Psalm 91 and Cliche: Day 5 of Lent

Today was the First Sunday in Lent, which means Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 is the Psalm reading for today. It says:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”

For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.

For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.

“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
“He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
“With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation.”

This portion of Psalm 91 is used because the Gospel reading deals with Jesus’ wilderness experience post-baptism (Luke 4); it gives us a bigger picture into Jesus rebuttal of the satan in his quoting of verses 11-12. While there, the satan comes to him in order to tempt him in areas of his identity and mission. Offers are presented before Jesus, yet they are based on conditions Jesus won’t indulge in. In many ways, he is offered what is rightfully his, but through means that aren’t correct.

Through it all, this Psalm gives us confidence concerning God’s sheltering care. Jesus rested in this care and so should we.

Yet, sometimes I struggle with this because it seems so cliche.

We’ve all heard people say similar things. “God loves you and will be there for you.” Easy to say; more difficult to hear.

I sometimes struggle with it because when I enter into open spaces where vulnerability is allowed to flourish, I often hide behind self-made walls instead of trusting that Jesus is with me in them. My tendency is to hide behind these walls in order to preserve myself by not allowing anyone in, including God and his sheltering love. I end up isolated and alone, wallowing in my own grief and trouble, wondering where God might be in this.

And so, when people quote verses or give reassurance of God’s love within the storm, it bounces off my defensive walls and shows itself in statements such as, “You don’t know what it is like” or “You’ve never dealt with these things.” Their statements automatically get filed in the “Cliche” folder never to see the light of day. God is shut out and so are his people.

Or maybe the sentiments found in this Psalm and elsewhere smack of cliche due to my lack of being in the storm. I wonder how many cliche statements remain cliche due to our lack of life in the way of Jesus. Learning to live like Jesus means that we will face temptations and will need to rest in the ever-present covering of God. I wonder if I mistake the reality of God’s love for cliche because of my timidness in following after Jesus.

It only remains cliche until we’ve lived through it.

I wonder if this is how it was for Jesus. N.T. Wright says,

Perhaps Jesus has memorized it [Psalm 91] ahead of time and was already using it as a prayer, day by day, to help him through the tough test he was facing. And the devil, seeing he isn’t going to succeed by a direct assault on Jesus’ senses or appetites, tries a different tack: ‘If you really believed this Psalm, then wouldn’t you trust God so much that you could throw off the Temple? Doesn’t it say he’ll send his angels to protect you? Perhaps you don’t believe it after all. Perhaps you’re just pretending…

I wonder if at that moment the word of God memorized by the incarnate Word of God transformed into reality and simultaneously defeated the satan. I wonder if all the things Jesus had learned from the rabbi of his youth came rushing back to him, yet in this moment it was the experiential flood of his Father’s love that cut through cliche and changed everything.

I wonder.

As I have faced difficult times I have learned the reality of God’s love always being present and every-ready. I see it more and more as I cultivate eyes to see and ears to hear through placing myself under Jesus’ master teaching. Although I don’t want it, this teaching leads to life, which, paradoxically, comes through death.

Jesus did not say you will not be tempest-tossed. But he did say, ‘You will not be overcome.’ – Julian of Norwich

I pray, for myself and for you, that this Lent may cut through the seemingly cliche as we together begin to live life like Jesus. Place yourself under God’s protection. There is no better place to be.

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Other posts in this Lent series:

Moving Beyond Immediate (and) Affirmation or Why I Will Be Blogging Through Lent

“Divine Sorrow” and Remembering: Ash Wednesday

Longings, Presence, and Vulnerability: Day 2 of Lent

Being Led by the Gentle Voice of God: A Notebook and 3 Questions: Day 3 of Lent

Lent Around the Blogosphere: 10 Links: Day 4 of Lent

First Sunday of Lent: A Prayer

Psalm 88

When was the last time you heard a sermon or study on Psalm 88? I would be willing to bet that you never have, especially if you are part  of an evangelical/conservative church. We tend to see Christianity as a faith of joy, smiles, and overall goodness depicted by things going well for us. This is at least true in the Western, American church.

Yet Psalm 88 slaps us in the face and reminds us that life isn’t so simple.

Lurking beneath the veneer of happiness and smiling faces lies the reality that life is difficult and God doesn’t always appear as our close friend. The songs we sing where we will always praise God, always feel his close presence, and always be found in some weird form of “boyfriend-girlfriend” type relationship isn’t true.

Reality is found in that we don’t always have this type of experience. Life is difficult and God doesn’t always seem just “a phone call away.” Thankfully, our forebears, the Hebrews, remind us of this in Psalm 88. As Eugene Peterson says, “The Greeks had a story for every situation; the Hebrews had a prayer for every situation.” And for the absence of God they wrote and lived out Psalm 88.

Read it below and allow it to sink in. Maybe our faith needs to be disoriented a bit.

¹ LORD, you are the God who saves me;
day and night I cry out to you.
² May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.

³ I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.
⁴ I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am like one without strength.
⁵ I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.

⁶ You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
⁷ Your wrath lies heavily on me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
⁸ You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
⁹ my eyes are dim with grief.

I call to you, LORD, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
¹⁰ Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
¹¹ Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction^[e]?
¹² Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

¹³ But I cry to you for help, LORD;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ Why, LORD, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?

¹⁵ From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
¹⁶ Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
¹⁷ All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
¹⁸ You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
darkness is my closest friend.

Psalm 80: Restore us

I read this Psalm this morning as part of the Morning Office. I thought I’d post it just in case someone out there hadn’t read it yet or perhaps it has been awhile. I have no comments on it; the words speak for themselves. Read and reflect.

Psalm 80

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” Of Asaph. A psalm.

¹ Hear us, Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,
shine forth ² before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Awaken your might;
come and save us.

³ Restore us, O God;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.

⁴ How long, LORD God Almighty,
will your anger smolder
against the prayers of your people?
⁵ You have fed them with the bread of tears;
you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.
⁶ You have made us an object of derision to our neighbors,
and our enemies mock us.

⁷ Restore us, God Almighty;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.

⁸ You transplanted a vine from Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
⁹ You cleared the ground for it,
and it took root and filled the land.
¹⁰ The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
¹¹ Its branches reached as far as the Sea,
its shoots as far as the River.

¹² Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
¹³ Boars from the forest ravage it,
and insects from the fields feed on it.
¹⁴ Return to us, God Almighty!
Look down from heaven and see!
Watch over this vine,
¹⁵ the root your right hand has planted,
the son you have raised up for yourself.

¹⁶ Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire;
at your rebuke your people perish.
¹⁷ Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
¹⁸ Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.

¹⁹ Restore us, LORD God Almighty;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.

Sunlight

This is a new picture of the sun taken by a NASA satellite. According to the article, the picture is 10 times clearer than an HD tv, which is allowing scientists to see things in a way never seen before. The above picture looks fake, but it isn’t. Pretty amazing, huh?

Reminds me of C.S. Lewis’ famous quote: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

Yet, I think the ancient author of Psalm 148 said it best,

“Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
Praise Him in the heights!
Praise Him, all His angels;
Praise Him, all His hosts!
Praise Him, sun and moon;
Praise Him, all stars of light!
Praise Him, highest heavens,
And the waters that are above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the LORD,
For He commanded and they were created.”