Praying through the Psalms, Week 2 (Psalm 6-10)

Psalm 6

Truth #1: The Lord hears my prayer no matter how difficult life may seem. Even when we are overwhelmed, sad, grieving, in pain, or feel like we are being punished. The Lord still hears (and accepts!) my prayer.

Truth #2: Sometimes the Lord saves us “for the sake of his steadfast love”, and because it means we can worship and glorify him more (can I do that when I am dead, according to verse 5?)

Observations and meditations:

Can these verses apply to the Lord Jesus as prophecy? He was a “man of sorrows”, and he wept, both at the death of Lazarus and in Gethsemane. Not hard to picture Jesus praying this Psalm about himself.

I think I read this Psalm early in my divorce and I remember it bringing me some solace as I sat on my couch and cried, just like the verse 6.

We really want a baby, and it has been very hard not getting pregnant yet. The hurt hasn’t quite approached this level of despair, but this Psalm is good to hear this week.

Psalm 7

Truth #1: God is a righteous judge and he judges everyone, both good and bad. Since Jesus is God, Jesus is the righteous judge.

Truth #2: The daily judgments of God play themselves out in “natural” consequences like in verses 14-16.

Observations and meditations:

Verse 6-7: ‘Arise, O Lord…lift yourself up...” Jesus rose and was lifted up, on the cross, and then into heaven. “Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high”, the assembly is the Church and Christ rules over it from “on high”.

The Psalmist welcomes the Lord to judge himself, not just his enemies. I should not want myself to be exempt from the judgement of God, but rather to be judged “according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.”

Psalm 8

Truth #1: Despite his might, majesty, and all of His other incredible creations, The Lord created humanity and cares for us, and has given us great authority over His creation.

Truth #2: Jesus quotes Psalm 8:2 (the LXX) as a fulfilled prophecy of the children praising Him in the temple. This means Jesus is the Lord in this Psalm.

Observations and meditations:

I have felt the Psalmists feelings about the Lord when standing on the beach overlooking the vastness of ocean, or staring into the stars on a dark clear night. The Lord is in fact majestic and all of creation testifies to it.

This Psalm tells us about the place of humanity “being made a little lower than the angels”, but I think the Psalm could equally apply to Jesus. He is the ‘son of man that [the Lord] cares for him’, and he was made ‘a little lower than the angels’ by taking on the form flesh and ‘not considering equality with God something to be grasped’. The Father crowned him with glory and honor and gave him dominion over everything. Jesus is the fulfilment of humanity. Praise be to God!

I just taught through Matthew 21 this week, so it was fitting to read and pray through this Psalm in it’s fuller context.

Creed and Brother Lawrence

This week I read through the Nicene Creed.

This week I read conversation #2 from The Practice of the Presence of God.

It stuck out to me that Brother Lawrence, a devout Roman Catholic, was described as confessing his sins directly to God. When I think of Catholic confession, right or wrong, I think of it being much more formal and to another person (in contrast with the Protestant tendencies to not confess to anyone).