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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Psalm 51:1-19

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.

Psalm 51:1-19[1]

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness. According to the abundance of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, Cleanse me from my sin: for I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin [is] ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your sight: so that You might be justified when You speak, [and] be clear when You judge.

Behold, I was born in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts. In the hidden [part] You shall make me know wisdom.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness; [so that] the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, Blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence. Take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation. Uphold me [with Your] Free Spirit.

[Then] will I teach transgressors Your ways. Sinners shall be converted to You. Deliver me from blood, O God, God of my salvation. My tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. Lord, open my lips. My mouth shall show forth Your praise: for You desire not sacrifice: or I would give [it]. You delight not in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then shall You be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering. Then shall they offer bulls on Your altar.

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If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations in Psalms, please repost or share all of them.

[1] How ordinary that we find remorse for our sins and guilt after we sin. We are not very skilled at praying or thinking ahead about the consequences of our actions, or we might not do them. Had we started with, “Dear God, Is this a good thing for me to do,” we might not have landed in such a morass of trouble. Alas, we did not pray before we took action; we did not seek the Holy Ghost ahead of time; so now we must seek cleansing. David begins his first paragraph with a plea for mercy and ends with an apology.

David is not blaming his mother for his sins in the second paragraph. He confesses that at or even before conception he is actively sinning. In the mystery of sinfulness, we see that David was already an active participant in sin in Adam, for three thousand years or more. It is this mystery of brokenness which must be forgiven, healed, and made right.

Now David returns to the subject of his cleansing. “Hyssop” forces us to think of the Crucifixion. The gifts of a clean heart, a right spirit, and the Holy Ghost, come only from Christ’s death and resurrection, and from Pentecost. In the mystery of prophecy, David sees far into the future. Indeed, David’s vision may be nearly blind, but he asks for things that are yet to come.

David understands that the outcome of such great forgiveness is that he shall become a voice for God, a voice that will lead many to salvation: for if an adulterer, murderer, thief, false witness, and coveter can be forgiven; then anybody can be forgiven, except those who hate forgiveness.

David concludes with the observation that the foundation of all human sacrifice to God is brokenness and contrition, without which no sacrifice, bloody, burned, or otherwise makes any sense. In the final analysis, we have only one thing to give to God that is truly our own: namely, our own sin (teachings of Fr. Basil).

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If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations in Psalms, please repost or share all of them.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Psalm 30:1-12

Salutation

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

Psalm 30:1-12[1]

A Psalm-Song [at] the dedication of the house of David.

I will extol You, Lord: for You have lifted me up, and have not made my foes rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried to You, and You have healed me. Lord, You have brought up my soul from the grave. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

Sing to the Lord, O His saints, Give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness: for His anger [is for] a moment. In His favor [is] life. Weeping may endure for a night, Joy [comes] in the morning.

In my prosperity I said, “I shall never be moved.” Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong. You hid Your face, I was troubled. I cried to You, Lord. To the Lord I made supplication. What profit [is there] in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise You? Shall it declare Your truth? Hear, Lord, Have mercy on me. Lord, be my helper.

You have turned my mourning to dancing. You have put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness: to the end that [my] glory may sing praise to You, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

[1] In this Psalm David examines the source of his prosperity: his house flourishes. David has lived a life of tribulation. Many people hated him and wanted him dead: his own wife Michal, his father-in-law Saul, Nabal, many of the Philistine commanders when he sought refuge with Abimelech (but David eventually won them over), his son Absalom, the list goes on…. For every friend David had several enemies: even his allies, Judas like, betrayed him: for example, Joab. David spent many of the best years of his life, his youth, running from danger, living in a cave, without the benefits of culture or society, he led a band of itinerant hermits. So, for David to own a house, settle down, and live with his wives was, indeed, an extraordinary thing: David had less than thirty-three years of such peace and some of that was lost due to: war, adultery with Bathsheba, the murder of Uriah, running from Absalom, defeat by the Edomites, the sin of the unauthorized census taking. David is not exaggerating when he exclaims, “You have brought up my soul from the grave.” He had lived within a hair of death for most of his life.

David’s reasonable application is that all who believe should give thanks: for we suffer but a present light affliction (2 Corinthians 4, the whole chapter, but especially verse 17).

It takes us completely by surprise to discover David confessing cockiness in his life. God made David strong enough that David thought he was indestructible, invincible; he got too big for his britches; he began to think that he himself was the cause of his prosperity. He stopped bothering to go out to war, he became captivated by Bathsheba’s beauty. How easily men become fools over female pulchritude. He murdered. Four sons died. He lost the battle (we need to revisit this issue of war at another place and time). He was publicly disgraced, humiliated, shamed, and driven into exile away from God’s ever Present Glory. He got knocked down a peg or two for his pride. However, he sees life and death a little differently than we usually do: death can be either death to dust, to the pit, and eternal silence, or death to life, to resurrection, to heaven, and eternal praise.

After God heals David of his foolishness and pride, God gives David gifts of dancing, gladness, and singing.

Even so we, whether we are running with our hair on fire, as David was, or have found fleeting brief prosperity in this corrupt and sinful world, we can in humility be led to see the bigger picture of God’s Glory. Nevertheless, God is our faithful Father; so we can be sure that whenever we get too big for our britches, He will knock us down a peg or two, as we justly deserve. Eternal thanks to God for His Glorious fidelity.

Psalm 29:1-11

Salutation

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

Psalm 29:1-11[1]

A Psalm of David.

Give the Lord, O mighty, give the Lord Glory and strength. Give the Lord the Glory due His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

The voice of the Lord [is] on the waters. The God of Glory thunders. The Lord [is] on many waters. The voice of the Lord [is] powerful. The voice of the Lord [is] full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also skip like a calf. Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, and discovers the forests. In His temple everyone speaks of [His] Glory.

The Lord sits on the flood. Yes, the Lord sits King forever. The Lord will give strength to His people. The Lord will bless His people with peace.

[1] David now gives us a hymn devoted exclusively to the praise of Yahweh. “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,” is not a figure of speech. David fully expected that when he went to the temporary tabernacle (Moses’ Tabernacle was destroyed, Solomon’s Temple was not yet built) that he would meet with God’s Glory, Which he describes as “the beauty of holiness.” Here is the object of our worship, that we will one day see God: this is the Beatific Vision, which we all seek.

David is awe struck with the voice that proceeds from this Oracle, this Ark, this mercy seat: its power is overwhelming. What is David thinking? Does he remember the power God displayed at the Red Sea, at Mount Sinai, at the Jordan River, at Jericho, at the great wars of Joshua, or does he give reference to the defeat of Saul, and the subsequent pacification of the Philistines? The expression “discovers the forests” refers to stripping the trees of all their leaves, so that the forest is naked.

God’s throne is not merely the earthly Ark, it is the very Flood of Noah: which at that time was the greatest display of Divine power in human history. Now we know of even greater historic events: namely the Resurrection and Pentecost. Today, “The Lord [still gives] strength to His people,” in the invisible form of the Holy Ghost.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Psalm 14:1-7

Salutation

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

Psalm 14:1-7[1]

To the Chief Musician, [A Psalm] of David.

The fool has said in his heart, “[There is] no God.” They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. No one does good.

The Lord looked down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that understand, [and] seek God. They are all gone aside, They are altogether become filthy. No one does good, no, not one.

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people [as] they eat bread, and call not on the Lord? There were they in great fear: for God [is] among the generation of the righteous. You have shamed the advice of the poor, because the Lord [is] his refuge.

Oh that the salvation of Israel [were come] from Zion! When the Lord brings back the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad.

[1] David could be staring at the living, talking, flaming Glory of God for all we know. He had seen this Glory many times; being in His Presence was David’s chief joy. When David says that atheism is foolishness, he is not mincing words: he knows exactly whereof he speaks.

David turns from his own evaluation to Yahweh’s evaluation. There is no such thing as a good person anywhere. It is clear that whatever David knows about his intimate inner self and about people in general, he learned from talking with God.

Knowledge is a fundamental element in people’s evil: not that knowledge isn’t available, but people are mentally defective, neither able to nor desirous of receiving it. So, they destroy God’s servants, and think they’ve done God a favor. But God is about to intervene in that situation, and make the wicked afraid: not because God’s servants are good, while others are not; that is not the case, all are not good. The righteous are righteous because they have taken ownership of their lack of goodness; they have sought and found refuge in God’s forgiving, healing, and justifying mercy; they have received the gift of God’s goodness.

David concludes that Zion is the center for such hope, salvation, and worship. Captivity speaks of the gathering, calling together, congregating of God’s people as one. This may indicate that David is writing during the first seven years of his reign, before the Israel and Judah tribes were reunited as one nation, under one king. However, this unity, or lack of it, is just as true today of heavenly Zion, and we look for the reality of this united congregation.

Psalm 13:1-6

Salutation

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

Psalm 13:1-6[1]

To the Chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

How long will You forget me, Lord? Forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take advice in my soul, [having] sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider [and] hear me, O Lord my God. Illuminate my eyes, lest I sleep [in] the death; lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him;” [lest] those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved. But I have trusted in Your mercy. My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.

[1] How often in life do we experience the feeling that God has forgotten us, or that He has abandoned us because of our sin? David expresses such frustration as he flees from Saul. The Ark of the Covenant and God’s Glory have deserted Israel and gone to live among the Philistines. David cannot any longer go before God’s visible Presence to pray. In his desperation he asks for the illumination of the Holy Ghost apart from the visible Presence. David refers to Saul, who is chasing him, to kill him: but he also understands that Satan and his evil empire stands behind Saul. This is why David sees his affliction as spiritual in nature, and not merely physical. David closes, remembering that God has, in all reality, been very good to him, so he shows his gratitude in closing.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Psalm 74:1-23

Salutation

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

Psalm 74:1-23[i]

Maschil of Asaph.

O God, why have You cast [us] off forever? Does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture? Remember Your congregation, You have purchased of old; The rod of Your inheritance, You have redeemed; This mount Zion, where You have dwelled. Lift up Your feet to the perpetual desolations, all [that] the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary. Your enemies roar in the center of Your congregations. They set up their ensigns [for] signs.

[A man] was famous according as he had lifted up axes on the thick trees. But now they break down the carved work of it at once with axes and hammers. They have cast fire in Your sanctuary. They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name to the ground. They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy them together.” They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.

We see not our signs. [There is] no more any prophet. Nor [is there] among us any that knows how long. O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme Your name forever? Why withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Pluck [it] from Your bosom: for God [is] my King of old, working salvation in the heart of the earth. You divided the sea by Your strength. You break the heads of the dragons in the waters. You broke the heads of leviathan in pieces, [and gave] him [to be] meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. You split the fountain and the flood. You dried up mighty rivers. The day [is] Yours. The night also [is] Yours. You have prepared the light and the sun. You have set all the borders of the earth. You have made summer and winter.

Remember this: The enemy has reproached, Lord. The foolish people have blasphemed Your name. Deliver not the soul of Your turtledove to the mob. Forget not the congregation of Your poor forever. Have respect to the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. Let not the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise Your name. Arise, O God, Plead Your own cause. Remember how the foolish man reproaches You daily. Forget not the voice of Your enemies. The tumult of those who rise up against You increases continually.

[i] There are indications in this Psalm which show that Asaph lived and wrote after 586 BC. He appears to be among the survivors left in Jerusalem after the Babylonians have sacked the Temple. Asaph mourns what “the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.” Ezekiel assures us that God has abandoned Israel-Judah by this time, and Asaph pleads, “Why have You cast [us] off forever? ... Remember Your congregation, You have purchased of old....” Asaph complains that Babylonian ensigns (flags or other triumphal markers) were even set up over the ashes of God’s Temple ruins.

Then Asaph reminisces that the skill of axe-men in felling timber and carving the beautiful wood work of the Temple used to be what destined men for fame. He mentions that such beauty was replicated in the Synagogues, which were also in existence already, at that time. But now that which took years to lovingly build, was now destroyed with fire in minutes. God’s name was thrown in the dirt.

In contrast, the ensigns of the people of God are gone. Since God’s Glory has departed, there are no prophets: Israel-Judah is left in darkness. “Withdraw your hand,” is a reference to the second miracle God worked through Moses: where Moses’ hand turned leprous, then clean again, as he pulled it from his bosom: it is a cry for God to swing into action, to unleash the plagues against the wicked. Asaph has nothing left on which to cling; in his despair he recounts God’s great redemption and power in the Exodus and in Creation.

Asaph concludes with a glimpse of the future. He sees Jesus dimly in, “Deliver not the soul of Your turtledove to the mob.” Accordingly, he prays with fearful confidence for the poor, the covenant, the oppressed, the needy: he prays that God would “Plead [His] own cause.” We know that God does exactly this. Christ is risen from the dead. The day of Pentecost has come. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.

Psalm 73:1-28

Salutation

O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy Ghost

Psalm 73:1-28[i]

A Psalm of Asaph.

Truly God [is] good to Israel, to such as are of a clean heart.

But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well near slipped: for I was envious at the foolish, [when] I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

[There are] no pangs in their death. Their strength [is] firm. They [are] not in trouble [as other] men. Nor are they plagued like [other] men. Therefore pride circles about them as a chain. Violence covers them [as] a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly [of] oppression. They speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore his people return hither. Waters of a full [cup] are wrung out to them. They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the most High?” Behold, these [are] the wicked, who prosper in the world. They increase [in] riches.

Certainly I have cleansed my heart [in] vain, and washed my hands in innocence: for all the day have I been plagued, and punished every morning. If I say, “I will speak thus.” Behold, I should offend the generation of Your children. When I thought to grasp this, it [was] too painful for me: until I went to the sanctuary of God. [Then] understood I their end.

Surely You set them in slippery places. You cast them down to destruction. How are they [brought] to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors, as a dream when [one] awakes. Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image.

Thus my heart was grieved. I was pricked in my reins. So foolish [was] I, and ignorant. I was [as] a beast before You. Nevertheless I [am] continually with You. You have held [me] by my right hand. You shall guide me with Your advice, and afterward receive me [in] Glory.

Whom have I in heaven [but You]? [There is] no one on earth I desire beside You. My flesh and my heart fails. God [is] the strength of my heart, and my portion forever: for, lo, those who are far from You shall perish. You have destroyed all those who go a whoring from You. But [it is] good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God, so that I may declare all Your works.

[i] The wicked do prosper in this world. 1% of Americans control 40% of the wealth; while millions are without clothing, food, or shelter. That statistic cannot be merely accidental. There are days when the believers and lovers of God can't get anything right; and envy of the wicked is an easy pit into which we fall. Asaph's advice is to go to church more, to pray more, to see the picture through God's eyes. It is not God Who needs to awake; it is we who are having this nightmare. This is serious: as serious as a heart attack or a punch in the kidneys. I'm told that a heart attack is like having an elephant sitting on the chest. A punch in the kidneys buckles the knees, so that you fall to the ground with uncontrolled tears streaming from the eyes. We need to be constantly reminded that God is with us, even in death. We need to draw near to God, because He is never far away, and because He is supremely good.