Part of the great thing about doing a Pastoral Apprenticeship is being able to fully set aside a rather large part of my day (about an hour) to prayer and meditation (reflection) on the bible. My reading plan looks a little something like this: 2-3 chapters of OT (of which I am currently reading through Jeremiah), 1 Psalm and 1-2 chapter of NT (which I’m currently re-reading Romans). This means I’ll get through the OT and NT in a year and also have read the book of Psalms 4 times. I’ve been inspired to read the Psalms this way after I heard Billy Graham reads five Psalms a day and goes through the book of Psalms 12 times a year(!!).
Why immerse myself in so many Psalms? For a number of reasons:
- Out of all the books in the bible the Psalms, if read appropriately, are also the most intensely personal – the writers run the gauntlet of emotions in their relating to God. Thus you could say that to properly understand what it means for you to personally relate to God you need to immerse yourself in how some of the greatest writers in bible related to God.
- Part of being personal with God is also being able to speak freely, but with reverence. The Psalms often teeter between utter despair to full confidence, contempt and trust – and often within the same Psalm. There can be no denying that humans are emotional beings and the Psalms reflect how we can appropriately engage our emotions to God.
- The Psalms are brilliant at engaging the mind and the heart
So here is my first reflection: Psalm 1!
Psalm 1
1Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.3He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
I remember reading this Psalm a few years ago. My reflections were quite self-centred and I remember a few months later attending KYLC in 2003 and being blown away at John Woodhouse’ talk on this Psalm.
I remember reflecting before KYLC that I didn’t want to be the wicked spoken of in verse 1. The truth was I am the wicked – I am all those things listed in this Psalm. Without the cross I will not stand in judgement and will perish. As I mentioned earlier I’ve been reading through Jeremiah, and my particular reading this morning cut me through and through:
7:8 “‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! 9 Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, 10 and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again? 11 Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the Lord, have spoken!
And with that spoken word I was shaken. I don’t think I’ve quite had that experience before – to be confronted with God’s holiness in robes stained with sin. It was a very good thing I was sitting down to read this because I felt my knees buckle at the thought.
It cut me because in the preceding chapters, God’s anger is being poured out against Judah for their sins – but this allegation struck me personally to the core: I am exactly as described, turning to God for forgiveness, trusting in my security of my salvation, and then turning back to evil ways. The reminder that God ‘sees all the evil going on’ cut very deeply.
And so it is with this Psalm. I can not read myself directly into this Psalm immediately. I need to see it through the one who is called ‘Blessed’, who’s delight is in the law of the Lord…
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
What sweet words to rest upon my ears. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. To find my shelter and hiding place in the Tree of Life, in the one who delighted in the Law of God and so set us free from sin and death.
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