Clarifying Peace
  • The Facts
  • Calling Mother
  • Spiritual Direction
  • Blog
  • poetry, story telling, and prayers
  • Essays and Papers
  • Contact

Psalm 25: To you, O God, I Lift Up My Head; For I Wait for You

4/12/2021

0 Comments

 

I am not worthy to unpack Psalm 25. This is one of the most beloved of
all psalms. Yet, psalms are for intended public and private devotion.
So, I will tell you what draws me in as I read, study and meditate on
this one.

You may know that this psalm is an alphabetic acrostic, according to
the Hebrew alphabet with the exception of 3 letters which Jewish
interpreters tell us reference the word hell. Psalm 25 is nearly 2500
years old. Its value is ancient and new. Along with fervent reading it
has been beautifully chanted and sung through the ages. It is
attributed to David, some of whose experiences we can recall as we
read.

It begins, “To you, O God, I lift up my soul.” If I lift up my soul to
God, I am asking for a blessing, to be raised up, asking “Bless my
soul.” Throughout the entirety of the psalm, David maintains his
posture of humility. Then David, asserts his trust in God, petitions
for care, for mercy, for protection from shame by his enemies, and
begs God to not remember his sins, but to remember him only in tender
love. He recalls the ways of God, who is faithful to instruct sinners.
Friendship with God is real. Then, “turn to me for I am lonely and
afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and bring me out of my
distress.” David wills that he be aligned with God, the one who saves
him. David commits to wait, as a waiter waits upon the one he serves.
He waits for guidance, for instruction. Waiting requires patience and
awareness.

In The Discerning Heart: Exploring the Christian Path by Wilkie and
Noreen Cannon Au, we read “Patience entails a commitment to be still
in the midst of a painful situation until we understand what is going
on. Awareness . . . can be the beginning of a way out of dead ends and
painful places because awareness leads to responsibility, that is, the
ability to respond.” (page 30) Wilkie and Noreen tell us that patience
is a virtue that allows us to not just endure an experience but to
actively go through it, to face it in order to search out its meaning.

If God will instruct the sinner and lead the humble then perhaps it is
in being patient that I will better understand what is happening and
what God wills I do or not do. What is my calling?

As I am working on this piece, I notice the final sentence: “For I
wait for you.” There is something incredibly touching in that initial
“for.” He is able to respond to the stressful moments in his life
because he has surrendered to God’s love. David trusts that he is
accompanied by his Beloved. For there is nowhere the Divine isn’t.

Let us wait for our merciful God, listen and see God at work in us and
in the world.

0 Comments

    Archives

    May 2023
    September 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    April 2020
    April 2019
    October 2016
    August 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    December 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010

    Categories

    All
    A Beautiful Dress That Fit
    After We Die
    Artesian Well Spring
    Barker Dam
    Be
    Bearing The Responsibility Of Others
    Beautiful
    Body
    Butterfly Girl
    Calm
    Clean Daily
    Confession Of Sin
    Courage And Cowardice
    Couturier
    Dark Horse
    Darkness And Light
    Darkness Cannot Overcome Light
    Dock Gently
    Dog
    Enough And Enough
    Epiphany Work
    Game Of Conversation
    Generous Gifts
    Happy
    Healing Prayer
    Heart
    Held In Balance
    Holy Living
    Hydrofracturing
    Inner Work
    In Time
    I Will Not Carry
    Joshua Tree National Park
    Loss And Discernment
    Love
    Magi
    Making Peace
    Mavis Staples
    Name It
    Not Alone
    Nothing Is Lost
    O Come Let Us Adore Him
    Opportuntity To Persevere
    Orion Magazine
    Peaceful And Lucky
    Peonage
    Praying About Changes
    Rebirth
    Receiving The Gifts Of God
    Rest
    Seeds
    Seen
    Singing
    Sitting In Silence
    Sleeper Awake
    Slow Down
    Song
    Speaking And Listening
    Steingraber
    Strength
    Sunlight
    Telling Your Story
    The Help
    The Iron Thing They Carried
    Thought In The Form Of An Experience
    To Start Healing The Child In Me
    Transcendent Moments
    Transformation
    Trust
    Unconditional Love
    Unspoken Mantras
    Waiting
    Walking On Water
    Words

    RSS Feed