Psalm Meditation 1137 ¶Fifth Sunday in Lent ¶April 3, 2022 ¶Psalm 21 1 In your strength the king rejoices, O LORD, and in your help how greatly he exults! 2 You have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah 3 For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold on his head. 4 He asked you for life; you gave it to him—length of days forever and ever. 5 His glory is great through your help; splendor and majesty you bestow on him. 6 You bestow on him blessings forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence. 7 For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved. 8 Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you. 9 You will make them like a fiery furnace when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them. 10 You will destroy their offspring from the earth, and their children from among humankind. 11 If they plan evil against you, if they devise mischief, they will not succeed. 12 For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows. 13 Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power. (NRSV) ¶Wouldn’t it be great to have connection with a powerful being who could do anything except refuse to do your bidding? This is the kind of God the psalmist wishes for the king to have, with a saying-it-makes-it-so bravado. We do have a tendency to act, think, and behave as if God is ready, willing, and able to be such a being for us. If we ask with enough faith, God will grant us whatever we ask, foolish and ill-thought out though it may be. At the very least, our prayers should be answered with the speed and accuracy we expect, with a little room for something better than we requested. ¶I hope we all know that God does not work that way. Even David did not get all for which he asked. Prayer is answered just as often with a redirection of our request and concern. The petition we lift to God may be answered with an assurance that God is with us, even though what we have asked for does not happen. God is not a genie who pops out of a bottle to grant our first three wishes. God is a loving presence whose goal and gift is to lead us in the way that leads us closer to God in our thoughts, attitudes and actions. ¶The prayers that are answered best are the ones that ask that we be pointed in the direction that leads to the love of God in all we are and do. That direction is seldom easy, it is certainly not the way of the world. It is the way that leads away from selfish desire toward a generosity of spirit. “Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power.” ¶March 28, 2022 ¶LCM