Psalms 66-70
FIVE SIMPLE PLEASURES
A train journey- Time with my brother and sister
- Spring sunshine
- Looking through a lot of old photos
- Being a great aunt (to my two niece’s daughters, you understand – not just a great aunt to my nieces lol!)
PSALM 66: OUR GOD IS AWESOME!
Come and hear, all you who fear God;
let me tell you what he has done for me. v16
Not because I am awesome. I am not anything special. But God is awesome. He is special. And He is working with me and through me to achieve some pretty awesome stuff.
PSALM 67: LET US ALL PRAISE GOD
May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us.. v1
A blessing that we use in our services today. A blessing that we can use for every encounter we have today.
PSALM 68: GOD OF VICTORY AND OF VICTIMS
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families… v5-6
God is a great God leading His people into blessing and victory. But he does not forget the victims – the weak, the powerless, those with no voice, the dispossessed, the marginalised, the lonely. And nor should we. That phrase ‘God sets the lonely in families’ – that’s a challenge for us all right there.
A few songs you might recognise in this psalm –
May God arise, may his enemies be scattered v1
One from my youth, that was.
In front are the singers, after them the musicians;
with them are the young women playing the tambourines.
Praise God in the great congregation. v25-26
An Ishmael classic – pretty much word for word.
Summon your power, God;
show us your strength, our God, as you have done before. v28
And that reminds me of the line ‘Show your power, O Lord our God.’
PSALM 69: DROWNING
Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me. v1-2
This is an image that really resonates for me. I sometimes feel like I am drowning. Drowning in negative emotion. Drowning in despair. Like the waters are rising around me and there’s nothing I can do about it. No escape. Drowning in stuff and responsibility and need. And then all I can do is shout for help. All anyone can do is shout for help.
PSALM 70: HELP!
But as for me, I am poor and needy;
come quickly to me, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Lord, do not delay. v5
We are nothing without God. No one can be completely independent. No one can do life alone. We can kid ourselves for a while. We can think that we can do fine by ourselves. And then we surprise ourselves. By our frailty and need and failure. By being human essentially.
