Psalms

learning to hold you by the hand

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
 Photo by Liv Bruce on Unsplash
 
Father, here is something I can share with everyone in the world:
We cannot all be brilliant or rich or beautiful.
We cannot all dream beautiful dreams like You give some of us.
We cannot all enjoy music.
Our hearts do not all burn with love.
 
But all of us can learn to hold You by the hand and rest.
And when You are ready to speak 
    the fresh thoughts of heaven will flow in like a crystal spring.
All of us rests at the end of the day,
   and what a world of gain if everyone could rest
   in Your waiting arms, Father, 
   and listen until You whisper.
 
Frank C. Laubach, 1884 – 1970, American missionary the Philippines
 
_____________________________
 
 
I remember the days of old;
    I meditate on all that you have done;
    I ponder the work of your hands.
I stretch out my hands to you;
    my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.

Continue reading →

I lift my eyes to the heavens

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Kadisha Valley, Lebanon via Wikimedia Commons


I lift up my eyes to the one who dwells in the heavens.
I lift up my eyes as Abraham lifted his 
    when he wanted to see the eternal promise and seed. 
I lift up my eyes to count the stars of heaven, 
    believing that you are a generous God. 
Like Isaiah, I raise my eyes to contemplate the power of the Most High. 
Like Nebuchadnezzar, I lift up my eyes to you. 
Then my mind is restored and I can bless the Lord of heaven, the Most High.

Before a stinking grave, I lift up my eyes to the Lord of everlasting life. 
Like Jesus, I lift up my eyes, asking that all people know the true God. 
When I meet a mute or deaf person, I lift up my eyes to the Lord of heaven. 
When I need bread and fish, with a thankful heart I raise my eyes. 


Like Stephen, I bow down on my knees. Then
    I lift up my eyes to see heaven open up in the midst of a bloody age. 
On the fields of Samaria, I raise my eyes to see a great harvest 
    in which Arabs and Jews are saved. 
I lift up my eyes to be transformed and to become a divine tool 
    for changing the oppressor 
    and for helping the oppressed and the poor.

Like the eyes of servants looking towards their masters 
    and maids towards their ladies, 
    so my eyes will be lifted up to God, 
    seeking mercy and compassion.
Today I will not look backward like the wife of Lot. 
I will not stare blindly like the servant of Elisha 
    who did not see the angels of God. 
Unlike Asaph, I will not look at the strength of evildoers. 
But like John at Patmos, I will turn towards the voice that speaks to me, 
    in order to behold your greatness. 
O God who lives in the heavens, I lift up my eyes to you.


Yohanna Katanacho, 1967 – , Palestinian Israeli evangelical theologian
Praying through the Psalms


___________________


Psalm 123


To you I lift up my eyes,
    O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
Behold, as the eyes of servants
    look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
    to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he has mercy upon us.

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
    for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than enough
    of the scorn of those who are at ease,
    of the contempt of the proud.

Juneteenth prayer

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

image by Devin Avery via unsplash

Today, we commemorate the end of slavery in America.
This day partially reminds us of the progress made.
This day also partially reminds us of the progress we have not made.
We celebrate the freedom of black lives in our nation.
We grieve that we have not correctly reconciled racism in our nation.

You created each person in Your image.
The two greatest commandments call us to love You with all our heart, souls, and minds;
Then, to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Your love for us motivates us to love each other.
If we do not love each other, then ultimately, we have not experienced Your love.

As much as we commemorate and celebrate Juneteenth, we grieve this day.
We mourn that our black brothers and sisters have not been loved as our neighbors.
We mourn that our black brothers and sisters have been treated less than created in Your image throughout history.
So, Lord, we confess our sins and repent.
The healing and reconciliation we desire comes from the gospel.

On Juneteenth this year, we ask You to guide our nation.
May the good news of the gospel motivate us to love each other.
May the ideals of our words match the practices of our lives.
May a fresh empowerment of Your Spirit unite us together.
Give us eyes to see and ears to hear Your will and leading.

Peter Englert, discipleship pastor in upstate New York

source

___________________

Psalm 146:7-9

He upholds the cause of the oppressed
    and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
   the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
    the Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the foreigner
    and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
    but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

Make us channels of healing and comfort

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
The Potato Eaters, Van Gogh, 1885
 
God of life
God of justice
God of love and mercy
 
God the provider
God our refuge and sustainer
God our comforter
 
Hear the plight of those living in squalid conditions
We present the vulnerabilities of the widows,
orphans, sick, the aged, and unemployed
We present their needs before you
We appeal to you to meet them at their point of need
 
Give them hope and faith in you
Give them courage to soldier on
Give them resilience and tenacity
 
We pray that while the powers that
have tended to ignore their plight
you will be the eyes and ears that see and listen
to their heartfelt needs
 
We pray that you make us the instrument
and the channel of healing and source of comfort;
We appear to you to make us relevant and effective
to those in need.
Amen.
 
complied by Claudio Carvalhaes, professor of worship in New York City
Liturgies from Below: Praying with People at the End of the World
________________________
 
Psalm 82:1-4 
 
God has taken his place in the divine council;
    in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
“How long will you judge unjustly
    and show partiality to the wicked?
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
    maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
    deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
________________________

Question

What is one action you can take
   that could become a channel of blessing for a person in need?

slow me down, Lord

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Sequoia trees via Pickpic
 
 
Give me, amid the confusion of the day,
    the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions
    of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music
    of the singing streams that live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical,
    restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations-
    of slowing down to look at a flower,
    to chat with a friend, to pat a dog,
    to read a few lines from a good book.
Remind me each day
    of the fable of the hare and the tortoise,
    that I may know
    that the race is not always to the swift-
    there is more to life than increasing speed.
Let me look upward
    into the branches of the towering oak and know
    that it grew slowly and well.
Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send
    my roots deep in the soil of life’s enduring values
    that I may grow towards the stars
    of my greater destiny.

Richard Cushing, 1895 – 1970, American Catholic Archbishop
The Westminster Collection of Christian Prayers

_____________________________

Psalm 121:1-8

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.

_____________________

Question

What is an area of your life where you need to slow down, 
    or at least take some minute breaks?
What steps can you take to slow down and trust God 
    to accomplish his purposes in your life?
​

Lord, I sometimes wander away from you

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
The Lost Sheep, William James Webbe via Wikimedia Commons
 
Lord, I sometimes wander away from you.
But this is not because I am deliberately turning my back on you.
It is because of the inconstancy of my mind.
I weaken in my intention to give my whole soul to you.
I fall back into thinking of myself as my own master.
But when I wander from you,
   my life becomes a burden,
      and within me I find nothing
         but darkness and wretchedness,
            fear and anxiety.
So I come back to you,
   and confess that I have sinned against you.
And I know you will forgive me.

Aelred of Rievaulx, c. 1109-1167, Abbot of Rievaulx in northern England
2000 Years of Prayer

______________________

Psalm 32:1-5 

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
    and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent,
    my bones wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
    my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
I acknowledged my sin to you,
    and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

______________________

Question

What would help you to evaluate your heart 
    and confess your sins to God on a more regular basis?

Evening Prayer of Forgiveness

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Repentance of Mary Magdalene and Peter, El Greco, via Wikimedia Commons
 
O Lord Jesus Christ . . . .
    be merciful and forgive me, Your unworthy servant,
    if somehow I have sinned this day as a human,
    or rather as an inhuman.
Forgive my voluntary and involuntary sins,
    the ones I committed in knowledge or in ignorance,
    the ones that have been done
    out of evil influences and carelessness
    and my great indolence and negligence.
Forgive me, O Lord,
    if I have taken an oath by Your holy name
    or if I have violated my oath;
    if I have sworn in my mind
    or if I have somehow irritated You;
    if I have stolen
    or if I have lied;
    if a friend came to me and I ignored him
    or if I have distressed and embittered my brother . . . .
    if I looked upon vain beauty
    and my mind was attracted by it;
    if I was overly talkative about improper things
    or if I busied myself with faults of my brother
    and condemned him
    while overlooking my own innumerable faults;
    if I have neglected my prayer
    of if I have brought to mind any other evil thing.
Forgive me, O God,
    your useless servant,
    all these and whatever other things
    I have done and do not remember.
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
    for You are good and You love mankind,
    so that I, the prodigal one,
    may go to bed and fall asleep
    glorifying You,
    together with the Father
    and Your all-holy, good and life-creating Spirit,
    now and ever and unto the ages of ages.
Amen.

St. Ephrem the Syrian c. 306-378, Syrian hymn writer and theologian

_________________________

Psalm 130:1-4

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
     Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
    to my cry for mercy.
If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
    Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
    so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
___________________

Question

Thinking though today, what is something you did or didn’t do that you could ask forgiveness for?

My Ego is like a Fortress

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Photo by Margarida CSilva on Unsplash  

 
My ego is like a fortress.
I have built its walls stone by stone
To hold out the invasion of the love of God.
But I have stayed here long enough.  There is light
Over the barriers. O My God-
The darkness of my house forgive
And overtake my soul.
I relax the barriers.
I abandon all that I think I am,
All that I hope to be,
All that I believe I possess.
I let go of the past,
I withdraw my grasping hand from the future,
And in the great silence of this moment,
I alertly rest my soul.
As the sea gull lays in the wind current,
So I lay myself in the spirit of God.
My dearest human relationships,
My most precious dreams,
I surrender to His care.
All that I have called my own
I give back.  All my favorite things
Which I would withhold in my storehouse
From his fearful tyranny,
I let go.
I give myself
Unto Thee, O my God.
    Amen.

Howard Thurman, 1899-1981, African-American theologian civil rights leader
Say Amen! The African American Family’s Book of Prayers

______________________

Psalm 51:17

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.

______________________
 
Questions:

When you project your own ego, what do you think it looks like to other people?    

To God?

Drown my Transgressions

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

image

 
O Father in heaven,
I come to You in lowliness of heart
begging You to drown my transgressions
in the sea of You own infinite love.

My failure to be true even to my own accepted standards,
My self-deception in the face of temptation,
My choosing the worse when I know the better,
       O Lord, forgive.
My failure to apply to myself the standards of conduct I demand of others,
My blindness to the suffering of others
   and my slowness to be taught by my own,
My complacence toward wrongs that do not touch my own case
   and my over-sensitiveness to those that do,
My slowness to see the good in my fellows
   and to see the evil in myself,
My hardness of heart towards my neighbors’ faults
   and my readiness to make allowance for my own,
My unwillingness to believe that You have called me to a small work
   and my brother to a great one.
      O Lord, forgive.

John Baillie, 1886–1960, Scottish theologian
A Diary of Private Prayer, slightly edited
___________________________

Psalm 51:10-12

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit. 

_________________________

Questions

What is it like for you when you come clean 

    and confess your heart’s attitudes to God?  
Have you ever felt cleansed and renewed by God’s spirit?

How excellent is your mercy!

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

image via Vecteezy

 
O Lord our God, how excellent is your name in all the World!
Your glorious majesty is excellent, but that brings me nothing;
    your justice is excellent, but that brings me nothing.
It is your mercy that must do me good,
    and therefore your other excellencies I adore,
    but this I invocate.
To invoke your justice, I dare not;
    your glory, I cannot,
    but your mercy, I both dare and can.
 
For why should I not dare, when fear gives me boldness?
How should I not be able when weakness gives me strength?
Why should I not dare, when you invite me to it?
How should I not be able when you draw me to it?
 
Do you invite me, and I shall not come?
Do you draw me, and I shall draw back?
Can there be a patron so powerful as you?
Can there be a beggar so dejected as myself?
 
Whom, then, is it more fit to ask for mercy than you, O God,
    who are the God of mercy?
And for whom is it more fit to ask for mercy than for me
    who am a creature of misery?
 
Richard Baxter, 1615 – 1691, English Puritan
Reformation Commentary on Scripture Psalms 1-72

_________________________
 
Psalm 51:1-2
 
Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
  according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

_________________________

Questions

Do you believe that God’s mercies are always available for you?
Do you believe that God’s mercy invites and encourages you 
    to confess your failures to him?