Author: arevans

My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.

What a timely verse for me right now.  I have read so much Eastern Orthodoxy of late that I’m not sure where I am right now. Keep me from a proud and haughty heart, O God. I’m afraid I won’t be able to tell all by myself.

My soul  waits  for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning. Yes, more than  those who watch for the morning.

I really can’t that this true in my own experience.  If it were, it would mean more to me than a hundred books on theology I might read.

Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back.

It is a sad reality that there are some, sometimes many, who hate Zion, who prefer their own rebellious way to the Lord’s way. This scripture is a request of the Lord for protection against those, whether few or many, who resist the work of God.

This request is surely answered in this life, or else in the one to come. It goes to the heart of God’s own integrity.

Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

Ther is no lasting blessing, there is no everlasting hope, apart from the fear of the Lord.

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Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain that build it.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons wrote at the end of the second century, “If we can believe that Jesus was both divine and human, we have no problem believing the bread is his divine body and the wine is his divine blood.”

Drawing close is not like becoming proficient at chess. It is not simply about memorizing the answers to various difficult questions, as in “if he moves his bishop here, I pin it this way”. It is not like that. It is about a personal relationship with God.

Personal. With God.

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.  As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever.

Which cannot be moved.  I love that.

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Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

We like to think of ourselves as pretty self-sufficient.  But that is an illusion.  We didn’t get here by ourselves in the first place.  We didn’t create the beautiful world all around us.  And it surely just didn’t happen by chance.

No, the Lord made heaven and earth.  His is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.  He (alone) is our help.

Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us!

The psalmist certainly knows that the Lord is merciful.  And yet there is a felt-need to cry out for His mercy.  The psalmist was very much aware of his own sinfulness.  In fact, it was because he was aware of the Lord’s mercy and of his own sinfulness that he cried out so earnestly.

Merciful God, have mercy on me a sinner!