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Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
October 2, 2023
Invitatory
Thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, “I dwell in the high and holy place and also with the one who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Reading: Psalm 89:1-18
Part I Diligam te, Domine.
1 I love you, O Lord my strength, *
O Lord my stronghold, my crag, and my haven.
2 My God, my rock in whom I put my trust, *
my shield, the horn of my salvation, and my refuge;
you are worthy of praise.
3 I will call upon the Lord, *
and so shall I be saved from my enemies.
4 The breakers of death rolled over me, *
and the torrents of oblivion made me afraid.
5 The cords of hell entangled me, *
and the snares of death were set for me.
6 I called upon the Lord in my distress *
and cried out to my God for help.
7 He heard my voice from his heavenly dwelling; *
my cry of anguish came to his ears.
8 The earth reeled and rocked; *
the roots of the mountains shook;
they reeled because of his anger.
9 Smoke rose from his nostrils
and a consuming fire out of his mouth; *
hot burning coals blazed forth from him.
10 He parted the heavens and came down *
with a storm cloud under his feet.
11 He mounted on cherubim and flew; *
he swooped on the wings of the wind.
12 He wrapped darkness about him; *
he made dark waters and thick clouds his pavilion.
13 From the brightness of his presence, through the clouds, *
burst hailstones and coals of fire.
14 The Lord thundered out of heaven; *
the Most High uttered his voice.
15 He loosed his arrows and scattered them; *
he hurled thunderbolts and routed them.
16 The beds of the seas were uncovered,
and the foundations of the world laid bare, *
at your battle cry, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
17 He reached down from on high and grasped me; *
he drew me out of great waters.
18 He delivered me from my strong enemies
and from those who hated me; *
for they were too mighty for me.
19 They confronted me in the day of my disaster; *
but the Lord was my support.
20 He brought me out into an open place; *
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
Meditation - Rebecca Northington
Week after week the choir sings the psalms, and perhaps for many the words are lost in the melody. Often they are poems of praise, and occasionally we laugh at a line, or are warmed by a phrase; but I am not sure how many of us truly comprehend a psalm in its entirety.
As I read this psalm I considered the youth, or more honestly my own experience of adolescence. I can vividly remember those moments when I felt persecuted by a friend, a teacher, or a coach; by a social nemesis or a true “enemy”. Or maybe even a bad choice that led to a cacophony of miserable outcomes. I felt terribly sorry for myself, and terribly alone. I hope that I prayed for guidance, support or love; but more realistically I prayed for retribution, for God to vindicate me, and for all of those who treated me badly, to pay.
The power of God’s coming in fury in this psalm is almost breathtaking. God would move mountains for us, for me! But it is not lost on me that before God comes down in violent heroics the psalmist has offered praise and thanksgiving: “I love you…you are worthy of praise”; and after God rescues the author he is delivered “into an open place”, “he rescued me because he delighted in me”. The final lines evoke a calming peace, and we are once again steadied in God’s love.
Day after day, week after week, we are bombarded by research that shows us how our kids are struggling. They are caught up in the web of social dilemmas that play out not only in the classrooms, halls and fields of their day to day, but hourly, 24/7, in their virtual worlds. More than ever today we must recognize that we are not able to protect our kids, nor sweep the challenges that face them into oblivion. Now more than ever we must see that we are not God.
I can picture these kids crying out in despair, and I hope that they will consider the psalms, where they may not find solutions, or God like interventions, but perhaps a precedent for human pain and suffering, and the hope for salvation. They, like the psalmists of the 5th century BCE, can overcome; and while we may fantasize of justice through angry God driven vengeance, the truth is we all really yearn for, and are healed by, the final peace that comes with God’s love and forgiveness.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
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