Proper 16 / Pentecost 14 / OT 21
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
If it had not been the Lord who was on our side ... then they would have swallowed us up alive....
-- Psalm 124:1, 3
Psalm 124 is a prayer of thanksgiving for Israel's deliverance. While one could easily imagine this psalm as a song of celebration following the crossing of the Red Sea, the specific context was not provided. This enables the psalm to apply to many situations. It should first be prayed in the context of the miraculous history of Israel's survival from any of numerous attempts to destroy them as a people both in the scriptures and up to the present day. The psalm can then become a model of prayer for any of numerous seemingly miraculous escapes from dire situations. It is a psalm of wonder at the unexpected escape from what seemed to be certain disaster (vv. 1-3). It does not suggest that God had been visibly present in the battle but, in retrospect, that is the only possible explanation for the remarkable turn of events.
Whether it is a nation, church, or individual, it is a fearful thing to experience the raging, irrational anger of an opponent. All reason is swept aside, and life seems to have returned to that primordial chaos (vv. 3-5). Such a formless void is overcome by God who speaks the divine word to bring order out of chaos (Genesis 1:2-3). The only response to such an unexpected salvation is to praise God who has not let you be ripped apart by such anger (v. 6) nor trapped by its overwhelming power (v. 7). Despite all of our attempts to be in control of our lives, the unexpected grace by which we are saved from seemingly impossible situations continues to remind us that our true source of help is not in ourselves but in "the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth" (v. 8). The illusion of self-sufficiency is shattered by the creative word of grace that helps us see beyond the darkness that threatens us.
-- Psalm 124:1, 3
Psalm 124 is a prayer of thanksgiving for Israel's deliverance. While one could easily imagine this psalm as a song of celebration following the crossing of the Red Sea, the specific context was not provided. This enables the psalm to apply to many situations. It should first be prayed in the context of the miraculous history of Israel's survival from any of numerous attempts to destroy them as a people both in the scriptures and up to the present day. The psalm can then become a model of prayer for any of numerous seemingly miraculous escapes from dire situations. It is a psalm of wonder at the unexpected escape from what seemed to be certain disaster (vv. 1-3). It does not suggest that God had been visibly present in the battle but, in retrospect, that is the only possible explanation for the remarkable turn of events.
Whether it is a nation, church, or individual, it is a fearful thing to experience the raging, irrational anger of an opponent. All reason is swept aside, and life seems to have returned to that primordial chaos (vv. 3-5). Such a formless void is overcome by God who speaks the divine word to bring order out of chaos (Genesis 1:2-3). The only response to such an unexpected salvation is to praise God who has not let you be ripped apart by such anger (v. 6) nor trapped by its overwhelming power (v. 7). Despite all of our attempts to be in control of our lives, the unexpected grace by which we are saved from seemingly impossible situations continues to remind us that our true source of help is not in ourselves but in "the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth" (v. 8). The illusion of self-sufficiency is shattered by the creative word of grace that helps us see beyond the darkness that threatens us.
