This week I have another psalm to reflect on. I love the psalms. They are so authentic. They say it as it is! And this the language of mission these days. Young people look at faith when “it does what it says on the tin”. Equally, and of course remembering that we all fall short and are saved by grace, a life that does not reflect the reality of God’s love is not trusted.
And we of course read and pray the psalms in Jesus name, so we can apply them to our lives. We sometimes forget that Jesus our saviour knew (and quoted) the psalms.
David, the author, is in the desert in Judah. He tells us he is thirsty in a dry and parched place. Where will he find water? He may be rationing his supplies. He then recalls God’s provision - almost a reverie of a different time, worshipping in the safety of God’s sanctuary…
1You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
6 On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
7 Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8 I cling to you;
your right hand upholds me.
Then he clings on, knowing that God is holding him. The right hand is significant. Another psalm (73: 23) talks about “holding me by my right hand”. So, a handshake – hand in hand (and eye to eye perhaps) with God. What a great picture.
And back to that dry place. The student term has started here at the university. The new fun and exploration of arrival has been done. Now it is tough. The campus is cooler – an Autumn nip, and the post Covid 19 lifestyle complex and unfamiliar. It is difficult to feel God. Perhaps our equivalent of David’s desert.
So, we too cling on. Finally, I love the reference to the watches of the night. At night, when sleep has slowed the distracting human lifestyle noise of the day, and we awake in the small hours, there we can hear God. It is as if we are able to hear his still small voice in the quietness. Things on our mind fall into place. Sometimes we need to write ideas down…
It is a reminder to us that God is there, and he knows where we are, and goes with us, hand in hand, into whatever the day will bring.
Nigel
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