Psalm Meditation 1263 ¶Proper 17 ¶September 1, 2024 ¶Psalm 144 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+144&version=NRSVUE (NRSVUE) ¶In the movie Braveheart, a young William Wallace asks his uncle to teach him to use a sword. His uncle pokes him in the forehead and tells him to learn to use his brain, and then he can learn to use other weapons. While we don’t use military weapons on a daily basis, we can use other means in the struggles of daily life. The psalmist begins with prayer, asking God to be present in all the conflicts that will be a part of the day ahead. Some of those conflicts will require weapons and all of them will take knowledge and wisdom. ¶Before getting to the request at hand, the psalmist takes a moment to wonder what it is about humans that draws the attention of God. We are short lived and insignificant in the scope of creation. Then the psalmist asks God to intervene in this conflict by siding with us and using the more frightening weapons in God’s arsenal, volcanoes, lightning, and any other direct interventions available in this setting. Use those weapons to rid us of the enemies who wish us harm and destruction. ¶If God will pull us out of this mess, we will sing praises to celebrate all the good things God does for us. Oh, and since you have saved us, O God, it would be nice if you would carry on the tradition of care by seeing that our sons and daughters have the same good things we have, and more. The psalmist asks God to continue to care for us through the blessings of life as God has cared for us through the conflicts and trials of life. “Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall; happy are the people whose God is the LORD.“ ¶August 26, 2024 ¶LCM lcmanifold@gmail.com http://psalmmeditations.blogspot.com/