Hear the words of the psalmist;
read closely and meditate on these words:
The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion.
Declare his deeds among the peoples.
For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
Be gracious to me, O Lord.
See what I suffer from those who hate me;
you are the one who lifts me up from the gates of death,
so that I may recount all your praises,
and, in the gates of daughter Zion,
rejoice in your deliverance.
The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
in the net that they hid has their own foot been caught.
The Lord has made himself known, he has executed judgment;
the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.
Higgaion. Selah
The wicked shall depart to Sheol,
all the nations that forget God.
For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
Rise up, O Lord! Do not let mortals prevail;
let the nations be judged before you.
Put them in fear, O Lord;
let the nations know that they are only human.
As we meditate on these words, let us consider:
How is the Lord a stronghold in our life?
Since we know God’s name, how are we called
to trust him today?
How can our lives “sing praises to the Lord ” today?
What does it mean to me for God to be “the one
who lifts me up from the gates of death?”
Consider the ways in which we might plead
for the Lord to “rise up” in our lives today.
Grace and peace,
Ron
Psalm 9:9-20 – NRSV
Showing posts with label trouble. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trouble. Show all posts
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Other boats ...
Hear the word of God:
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them,
"Let us go across to the other side."
And leaving the crowd behind,
they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.
Other boats were with him.
A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat,
so that the boat was already being swamped.
But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion;
and they woke him up and said to him,
"Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"
He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea,
"Peace! Be still!"
Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.
He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?"
And they were filled with great awe and said to one another,
"Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
Sometimes you look at a text for a long time, and you think,
“What am I missing?”
And so you look, and you look, And suddenly there it is!
What do you see?
Although we all know this text very well,
I saw something in it for the first time tonight.
“Other boats were with him.”
Other boats that Jesus was not in.
Now we know what it was like in the boat that Jesus was in.
Wind. Water. Wailing.
A boat bursting at the beam with all three.
Danger. Drowning. Death.
A dozen hearts bursting with the fear of all three.
If it was that bad in the boat with Jesus (and it must have been bad),
Then can you imagine what it was like in the boat without Jesus?
I know that you don’t want to imagine this,
but try, for just a moment.
Imagine that you’re in the boat, the one without Jesus.
What do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel?
If you thought that Jesus could hear you, what would you say?
What would you want to hear Jesus say?
Now that you’ve imagined what it is like to be in the boat without Jesus,
You’ve figured out what it’s like to be without Jesus altogether.
Is that a place where you would want to live?
Is that a place where you would want someone you loved to live?
Just remember, the sea isn’t any smoother in the boat with Jesus;
It’s just that Jesus is in the boat.
Grace and peace,
Ron
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them,
"Let us go across to the other side."
And leaving the crowd behind,
they took him with them in the boat, just as he was.
Other boats were with him.
A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat,
so that the boat was already being swamped.
But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion;
and they woke him up and said to him,
"Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"
He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea,
"Peace! Be still!"
Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.
He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?"
And they were filled with great awe and said to one another,
"Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
Sometimes you look at a text for a long time, and you think,
“What am I missing?”
And so you look, and you look, And suddenly there it is!
What do you see?
Although we all know this text very well,
I saw something in it for the first time tonight.
“Other boats were with him.”
Other boats that Jesus was not in.
Now we know what it was like in the boat that Jesus was in.
Wind. Water. Wailing.
A boat bursting at the beam with all three.
Danger. Drowning. Death.
A dozen hearts bursting with the fear of all three.
If it was that bad in the boat with Jesus (and it must have been bad),
Then can you imagine what it was like in the boat without Jesus?
I know that you don’t want to imagine this,
but try, for just a moment.
Imagine that you’re in the boat, the one without Jesus.
What do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel?
If you thought that Jesus could hear you, what would you say?
What would you want to hear Jesus say?
Now that you’ve imagined what it is like to be in the boat without Jesus,
You’ve figured out what it’s like to be without Jesus altogether.
Is that a place where you would want to live?
Is that a place where you would want someone you loved to live?
Just remember, the sea isn’t any smoother in the boat with Jesus;
It’s just that Jesus is in the boat.
Grace and peace,
Ron
Monday, June 22, 2009
They reeled and staggered ...
Often we think that we alone have troubles;
sometimes we might be tempted to think
that we suffer those troubles alone.
Yet God knows, God hears, God suffers,
and God redeems us from those times.
Will we be faithful until the hour of our rescue?
Hear the word of the Lord:
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
those he redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
As you hear the movement of this psalm,
imagine it, picture it, line by line.
Hear the crash of the waves,
smell the splashing salt water,
feel the blast of the wind …
Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the mighty waters;
they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their calamity;
they reeled and staggered like drunkards,
and were at their wits' end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out from their distress;
he made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Did you feel the waves lifting you high
and then falling out from under you?
Could you imagine how hard it would be
to walk the deck in the midst of such a storm?
Can you ever remember such a storm in your life?
A storm where your feet are under you one moment,
and the bottom falls out the next?
A time in your life when your heart
feels as if it tickled your tonsils one minute,
and stomped on your stomach the next?
Do you remember a time when you cried out,
not for food, or drink, but for life itself?
For hope in the face of despair?
He will hear our distress.
He will deal with the unruly sea,
as the text told us yesterday,
as if it were an unruly child.
Then we can celebrate.
Then they were glad because they had quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
We ought to praise God.
If we are at a safe place, he has brought us to this haven.
If we still find ourselves riding out the storm,
he is the one who will has saved us before
and will deliver us once again.
Blessings,
Ron
Psalm 107:1-3; 23-32 – NRSV
sometimes we might be tempted to think
that we suffer those troubles alone.
Yet God knows, God hears, God suffers,
and God redeems us from those times.
Will we be faithful until the hour of our rescue?
Hear the word of the Lord:
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
those he redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
As you hear the movement of this psalm,
imagine it, picture it, line by line.
Hear the crash of the waves,
smell the splashing salt water,
feel the blast of the wind …
Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the mighty waters;
they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their calamity;
they reeled and staggered like drunkards,
and were at their wits' end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out from their distress;
he made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Did you feel the waves lifting you high
and then falling out from under you?
Could you imagine how hard it would be
to walk the deck in the midst of such a storm?
Can you ever remember such a storm in your life?
A storm where your feet are under you one moment,
and the bottom falls out the next?
A time in your life when your heart
feels as if it tickled your tonsils one minute,
and stomped on your stomach the next?
Do you remember a time when you cried out,
not for food, or drink, but for life itself?
For hope in the face of despair?
He will hear our distress.
He will deal with the unruly sea,
as the text told us yesterday,
as if it were an unruly child.
Then we can celebrate.
Then they were glad because they had quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
We ought to praise God.
If we are at a safe place, he has brought us to this haven.
If we still find ourselves riding out the storm,
he is the one who will has saved us before
and will deliver us once again.
Blessings,
Ron
Psalm 107:1-3; 23-32 – NRSV
Thursday, February 5, 2009
I will be your God ...
Moses comes to lead Israel from Egypt, but Pharaoh has another plan: to make secure his slave labor base. Pharaoh tightens his grip on Israel, makes their work harder, and they groan at Moses for the burdens their attempts at liberation have brought. Moses cries out to God on their behalf, and God replies:
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: Indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land."
God also spoke to Moses and said to him: "I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name 'The Lord' I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens. I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
Say therefore to the Israelites, 'I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.'"
Exodus 6:1-9 – NRSV
How does the Lord respond to the complaints of this troubled people? He answers in the same two ways that he will throughout the years to come: these are the people who have worshiped me, and these are the works that I have done.
“I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” If you are going to have a faith like they have, if you are going to know the blessings that they know, if you are going to experience the saving power of their God, then you must believe and follow their God.
That God is not removed and uninterested in history, or even worse, capriciously involved in it. Instead this God moves with a mighty purpose: to call a people who will live in relationship with him, blessed by him and blessing him. In this case, God looks forward to the defining event that he will refer back to many times in the centuries to come: “I am the God who frees Israel.”
This God is the liberator God. This God is the God of Justice. This God is the saving God. He goes by many names, none of which is adequate, for he will always be beyond our understanding. He has befriended many, but each uniquely. He has acted many times, though not necessarily in ways we can understand in the moment, for he is a mysterious God. Although C. S. Lewis has reminded us that he is not a “tame God”, we can be sure of this: his steadfast love for us never ceases.
May we never cease to call out to the God who is beyond all names. May we never cease to befriend this God who has so many friends. May we never cease to worship our God, who has acted in so many surprising ways to save us. May we never cease to trust him, even when we have yet to understand the ways that he is acting, day by day, in our personal history.
Grace, and peace,
Ron
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: Indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land."
God also spoke to Moses and said to him: "I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name 'The Lord' I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens. I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
Say therefore to the Israelites, 'I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.'"
Exodus 6:1-9 – NRSV
How does the Lord respond to the complaints of this troubled people? He answers in the same two ways that he will throughout the years to come: these are the people who have worshiped me, and these are the works that I have done.
“I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” If you are going to have a faith like they have, if you are going to know the blessings that they know, if you are going to experience the saving power of their God, then you must believe and follow their God.
That God is not removed and uninterested in history, or even worse, capriciously involved in it. Instead this God moves with a mighty purpose: to call a people who will live in relationship with him, blessed by him and blessing him. In this case, God looks forward to the defining event that he will refer back to many times in the centuries to come: “I am the God who frees Israel.”
This God is the liberator God. This God is the God of Justice. This God is the saving God. He goes by many names, none of which is adequate, for he will always be beyond our understanding. He has befriended many, but each uniquely. He has acted many times, though not necessarily in ways we can understand in the moment, for he is a mysterious God. Although C. S. Lewis has reminded us that he is not a “tame God”, we can be sure of this: his steadfast love for us never ceases.
May we never cease to call out to the God who is beyond all names. May we never cease to befriend this God who has so many friends. May we never cease to worship our God, who has acted in so many surprising ways to save us. May we never cease to trust him, even when we have yet to understand the ways that he is acting, day by day, in our personal history.
Grace, and peace,
Ron
Friday, November 21, 2008
Enthroned on the praises of Israel ...
Any day is a good day to praise God;
Any place is a good place to glorify him.
And yet we neither praise God in every place
Nor glorify him every day. Why is that?
Perhaps there are days when we just don’t feel like it.
Maybe there are places in our lives where we feel
Too sad or too burdened to lift our voices to God.
But should we let those days or places exist?
Consider the example of Jesus.
Think about the worst time in his life;
Consider the worst place he ever was.
It’s not too hard to locate that, is it?
The day of his death, pinned to the cross …
Yet what does Jesus do on that day,
From that place? He quotes a psalm.
Not just any psalm. Psalm 22.
Remember the words from its first verse?
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
This appears to be, at first, Jesus asking a “why” question.
And we know that asking God a “why” question
Is asking God the wrong question, don’t we?
The Jewish people who heard Jesus would have known;
They would have understood that he was quoting the psalm,
And they would have understood that by quoting
Its first line, he was, in effect, quoting the entire psalm.
Even when he did not have the breath to speak it all.
This was a device used frequently in the synagogue,
And it still happens in our pulpits today.
A part stands for the whole. A synecdoche.
So Jesus does not merely ask why; in effect
He delivers his entire lament to his Father:
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.
Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
Where is God? Enthroned upon our praises!
Why do we praise this God?
In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved;
in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
Yet both the psalmist and Jesus
might understandably struggle
With trusting at this trying moment;
Neither might feel so close to salvation
While in the hands of their enemies …
But I am a worm, and not human;
scorned by others, and despised by the people.
All who see me mock at me;
they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
"Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver —
let him rescue the one in whom he delights!"
Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
you kept me safe on my mother's breast.
On you I was cast from my birth,
and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
And so the psalmist describes the feelings of his heart
In a way that eerily foretells the events of the cross,
So well that they easily become the words of Jesus:
Many bulls encircle me,
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs are all around me;
a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shriveled;
I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
they divide my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
But you, O Lord, do not be far away!
O my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!
Despite these heart-breaking events,
Both the psalmist and Jesus anticipate the shift,
The turning from the disaster, and
The returning from the grave.
And in that turning which only God can empower
Is found the ultimate reason for praising God.
From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he did not despise or abhor
the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,
but heard when I cried to him.
From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord.
May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before him.
For dominion belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord,
and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.
May we have the courage and faith to trust God today,
enough trust to be able say “He has done it”
even before he finishes doing it.
May we give God the glory today.
Blessings,
Ron
Quotations are from the NRSV.
Any place is a good place to glorify him.
And yet we neither praise God in every place
Nor glorify him every day. Why is that?
Perhaps there are days when we just don’t feel like it.
Maybe there are places in our lives where we feel
Too sad or too burdened to lift our voices to God.
But should we let those days or places exist?
Consider the example of Jesus.
Think about the worst time in his life;
Consider the worst place he ever was.
It’s not too hard to locate that, is it?
The day of his death, pinned to the cross …
Yet what does Jesus do on that day,
From that place? He quotes a psalm.
Not just any psalm. Psalm 22.
Remember the words from its first verse?
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
This appears to be, at first, Jesus asking a “why” question.
And we know that asking God a “why” question
Is asking God the wrong question, don’t we?
The Jewish people who heard Jesus would have known;
They would have understood that he was quoting the psalm,
And they would have understood that by quoting
Its first line, he was, in effect, quoting the entire psalm.
Even when he did not have the breath to speak it all.
This was a device used frequently in the synagogue,
And it still happens in our pulpits today.
A part stands for the whole. A synecdoche.
So Jesus does not merely ask why; in effect
He delivers his entire lament to his Father:
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.
Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
Where is God? Enthroned upon our praises!
Why do we praise this God?
In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved;
in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
Yet both the psalmist and Jesus
might understandably struggle
With trusting at this trying moment;
Neither might feel so close to salvation
While in the hands of their enemies …
But I am a worm, and not human;
scorned by others, and despised by the people.
All who see me mock at me;
they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
"Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver —
let him rescue the one in whom he delights!"
Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
you kept me safe on my mother's breast.
On you I was cast from my birth,
and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
And so the psalmist describes the feelings of his heart
In a way that eerily foretells the events of the cross,
So well that they easily become the words of Jesus:
Many bulls encircle me,
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs are all around me;
a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shriveled;
I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
they divide my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
But you, O Lord, do not be far away!
O my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!
Despite these heart-breaking events,
Both the psalmist and Jesus anticipate the shift,
The turning from the disaster, and
The returning from the grave.
And in that turning which only God can empower
Is found the ultimate reason for praising God.
From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he did not despise or abhor
the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,
but heard when I cried to him.
From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord.
May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before him.
For dominion belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord,
and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.
May we have the courage and faith to trust God today,
enough trust to be able say “He has done it”
even before he finishes doing it.
May we give God the glory today.
Blessings,
Ron
Quotations are from the NRSV.
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