Psalms 143-146

What struck me in today’s reading was the note of desperation in the cry of David to the Lord….

Hear my prayer, O Lord;

Give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness;

Answer me in your righteousness….

Answer me quickly, O Lord;

My spirit fails.

Do not hide your face from me,

Or I shall be like those who go down to the Pit….

Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down….

Rescue me from the cruel sword,

And deliver me from the hand of aliens….

We all have times where we call out to the Lord in desperation for help. What is startling in this sequence of psalms is how David’s cries of desperation turn to songs of thanksgiving. The pivot of that turning point seems to be a certain kind of meditation….

On the glorious splendor of your majesty,

And on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

The result of this meditation is a fresh realization that…

The Lord upholds all who are falling,

And raises up all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all look to you,

And you give them their food in due season.

The psalmist realizes that he should not put his “trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.” Times of desperation are a renewed opportunity to put our trust where it belongs, not in human beings, not in bank accounts, or in 401k’s.

If we are simply still, and realize that the Lord is God, then we will also know that…

The Lord is near to all who call on him,

To all who call on him in truth.

He fulfills the desire of all who fear him;

He also hears their cry, and saves them.

The Lord watches over all who love him…

The C. S. Lewis Bible matches this passage from Mere Christianity with Psalm 145:19. This is one of my favorite passages in all of Lewis’ writing and I found it a special comfort today. I hope you do too….

Almost certainly God is not in Time. His life does not consist of moments following one another. If a million people are praying to Him at ten-thirty tonight, He need not listen to them all in that one little snippet which we call ten-thirty. Ten-thirty—and every other moment from the beginning of the world—is always the Present for Him. If you like to put it that way, He has all eternity in which to listen to the split second of prayer put up by a pilot as his plane crashes in flames….

God is not hurried along in the Time-stream of this universe any more than an author is hurried along in the imaginary time of his own novel. He has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, He died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only man in the world.

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