Psalm Meditation 712
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
February 9, 2014

Psalm 6
1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger, or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.
3 My soul also is struck with terror, while you, O LORD—how long?
4 Turn, O LORD, save my life; deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who can give you praise?
6 I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.
7 My eyes waste away because of grief; they grow weak because of all my foes.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my supplication; the LORD accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror; they shall turn back, and in a moment be put to shame.
(NRSV)

Oh, to have that much faith to be able to end a prayer of lament with this kind of statement of trust in God. I know there are such people who can pray and know immediately that their prayer has been answered, only because I have read about them. The rest of us content ourselves with praying multiple times for the same thing over the span of moments or years. At some point the assurance that prayer has been answered and that God is present comes to us in some form. The question often is, how do I keep my faith while I wait for that assurance?

One way is by finding psalms like this and using them as a part of our prayer life. Sometimes, praying the psalms is enough to boost our faith to where we begin to hear the words as our own as well as those of the psalmist. After having said something over and over again we begin to claim it as our own, incorporate it into our lives and allow it to change us. This doesn’t mean that we will get to a place in our faith in which we instantly know that we are heard and loved by God; it doesn’t mean we won’t. For most of us, we will get to where we know, finally, that God is with us.

I am convinced that God hears us and is present with us in all times, places and situations. I know that we are not always in a position to experience the presence of God in our lives. If we can look right at a physical object and not see it, we can certainly miss the presence of God in our lives. Fortunately, many of us have folks who will help us find lost objects and who will help us see, feel, know and experience the presence of God in and around us. We will be able to join the psalmist in saying, “The LORD has heard my supplication; the LORD accepts my prayer.”

February 3, 2014