Psalm Meditation 660
Transfiguration
February 10, 2013

Psalm 116
1 I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD: "O LORD, I pray, save my life!"
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.
6 The LORD protects the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
9 I walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
10 I kept my faith, even when I said, "I am greatly afflicted";
11 I said in my consternation, "Everyone is a liar."
12 What shall I return to the LORD for all his bounty to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
14 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones.
16 O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the child of your serving girl. You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)

When a group of people go through a mountaintop experience together, someone in the group is likely to voice what others are thinking when they say, “I wish this could last forever.” The difficulty is that we are not built to sustain the rush of a mountaintop experience any more than we are able to live our lives suspended at any given point. We are conditioned for the roller coaster ride that is life and living.

The psalmist is coming out of a valley experience. Life was horrible for a stretch of time and now there is a deliverance from that horror. After this bad experience the soul of the psalmist is able to return to rest. We go from normal to valley or peak and settle back to normal again. After each of those peak or valley experiences, after each combination of valley and peak swings we fall back into a normal routine. The routine will likely be different than the one we experienced previously, however we will fall into a routine of some sort. The soul will find rest in some way.

As we settle into new routine we can be aware of the new habits as we make them. We can decide to join the psalmist in lifting the cup of salvation, in calling on the name of the LORD in some form. We can join together with folks who will support us and hold us up in our newly made choices and habits. The highs and lows of life do not last forever. Things change and we adapt to those changes in our lives. At our best, we find a way to look to God in all times and places.

February 4, 2013
LCM manifold@lightbound.com
http://psalmmeditations.blogspot.com/