Preaching the Psalms
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Moving
I have moved this blog to my new website. I hope you will follow me there. To go to website click here or go to http://patriciamrobertson.com.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Psalm 40: Mountain Top Moments
As I roamed the ruins beside San Francisco el Grande
Church in Antigua, Guatemala, on a sunny morning, I decided to climb a set of
stairs. By the time I reached the top of the stairs I was short of breath from
the heat and the climb as I stepped into a panorama that took what remained of
my breath away. Mountains on three sides and the ruins of the church on the
remaining side, and I thought, God, you are too wonderful!
Such are the words of the psalmist. Our God is too
wonderful for our comprehension!
“I waited and waited,” the writer of Psalm 40
begins. He has been experiencing a time of trial and wonders, will it ever end.
We here, in Michigan, in the midst of a seemingly endless winter might well
ask, will spring ever arrive? What does it mean to wait patiently for God?
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Psalm 39 - Why Does Life Have to be so Hard?
God, why does life have to be so hard? I know my
sinfulness, you know it too—after all you created me. If you know my nature
then why be so harsh when I act in accord with that nature; when I behave in
ways that are all too human? Remember, I am but a passing guest in this world
we call life. Remember the laws of hospitality. Treat me as befitting a guest.
Extend your gracious hospitality to me, not your angry looks, or else how can
anyone bear this life? – Random reflections on Psalm 39
As the Christian season of Lent begins, I am
reminded of the phrase, “Remember man, that thou art dust and to dust you shall
return,” as ashes are placed on foreheads. Ashes are a reminder of our
mortality. We come from dust and will return to dust, but, oh, there is so much
more to life than that. Still it is fitting to reflect on where we came from
and where we are going now and then.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Psalm 38: Whatever Happened to Guilt
Dietrich
Bonhoeffer in his book, Psalms: The
Prayer Book of the Bible, tell us:
“If we want to read and to pray the prayers of the Bible and especially
the Psalms, therefore, we must not ask first what they have to do with us, but
what they have to do with Jesus Christ.
We must ask how we can understand the Psalms as God’s Word, and then we
shall be able to pray them. It does not depend, therefore, on whether the
Psalms express adequately that which we feel at a given moment in our heart. If
we are to pray aright, perhaps it is quite necessary that we pray contrary to
our own heart. Not what we want to pray is important, but what God wants us to
pray . . . The richness of the Word of God ought to determine our prayer, not
the poverty of our heart.” (pp. 14-15)
I
was struck by this when reading Psalm 38. What does this psalm have to do with
me, I asked myself. The psalm is about someone afflicted with terrible guilt
over a wrong-doing. If written by David, this would be appropriate. He slept
with another man’s wife then arranged for her husband to be killed in battle.
Certainly this is a sin worthy of this psalm.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Psalm 37 - Wait for the Lord
Waiting is a routine part of life. We
are always waiting for something or someone, and yet, for all the waiting we
do, most of us do it poorly. We are in a hurry, easily frustrated and can burst
into anger when we have to wait more than a minute for a download of a video
from u-tube.
Our psalmist for today is older and
wiser. His years in life have taught him the value of waiting on the Lord, “Be
still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him,” (7a) “Wait for the Lord and
keep to his way.” (34a) Evil may appear at times to triumph but this triumph is
short-lived, “For the wicked shall be cut off; but those who wait for the Lord
shall possess the land.” (9)
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Psalm 36 - A Question of Evil
From whence comes our fascination with
serial killers? Every week the TV series, Criminal Minds, gives us yet another
psychopathic killer, each competing with the last weeks to be even more devious
and deadly. And now with the addition of the TV series, The Following, we have
the “ultra” super villain, one who not only kills, but actively recruits
followers to widen his web of destruction. Once the head is chopped off,
hundreds of off-spring will pop up like terrorist cells to ensure his legacy
continues. What is up with this? Why this fascination with evil?
When we think of psychopaths our minds
go naturally to these killers, yet their numbers are few and far between
despite what TV might lead us to believe. There are far more psychopaths living
among us who many never physically harm anyone yet they leave a path of
destruction in their wake. A psychopath is someone with no conscience who feels
no empathy for others. As Webster tells us, a psychopath is “a person who
engages in antisocial behavior and exhibits a pervasive disregard for the
rights, feelings, and safety of others.” If they are caught and made to pay for
their crimes, they feel no remorse for the pain they caused others.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Psalm 35 - A Very Human Psalm
In contrast to last week’s psalm wherein the writer
instructs us to bless the Lord at all times, Psalm 35 shows no such
magnanimity. Unlike Psalm 34 which is all about God, this one is all about me,
the writer! It is a personal appeal for deliverance from one who is being
falsely accused and plotted against. Written in three sections, each part ends
with words of thanksgiving (vs. 9-10, 18, 28). It could be three separate
incidents involving one person, or a composite of accounts by three different
authors.
In the first, powerful foes plot against the life
and property of the writer who calls upon God to come to his assistance. He
asks God to do battle for him, “Take hold of shield and buckler . . . Draw the
spear and javelin.” (2-3)
In the second section the enemies are former friends
who have turned against the writer. “They requite me evil for good.” (12) When
they were sick the psalmist wore sackcloth, fasted and prayed for them, “as
though I grieved for my friend or brother.” (14) Now that he is in trouble they
mock and slander him, “they impiously mocked more and more, gnashing at me with
their teeth (a Biblical gesture of scorn).” (16) How much more hurtful is the
betrayal by a friend. We expect our friends to be on our side.
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