Psalm 40, responding to the goodness of God!
It interests me in life how often we hear of people who through some circumstance or other suddenly develop an interest in God. That kind of “it’s all gone to pack sort of, I’m out in the harbour in a storm and the motors packed in”, or “the cars broken down in the middle of nowhere and it’s miles to walk up hill, in a torrential downpour, in bare feet on sharp gravel while being chased by a vicious swarm of bees”,
You know the sort of thing. Then it strikes them, “God; the refuge of fools and tyrants!” So I’ve heard him described by someone who would otherwise not have called on him, “I’ll cry out to God and see what happens.”
“God if you can just get me through this! God if the motor starts, God if you can organise a ride, I’ll dedicate the rest of my life, my first born, half my income, ten percent of my income, my lotto winnings (when it happens), I’ll go to church, I’ll look after my neighbour, volunteer at the SCPA, hospital, I’ll stop using that naughty word, I’ll be nice to people…well I’ll try!”
Have you heard those stories, nothing like a bargain with God emergency prayer, slap a few conditions on it and hope for the best? God hears all prayers and I pick that he answers those ones as well. I wonder if all those who make these bargains respond as they said they would?
In Psalm 40 we have this depiction of King David, praying in what we could think was a prayer a bit like this except that it’s a bit different.
King David’s circumstances might have been desperate, there is some thought that he was gravely ill on his death bed. There is other thinking that he was as he was being chased down by enemies, or that maybe he was in some sort of moral dilemma. What we do know is that he was in a spot of bother, what he describes as in “mud and mire”, as a “slippery pit”. He was in deep dire circumstances; his situation was not getting any better.
Have you ever been there, I can remember a time when I was asked by my Father to take a trailer load of rubbish to the tip. Sixteen years old and driving Dad’s new Cortina, I decided to see how the car would go with a bit of peddle on the gravel road at a place called Appleby. I was not being what I thought was too excessive but the trailer jack-knifed into the bank slid the car. It’s about then helpful people turn up, stranger lending a hand, “your old man won’t be too impressed then?” Mum when I got dropped off at her work…car had to be towed away, “I don’t know what your Fathers going to do”. Well what he didn't do was speak to me for three days and when he did, I didn't want to hear it. I’m sure most of us can recount a time or two?
King David cried out in whatever his circumstances were to the Lord who responded by lifting him out of the mud and mire and set him on a firm place…a place where he was no longer slipping around where his feet where firm. David was safe!
Something happens from here!
David’s response to the Lord’s saving him from his circumstance is a positive one. God does another thing. David says it this way, “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.”
Here’s a question for you, do you remember those times when you could praise God for what he had done in response to your prayers?
A friend of mine would come to prayer meetings with great lists of things we had prayed for previously, including a time when one of her Grandsons was gravely ill for over a year, touch and go stuff. She would bring out the list of requests that we had made to our heavenly Father in the name of Jesus. She would read this list and say there’s a P.T.L. Being a bit slow off the mark it took me a while to realise, P.T.L meant; Praise The Lord! We did, for we had much to be thankful for, her records were comprehensive…this lady was a prayer warrior and I’m sure she sang many new songs to the Lord for those things he set in firm places. God is good!
David in Psalm 40 says “Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.” Answered prayer is a huge witness, to see people healed, futures realised, demons flee, and people restored. These are awesome things. To see this as a response to a prayer request is a wonderful thing.
What is it David says? “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust”.
As Christians we live in a world of wonders, we have this vast understanding of God available to us, while others may find themselves embroiled in temporary pleasures, we have available to us an understanding of the connection between heaven and earth. We cannot just see the light reflected, shimmering, but live in eternal relationship with the light for Jesus is the Light of the World. We no longer just have to hear songs but can sing a new song of praise to God for what he has done!
Do you struggle to understand this?
I’ve borrowed the following words from Father Luke Dysinger, a Catholic Priest, it’s about meditating on scripture, in a way they call lectio divina or ‘divine reading’ to those of us who speak English.
“Lectio divina is a slow, contemplative praying of the Scriptures. Time set aside in a special way for [divine reading] enables us to discover in our daily life an underlying spiritual rhythm. Within this rhythm, we discover an increasing ability to offer more of ourselves and our relationships to the Father, and to accept the embrace that God is continuously extending to us in the person of his son, Jesus Christ.
Very often our concerns, our relationships, our hopes and aspirations, naturally intertwine with our meditations on the Scriptures. We can attend ‘with the ear of our hearts’ to our own memories, listening for God's presence in the events of our lives. We experience Christ reaching out to us through our own memories. Our own personal story becomes salvation history.”
Another question is this how long would you set aside to engage and I mean really engage with God through his word? David said “I waited patiently for the Lord”. How long would you set aside and wait for the awesomeness of God to come to you through his word? As long as it takes to watch Shortland Street, a World Cup game, as long as a lecture, a advertorial for some exercise machine or skincare product. An hour, a week, a month…longer? Or does he get the briefest of moments a fleeting sentence or two? If our jobs, our pets, our hobbies, our gardens, our housekeeping or relationships with loved ones got as much attention as our relationship with God how would they look?
Today I’ve given you a hand-out something to take home it’s about this Divine reading, about meditating on the word of God. The reason being is that this week we are focusing on prayer, all week in part relating to the International congress in London next year but also as we just spend the week talking with and listening to God. Over the next week I’d like everyone here to put some time aside to try this.
From : Father Luke Dysinger, O.S.B.
Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Catholic/2000/08/How-To-Practice-Lectio-Divina.aspx#Yv3Yr7VVcILiZOIR.99
As a starting point on this divine reading, this praying through scripture I’ve started with Psalm 40 which is itself a response to a prayer, a song of praise for what God has done. This week will you spend time understanding the rhythm of divine reading and try it with Psalm forty and let me know next week what God revealed to you through his word?
