Psalm 5:1-8
Preaching
A Journey Through the Psalms: Reflections for Worried Hearts and Troubled Times
Preaching the Psalms Cycles A, B, C
Object:
Everyone knows what it's like to surrender in a long, collapsing sigh. There is no one who has lived who cannot summon up memories of times when adversaries or enemies seemed to be everywhere. Such struggles sap the soul and often leave us feeling as though there are no options; no place left to turn. It is this sense of powerlessness that comes through this psalm.
"Give heed to my sighing. Listen to the sound of my cry...." What poignant scenes enter the mind as the imagination conjures up the sounds of sighs and sobs, the spirit of despair.
Yet, it turns out that there is one place left to turn. There is one court of last resort, even when a host of enemies surrounds and threatens, there is one who does not fade away. God's faithfulness stands with arms outstretched to all generations. God's abundant and steadfast love does not go away.
It is this abundance that is nearly impossible to grasp. In a world of limitations where it seems that there is never enough, the notion of abundance feels foreign, strange. We learn through thorough acculturation that there is never enough love, never enough power, never enough hope, never enough ... stuff; and so our lives become a competitive struggle to gain and maintain a piece of the pie.
But in God there is abundance. That is to say, there is not merely enough to go around; there is more than plenty for everyone.
So it is that in desperation, when all else fails, we turn to God and God's steadfast and abundant love. One wonders, though, why it is that God seems to be the court of last resort rather than the first and immediate choice of the faithful. Perhaps it is that choice that calls us to prayer, that option that pulls us into community, and that possibility that launches us into ministry.
Could it be that the process of choosing God first in our lives is the one to which the church is called? Could it be that in this psalm can be discovered a focal point and challenge to each and every person? What would this world look like if faithful people chose God and God's way first? What would our congregations look like if prayer and surrender to the Holy were the first items on the agenda?
"Give heed to my sighing. Listen to the sound of my cry...." What poignant scenes enter the mind as the imagination conjures up the sounds of sighs and sobs, the spirit of despair.
Yet, it turns out that there is one place left to turn. There is one court of last resort, even when a host of enemies surrounds and threatens, there is one who does not fade away. God's faithfulness stands with arms outstretched to all generations. God's abundant and steadfast love does not go away.
It is this abundance that is nearly impossible to grasp. In a world of limitations where it seems that there is never enough, the notion of abundance feels foreign, strange. We learn through thorough acculturation that there is never enough love, never enough power, never enough hope, never enough ... stuff; and so our lives become a competitive struggle to gain and maintain a piece of the pie.
But in God there is abundance. That is to say, there is not merely enough to go around; there is more than plenty for everyone.
So it is that in desperation, when all else fails, we turn to God and God's steadfast and abundant love. One wonders, though, why it is that God seems to be the court of last resort rather than the first and immediate choice of the faithful. Perhaps it is that choice that calls us to prayer, that option that pulls us into community, and that possibility that launches us into ministry.
Could it be that the process of choosing God first in our lives is the one to which the church is called? Could it be that in this psalm can be discovered a focal point and challenge to each and every person? What would this world look like if faithful people chose God and God's way first? What would our congregations look like if prayer and surrender to the Holy were the first items on the agenda?
