Reflections on the Psalms. Steven Croft

are over thirty wars still raging, often forgotten, in different parts of the globe.

      There’s a dark part of us that would still rather like an autocratic Lord to break the warlike nations with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel (v.9). Life would be so much simpler if the baddies were always baddies and the goodies were always like me. But the biblical story leads us to another kingdom where the King rules from a tree. He does indeed destroy evil but he does it only with the weapon of love.

      Dare we follow this ‘road less travelled’ today?

      Reflection by John Pritchard

      Refrain:

       The Lord is the strength of his people,

       a safe refuge for his anointed.

      Prayer:

       Most high and holy God,

       lift our eyes to your Son

       enthroned on Calvary;

       and as we behold his meekness,

       shatter our earthly pride;

       for he is Lord for ever and ever.

       Psalm 3

       Lord, how many are my adversaries;many are they who rise up against me.

       ‘I lie down and sleep’ (v.5)

      Our imaginations are imprinted for life by the stories and pictures we were introduced to as children. The stories of Helen Bannerman about various children in India were stories I loved, and I cannot read this psalm without seeing the image of a little girl called Quasha (this was my favourite story because her name was like mine!) lying on her stomach under a tree in the jungle and reading aloud a new book she has bought, while more and more tigers gather around her. Eventually every tiger in the jungle is there. The tigers do not eat her up immediately because the story is so entertaining and they want to hear the end. She’s oblivious to them.

      Here, the hordes are encamped around the psalmist. There may be tens of thousands of them, but he is engrossed in something else: God. And absorbed in the worship of God, whom he recognizes as ‘his glory’, he is able to lie down and sleep. The difference between him and the little girl in the story is that he is not oblivious of anything; he is confident that he will ultimately be held even though his enemies set upon him. He is part of a bigger story than any their acts of violence can narrate. (The tigers discover something similar; they eventually set upon and destroy each other, but Quasha is saved by the book that rejoiced her heart.)

      Reflection by Ben Quash

      Refrain:

       You, Lord, are a shield about me.

      Prayer:

       Shield us, Lord, from all evil,

       and lift us from apathy and despair,

       that even when we are terrified,

       we may trust your power to save;

       through Jesus Christ our Lord.

       Psalm 4

       Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness;you set me at liberty when I was in trouble…

       ‘… it is you Lord, only’ (v.8)

      This evening psalm, often used in Night Prayer, gives us reassuring words to say as we entrust ourselves to sleep. It forms a pair with Psalm 3 and speaks of the betrayal and insult experienced by the psalmist and the foolishness of those who ‘seek after falsehood’ (v.2).

      It fits David’s time as a fugitive hounded by the ‘nobles’ who turned from him in favour of Saul. It chimes with the life of believers today as we see so much love of ‘vain things’ – an obsession with that which is empty – in our world. We are surrounded by false promises of satisfaction from sources that cannot deliver.

      The test of faith comes when Saul seems to be winning, when sin seems to be paying, when emptiness seems to fill its supplicants with what they need – ‘when their corn and wine and oil increase’ (v.7). It is in those moments that we are called upon to exercise the strength of faith, believing that God can be trusted to ‘lift up the light of [his] countenance upon us’ (v.6).

      The first dawn of God’s light is gladness of heart (v.7), a deep inner joy that overrides outward difficulties. The fullness of God’s light upon us and our world, though, is the promised shalom, the peace of God that penetrates every dimension of human life, putting right that which is wrong and proving that it is the Lord, only, who secures life for humanity.

      Reflection by Christopher Cocksworth

      Refrain:

       In peace I will lie down and sleep.

      Prayer:

       Give us today, O God,

       a glad heart and a clear conscience,

       that when we come to this day’s end

       we may rest in peace with Christ our Lord.

       Psalm 5

       Give ear to my words, O Lord;consider my lamentation.

       ‘Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness’ (v.8)

      When Jesus calls his disciples he says ‘Follow me’. In doing this he indicates that the life of faith is not static but dynamic; it involves walking in his footsteps. As Jesus’ ministry unfolds, it becomes clear that the footsteps are leading somewhere. This is a journey to a destination, not an aimless ramble.

      The way that we set out on this journey is therefore important. The psalmist’s reference to the morning – the start of the day (v.3) – is significant here. We need to orient, and daily to re-orient, ourselves in God’s direction, to align ourselves with his nature.

      In this psalm we are offered a helpful model of how to do this. First, we can call out to God (v.1). This very act expresses the belief, made explicit in verse 4, that this is the sort of divine being on whom it is worth calling, because he orders the universe with justice. Second, we can draw physically or metaphorically close to God in worship (v.7). We may not always feel like it; indeed we may feel that God is far off. Nevertheless, we can make an active decision to set our compass Godwards (the Hebrew of verse 7 indicates a wilful intentional act), trying to discern the right way to live and then taking the first few halting steps along the path. This is what the Bible means by ‘faith’. Here we can be greatly encouraged by joining with others (vv.12-14), for when his people gather God is in their midst to bless (Jeremiah 14.9).

      Reflection by Joanna Collicutt

      Refrain:

       You, O Lord, will bless the righteous.

      Prayer:

       Lord, protect us from the deceit

       of flattering tongues and lying lips;

       give us words of life which speak your truth

       and bless your name;