PSALM 139 – THE EVER-PRESENT GOD

 

PSALM 139 – THE EVER-PRESENT GOD

SUNDAY 17^TH JANUARY 2021 - First after Epiphany

The words of this psalm are still felt to be a classical testimony to what theologians intend to convey by such concepts as the omnipresence, omnipotence, and omnificence of God.

When people discuss the actions in the world of the living, we ask if God is all three then why does he allow some things to happen? The psalm is not an abstract philosophical discussion but rather and examination of the poet’s experience of God.

 

1     0 Lord you have searched me out and known me:
you know when I sit or when I stand
you comprehend my thoughts I long before.

2     You discern my path and the places where I rest:
you are acquainted with all my ways.

3     For there is not a word on my tongue:
but you Lord know it altogether.

4     You have encompassed behind and before:
and have laid your hand upon me.

5     Such knowledge is too wonderful for me:
so high that I cannot endure it.

6     Where shall I go from your spirit:
or where shall I flee from your presence?

This is a dialogue with God in that it is addressed to the object of his enquiry. It does not start with a concrete proposition but rather posits a ‘thought experiment’ in which the poet speaks to God in the hope of being able to speak well with him.

13   I will praise you for you are to be feared:
fearful are your acts and wonderful your works.

14   You knew my soul and my bones were not hidden from you:
when I was formed in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.

15   Your eyes saw my limbs when they were yet imperfect:
and in your book were all my members written;

16   Day by day they were fashioned:
and not one was late in growing.

God knows the poet’s every movement, reads his thoughts before he thinks them, and understands the full meaning of each word he utters. God surrounds like a city wall, and his protecting hand is always near. Such perfect knowledge is quite beyond the poet’s (and our) comprehension.

17   How deep are your thoughts to me O God:
and how great is the sum of them!

18   Were I to count them
they are more in number than the sand:
were I to come to the end I would still be with you.

The poet doesn’t spend time on the vastness of creation but on the wonder of the small, like we find it fascinating to observe the activities of a weaver building a nest, he turns to looking at the wonder of our physical world and delights in the way God creates each part of us as we grow in the womb. Before the poet was born The Lord recorded the number of days given to him. This poetic statement of the comprehensive knowledge of God, incomprehensible, but precious to the poet.

The comprehensive knowledge that God has of us, depicted in this poem is because he loves us and will always be with us.

Thank you Fr Graham Alston for your weekly commentary on the appointed psalm.

PSALM 29 - THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST

 

PSALM 29
10^th January 2021
THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST

This is a psalm of new orientation, appropriate to the season of new year, and to the beginnings of a liturgical new year. It is very obviously an enthronement song set at the time when a new king would be enthroned. Some scholars believe this one the oldest psalms in the Book of Psalms because it reflects aspects of Canaanite songs that were present when the Hebrews came into Palestine.

1       Ascribe to the Lord you sons of heaven:
ascribe to the Lord glory and might.

2       Ascribe to the Lord the honour due to his name:
O worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness.

The summons to worship is addressed to ‘sons of heaven’ though the Christians appropriated this phrase to mean themselves. So the psalm came to be a prophecy about the Lord Jesus. Historically, it was about the call to worship of the supreme God by all other gods who did not have the same power as the Lord.

The chaotic images of breaking, blowing, washing and noise reflect the constructive aspects of creation because the constructs of the gods are being broken down by this powerful God. Genesis 1 shows creation as being spoken into existence. In this poem we are brought into the wonderful immediacy of creation and can see our God at work.

3       The voice of Lord is upon the waters:
the God of glory thunders, the Lord upon the great waters.

4       The voice of the Lord is mighty in operation:
the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice.

5       the voice of the Lord breaks the cedar-trees:
the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon-

6       He makes them skip like a calf:
Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.

7       The voice of the Lord divides the lightning flash:
the voice of the Lord whirls the sands of the desert
the Lord whirls the desert of Kadesh

8       The voice of the Lord rends the terebinth trees
and strips bare the forests:
in his temple all say 'Glory'.

In verses 3 to 8 one is struck by the repetition of the word ‘voice’ in an active form. The voice of the Lord gets things done; it sorts out the very mountains and seas so that the creation senses and responds to the commands of the Lord. This in opposition to the words of other gods, the whole world responds to the Lord. It echoes the vision of God as experienced by Moses and Elijah in their meeting with the Lord.

The other gods watch this decisive action, and they render their verdict. The other gods watch the display of power. They assign sovereign authority to this one and none other, as they cry out ‘Glory!’.

9       The Lord sits enthroned above the water flood:
the Lord sits enthroned as a king for ever.

10    The Lord will give strength to his people:
the Lord will give to his people the blessing of peace.

When the chaos is overwhelmed and driven from the field, a blessing is appropriately given from the newly established throne by the newly recognised king. The movement from ‘glory’ to ‘peace’ is not unlike the Angel Song at Bethlehem (Luke 2:14).

This poem is one that give us hope as we see about us the chaos of uncreation that threatens our lives – out of it the hand of God is at work; ours it is to figuratively put our hands into His hand and walk with him.

Thank you Fr Graham Alston for your weekly commentary on the appointed psalms.