Weight

Today we begin worship with: 

Psalm 115:1

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

This verse is about glory (kāḇôḏ).  

Man’s attempt to depict glory as streams of light or gilded thrones misses the point. The root of the word is kāḇaḏ, which means to be weighty.  This is the weight we give to the opinions of those that have experienced the long term burden of leadership. It is the weight we feel when they walk into the room.

This Psalmist declares this weight appropriate for God because of his steadfast love and faithfulness.  This is true ('ĕmeṯ) kindness (ḥeseḏ) that has neither facade nor ulterior motive.  This is kindness that they have felt as a nation for generations.

The Psalmist deflects this glory away from us twice!  Our kindness is not faithful and often comes with selfish motives.  It certainly does not carry any such weight.

Slingshot

 Today we begin worship with:

Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

In our modern world, we take light for granted. It is as near as the cell phone in our hand or the switch on the wall. The ancient world was very very dark at night. 

Ruth 3:14

So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”

As a world power we take our police and our army for granted. Not so for David (please hear the word “me”):

Psalms 27:3

Though an army encamp against me,

my heart shall not fear;

though war arise against me,

yet I will be confident.

Instead, he looked to the LORD as his stronghold (māʿôz). For then the size of the army encamped against him did not matter. Even the quantity of his enemies did not matter.  David had seen what the LORD could do with the faith of a small boy, a handful of stones, and a slingshot. 

LORD, grant us this day the faith to stand in your strength and walk in your love.

Longing

This week we begin worship with:

Psalm 84:1-2

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

As many know (Yes, because I talk about it way too much!), our family escapes in the summer to Camp-of-the-Woods for the combination of worship, fellowship, family, and fun that it provides.  It is a long drive, but as we near the end the familiar landmarks start to appear — the Adirondack park sign, the mileage sign for the Town of Speculator, the welcome sign for the town, and then finally the sign for Camp.  By the time we see it we are collectively leaning forward in our seats straining to see it come into view.

Our verse this morning has that same sense.  We long (kāsap̄) for the courts of the LORD.  So much so, that if we are delayed for any reason our inner-self faints (kālâ) in exhaustion.  

We hear our colleagues at work longing for the start of the weekend till we are greeted with “Happy Friday!”.  Oh, that they too would have the joy of reaching Sunday!

Compassion

 Today we begin worship with:

Mark 6:34

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

We spent this week with our middle daughter, her husband, and the grandkids.  Periodically a parent or grandparent would have to leap to help/save/discipline a child.  This is not quite what is expressed here.  We all did it out of love and responsibility.

Our verse today describes a time when there is no parent, when no responsible person is actively caring for them, and when our gut (splagchnizomai) tells us to act.

This word is associated with many miracles - Feeding of the Four Thousand (Matthew 15:32-39) and the Raising of the Widow’s Son (Luke 7:11-17) to name a couple.  Each time the person could not save/heal/resurrect themselves.

May the LORD show us others through His eyes and be in the moment His hands.