of
these, prayer is by far the most important.
Be that as it may, our prayers are often misdirected (James 4:1-10). We spend too much time asking God for things,
when we should be thanking Him for what He has already provided. God does not need a laundry list of things we
think we need: for He already knows our real needs far better than we do, and
He has already provided that all of these real needs be completely met. We should devote our time to thanking God for
His overwhelming generosity, and interceding for those we see are in genuine
want. Our prayer should be for those who
seem unable to stop war, that they would understand the error of their ways. Our prayer should be for six billion or more
people on earth who do not know Christ, that they would hear the Gospel and
believe it. Our prayer should be for the
one billion or so people who name the name of Christ, yet do not know how to
get along with each other, or how to speak with one voice of agreement.
The psalmist notes that it is not the unbelieving world that
needs to hope in God: for the unbelieving world does not even understand that
for which they should hope. It is Israel
who must hope. It is The Church who must
hope: for the hope of believers lifts the whole Universe up to God for
cleansing, healing, and redemption. If
The Church does not hope for the world in prayer, then no one else will. We are the ones who have been given
understanding.
[2] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations,
please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish. No rights are reserved. 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.
