Sermon Notes for January 22nd
January 22, 2006
“My Soul Waits in Silence”
Psalm 62:5-12
1. It says in the book of 2nd Samuel that when the great King David was about to die, he sang a song or a psalm as his last will and testament. This is what it says …
1 These are the last words of David:
"The oracle of David son of Jesse,
the oracle of the man exalted by the Most High,
the man anointed by the God of Jacob,
Israel's singer of songs [a] :
2 "The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me;
his word was on my tongue.
3 The God of Israel spoke,
the Rock of Israel said to me:
'When one rules over men in righteousness,
when he rules in the fear of God,
4 he is like the light of morning at sunrise
on a cloudless morning,
like the brightness after rain
that brings the grass from the earth.'
If that is not poetry…what is?
2. Besides being a slayer of Goliath with his slingshot, the shepherd boy David, was also a singer and a poet – and that his how he first came to the attention King Saul. For it seems that Saul was often emotionally and mentally unstable. And according to their way of thinking the Israelites believed that this was caused by the fact that the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil [a] spirit from the LORD tormented him.
But, what to do about this? Well … in the book of 1st Samuel it says…
15 Saul's attendants said to Saul, "See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the harp. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes upon you, and you will feel better."
17 So Saul said to his attendants, "Find someone who plays well and bring him to me."
So, 1st Samuel continues …
21 David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much and David became one of his armor-bearers.
And … then…
23 Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.
And, after that, as we know, David had many other adventures and eventually became a great King and leader of his people.
3. There are actually 150 Psalms in the Book of Psalms and there are other psalms in Isaiah, Jeremiah, 1st and 2nd Samuel, Proverbs, and other places as well.
At one time, it was believed that David, himself, wrote many of the psalms. Most scholars doubt this today … and it is now thought that a wide variety of anonymous poets and singers composed the psalms over a period of as much as 600 years. Yet, almost half of the psalms are actually dedicated to David. And perhaps, we might, say he is one of the originators of the psalm. Or, most certainly, David was the most famous song-singer and psalm sayer who ever lived.
I say “song-singer,” because in the beginning the psalms were set to music. But, today, no one is exactly sure what the music sounded like. Certainly quite different, perhaps than anything we are familiar with today. In fact, even today the pronunciation of the Hebrew language sounds very unusual in our non-Jewish ears. (I actually get a taste of this every spring when we take our confirmation class to Temple Israel or Mount Zion Temple in the Twin Cities – for a good deal of the worship service at these synagogues is in Hebrew.)
In fact, at larger synagogues like the ones mentioned, in addition to one or more rabbis (or teachers) there is also a cantor whose responsibility it is d uring services to chant or sing the prayers. The cantor is often a person who has undergone special rabbinical and musical training for this position and is even considered to be on the same level as a rabbi. And so, the tradition of the psalm-sayer and hymn-singer in Judaism remains a living tradition going back to David the singing shepherd boy – (although in a somewhat different form today, of course).
4. Psalms can be joyful and exuberant …and are sometimes called hymns of praise. And they can also be dark and sorrowful … and are referred to as laments. But all psalms are really expressions of the human yearning to connect with God in prayer. The psalms express the full range of human emotion. One minute they praise God to the highest and the next minute they plead and pester God for forgiveness, mercy, and deliverance from evil. But either way the pray-er seeks to connect with Almighty. And in what is often thought of as the single greatest psalm – the 23rd – there is a profound sense of reassurance and confidence which comes from knowing that “Even though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil.”
5. Now in the Bible, prayer never begins abruptly. There is always a need for proper preparation. This comes by way of advice about how to pray. So, here is some advice from the very first psalm – Psalm #1:
1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
What this means is that we should be careful of where we stand in relation to God when we pray. Don’t take it lightly. Don’t be a fool. Instead, be wise. Don’t hang out with bad people. Obey the Torah …and for Christians – heed the words of Rabbi Jesus. In short, don’t try to fool God … for God knows already what you are praying about.
6. Now this doesn’t mean that you can’t be angry or upset with God. Because, if you are -- you are. When a loved one dies … or some calamity strikes we naturally are troubled. Who caused this to happen? We ask. Was it God? Why did it happen? Why did the coal miners in West Virginia have to die? Was it the companies fault, was it just an accident, or was it God?
In times of trouble and loss, people often say … “it was will of God.” What else can we say – sometimes! Yesterday I went to the funeral of a young man – Dan Taylor. His grandparents and his mother belong to our Cass Lake Church. He was also related to members of our Bemidji church – the Barthorpe family.
It was a particularly tough funeral to be at. For Dan was only 33 years old. He was married and had four children under the age of eight. A year ago he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given three to six months to live. He had a lot of courage and fought hard to live in spite of his incurable disease. He beat the odds and lived a full year. He also faced this terminal illness with great courage and resignation. Shortly after he was diagnosed he told me, “I am not afraid to die.” But, then he said his greatest despair was that he would have to tell his young children that he would not get to see them grow up.” So, if he was angry – that was it. “Why God, he must have asked, why does this have to happen to me?” That was his question. And it is often our question in greater or lesser ways in this life as well.
And we see it every day in Iraq and in Israel. Men, women and children are blown to bits … and some children even blow themselves to bits and others with them … it seems so senseless.
7. In ancient times, people in Israel thought that in times of peace God rested or slept … Sleep was a sign of peace. So, it was important in times of crisis to wake God up … as we hear in this lament in Psalm 44:
10 You made us retreat before the enemy,
and our adversaries have plundered us.
11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for a pittance,
gaining nothing from their sale.
13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.
14 You have made us a byword among the nations;
the peoples shake their heads at us.
15 My disgrace is before me all day long,
and my face is covered with shame
So, it is important to remember that sometimes … our prayers naturally begin with despair and anger … and futility … (hopefully, not all the time). Yet, what the psalms in the Bible are there for is to teach us that we should not be afraid to express whatever it is the troubles us …even in our prayers to God. Even the bad stuff.
For if our feelings are kept bottled up … it does no good and there really can be no healing if we don’t tell the truth …whether it is between husband and wife, parents and children, friend and friend, teacher and student, or the boss and the worker … and this is true also between ourselves and God. Isn’t that right?
8. Now, the God who is revealed to us in the Bible does not promise us a life free of suffering. In fact, in those days, nobody expected that there would not be troubles in life. But rather, what was expected was that God would hear our cry of pain … and BE THERE. REALLY BE THERE! “Are you with us?” the people wanted to know in Babylon --- or have you abandoned us?”
Prayers like this are a rallying cry to gather the faithful …for in the face of pain and loss we gather together to comfort one another and to be comforted. We see it on television in West Virginia in the nightly vigils outside the coal mines. And we also see it funerals of loved ones and friends. And we are comforted by the great words of the psalms: “Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, thou are with me!” And we say, Amen!
9. I don’t often get to go to funerals. Mostly I am the one who is performing them!
Yesterday, however, it was Chaplain Mark Papke-Larson who gave the message at the Lutheran Church in Bagley (Dan Taylor’s wife’s church). As always, Mark did a terrific job in a very - very difficult situation.
So, there I was, sitting toward back of the church with a little time on my hands. And besides thinking about Dan and his family and relatives, I was also thinking about the psalm for today. In fact, several times, I took out the Bible in the pew rack and read and re-read the words in Psalm 62:
5For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
6He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
8Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
10. Well, we live today in a fast-paced – convenience oriented culture. We don’t like to wait. We want it now! In fact, we become irritable when we have to wait sometimes – don’t we?
In fact, it is tempting for the minister or evangelist to try to deliver all the goods at once. To somehow produce a satisfying solution to life’s problems in a single sermon or worship service. All so people will go home afterward feeling good.
After all, no one wants to be told they have to wait!
Fast food for the stomach and fast and easy spirituality for the soul.
And, yet, the psalm is telling us to wait. To even wait in silence. And in our waiting we are told to trust – to trust in God at all times. Why is this?
And this is not just one psalm talking. Hear these words from Psalm 130:
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
2 O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
5I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
And the psalmist continues:
7O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins
11. No, there is no quick fix in this message. For it is really all about hope. Hope and trust and waiting, waiting in silence. And that, my friends, is often what prayer is all about. Waiting. Waiting on the Lord.
In fact, St. Paul in his letter to the church in Rome says something quite similar:
24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?
25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently
It all sounds rather negative to our convenience oriented ears today. Yet, the great theologian, Paul Tillich wrote that waiting means NOT having and HAVING at the same time.
The first condition of our relationship to God, Tillich writes, is that of not having, not seeing, not knowing, and not grasping.
Well, let’s face it, this is not easy to endure. This waiting in silence. This waiting for God.
That is why it says in Genesis that the when Israelites became tired of waiting while Moses was up on the mountain they got together and made the golden calf. It was something immediate, and tangible to worship. They were, the Bible says, “tired of waiting.” We want it now! Right now! Do you get the picture?
12. Yet, Tillich goes on to say … that We are stronger when we wait than when we possess. For when we possess God or some other thing we reduce Him to an idol. And, Tillich points out, there is much idol worship among Christians who have managed to reduce God to a doctrine, or a book, or an institution, or a certain kind of religious experience.
But the truth is that much of the time we are busy, busy, busy with our daytime idols. Especially when our work and other activities keep us focused on immediate problems and solutions. Often, it is actually only at night when we are forced to set aside our distractions that we are ready to be silent and our soul can wait for God to come.
Tennessee newspaper religion writer, Ray Waddle, tells of getting off work on a Friday night and rushing to attend a church service. He was, he realized, tired, anxious, numb – in other words “stressed out.” And then gradually he begins to relax as the worship service calls him to refocus not on daily tasks – but upon the Lord.
And he says, it came upon him suddenly that his soul had been forgotten all day long … crammed into a dark place so to speak … where it was waiting … waiting, in silence, for the right moment … patiently reserving judgment, trusting, he writes, that I’d open the right door once the sun went down. Just as the psalmist says…
For God alone my soul waits in silence.
13. And so as I sat in the pew yesterday wondering how this young mother and her four children were going to cope with the loss of this young husband and father … and wondering also about how people everywhere … can deal with life’s unexpected tragedies …
And, so I continued reading the great words of Psalm 62
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
And I began to realize in very real terms that this is really all there is … for this is what the Bible is saying to us … in a nutshell:
8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
And this is the truth and of course, there is also the love and support of friends and family and church and community. All of whom who are moved by compassion in the face of suffering. All of whom, in times like this, are drawn together to stand with those who are suffering. And that’s one of the big important strengths of our church – for of all of us. Namely, that we stand together for each other when trouble strikes. Everybody knows what that is all about. It’s one big reason why we are all here. Don’t you think?
14. For the reality is, that while we each wait in silence for the Lord … we are not alone … for we wait together as people of faith.
So, we must understand that the psalms are not just to be read in private … but also in public in the church and the synagogue …
This is why it says:
8 O people, Trust in him at all times … (Emphasis on “O, People”)
So, since the psalms were and are part of the worship of the People … let us now turn to page 787 in the Red Hymnal and read responsively Psalm 62. (end of sermon)
“My Soul Waits in Silence”
Psalm 62:5-12
1. It says in the book of 2nd Samuel that when the great King David was about to die, he sang a song or a psalm as his last will and testament. This is what it says …
1 These are the last words of David:
"The oracle of David son of Jesse,
the oracle of the man exalted by the Most High,
the man anointed by the God of Jacob,
Israel's singer of songs [a] :
2 "The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me;
his word was on my tongue.
3 The God of Israel spoke,
the Rock of Israel said to me:
'When one rules over men in righteousness,
when he rules in the fear of God,
4 he is like the light of morning at sunrise
on a cloudless morning,
like the brightness after rain
that brings the grass from the earth.'
If that is not poetry…what is?
2. Besides being a slayer of Goliath with his slingshot, the shepherd boy David, was also a singer and a poet – and that his how he first came to the attention King Saul. For it seems that Saul was often emotionally and mentally unstable. And according to their way of thinking the Israelites believed that this was caused by the fact that the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil [a] spirit from the LORD tormented him.
But, what to do about this? Well … in the book of 1st Samuel it says…
15 Saul's attendants said to Saul, "See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the harp. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes upon you, and you will feel better."
17 So Saul said to his attendants, "Find someone who plays well and bring him to me."
So, 1st Samuel continues …
21 David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much and David became one of his armor-bearers.
And … then…
23 Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.
And, after that, as we know, David had many other adventures and eventually became a great King and leader of his people.
3. There are actually 150 Psalms in the Book of Psalms and there are other psalms in Isaiah, Jeremiah, 1st and 2nd Samuel, Proverbs, and other places as well.
At one time, it was believed that David, himself, wrote many of the psalms. Most scholars doubt this today … and it is now thought that a wide variety of anonymous poets and singers composed the psalms over a period of as much as 600 years. Yet, almost half of the psalms are actually dedicated to David. And perhaps, we might, say he is one of the originators of the psalm. Or, most certainly, David was the most famous song-singer and psalm sayer who ever lived.
I say “song-singer,” because in the beginning the psalms were set to music. But, today, no one is exactly sure what the music sounded like. Certainly quite different, perhaps than anything we are familiar with today. In fact, even today the pronunciation of the Hebrew language sounds very unusual in our non-Jewish ears. (I actually get a taste of this every spring when we take our confirmation class to Temple Israel or Mount Zion Temple in the Twin Cities – for a good deal of the worship service at these synagogues is in Hebrew.)
In fact, at larger synagogues like the ones mentioned, in addition to one or more rabbis (or teachers) there is also a cantor whose responsibility it is d uring services to chant or sing the prayers. The cantor is often a person who has undergone special rabbinical and musical training for this position and is even considered to be on the same level as a rabbi. And so, the tradition of the psalm-sayer and hymn-singer in Judaism remains a living tradition going back to David the singing shepherd boy – (although in a somewhat different form today, of course).
4. Psalms can be joyful and exuberant …and are sometimes called hymns of praise. And they can also be dark and sorrowful … and are referred to as laments. But all psalms are really expressions of the human yearning to connect with God in prayer. The psalms express the full range of human emotion. One minute they praise God to the highest and the next minute they plead and pester God for forgiveness, mercy, and deliverance from evil. But either way the pray-er seeks to connect with Almighty. And in what is often thought of as the single greatest psalm – the 23rd – there is a profound sense of reassurance and confidence which comes from knowing that “Even though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil.”
5. Now in the Bible, prayer never begins abruptly. There is always a need for proper preparation. This comes by way of advice about how to pray. So, here is some advice from the very first psalm – Psalm #1:
1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
What this means is that we should be careful of where we stand in relation to God when we pray. Don’t take it lightly. Don’t be a fool. Instead, be wise. Don’t hang out with bad people. Obey the Torah …and for Christians – heed the words of Rabbi Jesus. In short, don’t try to fool God … for God knows already what you are praying about.
6. Now this doesn’t mean that you can’t be angry or upset with God. Because, if you are -- you are. When a loved one dies … or some calamity strikes we naturally are troubled. Who caused this to happen? We ask. Was it God? Why did it happen? Why did the coal miners in West Virginia have to die? Was it the companies fault, was it just an accident, or was it God?
In times of trouble and loss, people often say … “it was will of God.” What else can we say – sometimes! Yesterday I went to the funeral of a young man – Dan Taylor. His grandparents and his mother belong to our Cass Lake Church. He was also related to members of our Bemidji church – the Barthorpe family.
It was a particularly tough funeral to be at. For Dan was only 33 years old. He was married and had four children under the age of eight. A year ago he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given three to six months to live. He had a lot of courage and fought hard to live in spite of his incurable disease. He beat the odds and lived a full year. He also faced this terminal illness with great courage and resignation. Shortly after he was diagnosed he told me, “I am not afraid to die.” But, then he said his greatest despair was that he would have to tell his young children that he would not get to see them grow up.” So, if he was angry – that was it. “Why God, he must have asked, why does this have to happen to me?” That was his question. And it is often our question in greater or lesser ways in this life as well.
And we see it every day in Iraq and in Israel. Men, women and children are blown to bits … and some children even blow themselves to bits and others with them … it seems so senseless.
7. In ancient times, people in Israel thought that in times of peace God rested or slept … Sleep was a sign of peace. So, it was important in times of crisis to wake God up … as we hear in this lament in Psalm 44:
10 You made us retreat before the enemy,
and our adversaries have plundered us.
11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for a pittance,
gaining nothing from their sale.
13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.
14 You have made us a byword among the nations;
the peoples shake their heads at us.
15 My disgrace is before me all day long,
and my face is covered with shame
So, it is important to remember that sometimes … our prayers naturally begin with despair and anger … and futility … (hopefully, not all the time). Yet, what the psalms in the Bible are there for is to teach us that we should not be afraid to express whatever it is the troubles us …even in our prayers to God. Even the bad stuff.
For if our feelings are kept bottled up … it does no good and there really can be no healing if we don’t tell the truth …whether it is between husband and wife, parents and children, friend and friend, teacher and student, or the boss and the worker … and this is true also between ourselves and God. Isn’t that right?
8. Now, the God who is revealed to us in the Bible does not promise us a life free of suffering. In fact, in those days, nobody expected that there would not be troubles in life. But rather, what was expected was that God would hear our cry of pain … and BE THERE. REALLY BE THERE! “Are you with us?” the people wanted to know in Babylon --- or have you abandoned us?”
Prayers like this are a rallying cry to gather the faithful …for in the face of pain and loss we gather together to comfort one another and to be comforted. We see it on television in West Virginia in the nightly vigils outside the coal mines. And we also see it funerals of loved ones and friends. And we are comforted by the great words of the psalms: “Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, thou are with me!” And we say, Amen!
9. I don’t often get to go to funerals. Mostly I am the one who is performing them!
Yesterday, however, it was Chaplain Mark Papke-Larson who gave the message at the Lutheran Church in Bagley (Dan Taylor’s wife’s church). As always, Mark did a terrific job in a very - very difficult situation.
So, there I was, sitting toward back of the church with a little time on my hands. And besides thinking about Dan and his family and relatives, I was also thinking about the psalm for today. In fact, several times, I took out the Bible in the pew rack and read and re-read the words in Psalm 62:
5For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
6He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
8Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
10. Well, we live today in a fast-paced – convenience oriented culture. We don’t like to wait. We want it now! In fact, we become irritable when we have to wait sometimes – don’t we?
In fact, it is tempting for the minister or evangelist to try to deliver all the goods at once. To somehow produce a satisfying solution to life’s problems in a single sermon or worship service. All so people will go home afterward feeling good.
After all, no one wants to be told they have to wait!
Fast food for the stomach and fast and easy spirituality for the soul.
And, yet, the psalm is telling us to wait. To even wait in silence. And in our waiting we are told to trust – to trust in God at all times. Why is this?
And this is not just one psalm talking. Hear these words from Psalm 130:
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
2 O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
5I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
And the psalmist continues:
7O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins
11. No, there is no quick fix in this message. For it is really all about hope. Hope and trust and waiting, waiting in silence. And that, my friends, is often what prayer is all about. Waiting. Waiting on the Lord.
In fact, St. Paul in his letter to the church in Rome says something quite similar:
24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?
25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently
It all sounds rather negative to our convenience oriented ears today. Yet, the great theologian, Paul Tillich wrote that waiting means NOT having and HAVING at the same time.
The first condition of our relationship to God, Tillich writes, is that of not having, not seeing, not knowing, and not grasping.
Well, let’s face it, this is not easy to endure. This waiting in silence. This waiting for God.
That is why it says in Genesis that the when Israelites became tired of waiting while Moses was up on the mountain they got together and made the golden calf. It was something immediate, and tangible to worship. They were, the Bible says, “tired of waiting.” We want it now! Right now! Do you get the picture?
12. Yet, Tillich goes on to say … that We are stronger when we wait than when we possess. For when we possess God or some other thing we reduce Him to an idol. And, Tillich points out, there is much idol worship among Christians who have managed to reduce God to a doctrine, or a book, or an institution, or a certain kind of religious experience.
But the truth is that much of the time we are busy, busy, busy with our daytime idols. Especially when our work and other activities keep us focused on immediate problems and solutions. Often, it is actually only at night when we are forced to set aside our distractions that we are ready to be silent and our soul can wait for God to come.
Tennessee newspaper religion writer, Ray Waddle, tells of getting off work on a Friday night and rushing to attend a church service. He was, he realized, tired, anxious, numb – in other words “stressed out.” And then gradually he begins to relax as the worship service calls him to refocus not on daily tasks – but upon the Lord.
And he says, it came upon him suddenly that his soul had been forgotten all day long … crammed into a dark place so to speak … where it was waiting … waiting, in silence, for the right moment … patiently reserving judgment, trusting, he writes, that I’d open the right door once the sun went down. Just as the psalmist says…
For God alone my soul waits in silence.
13. And so as I sat in the pew yesterday wondering how this young mother and her four children were going to cope with the loss of this young husband and father … and wondering also about how people everywhere … can deal with life’s unexpected tragedies …
And, so I continued reading the great words of Psalm 62
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
And I began to realize in very real terms that this is really all there is … for this is what the Bible is saying to us … in a nutshell:
8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
And this is the truth and of course, there is also the love and support of friends and family and church and community. All of whom who are moved by compassion in the face of suffering. All of whom, in times like this, are drawn together to stand with those who are suffering. And that’s one of the big important strengths of our church – for of all of us. Namely, that we stand together for each other when trouble strikes. Everybody knows what that is all about. It’s one big reason why we are all here. Don’t you think?
14. For the reality is, that while we each wait in silence for the Lord … we are not alone … for we wait together as people of faith.
So, we must understand that the psalms are not just to be read in private … but also in public in the church and the synagogue …
This is why it says:
8 O people, Trust in him at all times … (Emphasis on “O, People”)
So, since the psalms were and are part of the worship of the People … let us now turn to page 787 in the Red Hymnal and read responsively Psalm 62. (end of sermon)
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