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Psalm 145:8-14

03 Sep


8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate,
    slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 The Lord is good to everyone.
    He showers compassion on all his creation.
10 All of your works will thank you, Lord,
    and your faithful followers will praise you.
11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom;
    they will give examples of your power.
12 They will tell about your mighty deeds
    and about the majesty and glory of your reign.
13 For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.
    You rule throughout all generations.

The Lord always keeps his promises;
    he is gracious in all he does.
14 The Lord helps the fallen
    and lifts those bent beneath their loads.

Psalm 145:8-14

Dear God, the great thing about things like this being put to song is that they stick with us more that way. For example, I know 1 John 4:7-8 because of a song I learned when I was nine years old. In this case, as soon as I read this passage this morning I thought of a song I learned over 20 years ago from the church I attended back then. I was actually able to find it on YouTube this morning. “Lord, you are gracious. You are slow to anger. Abounding in love, you are good to all.”

What a great way to pray this morning. Just worship. Lord, you are gracious. You are slow to anger. Abounding in love, you are good to all. Lord, you are gracious. You are slow to anger. Abounding in love, you are good to all. Just over and over again. I embrace those words. I appreciate those words. I wonder what that psalm sounded like when sung in the original Hebrew. The tune. How the words sounded. What exactly they said.

In the theory of psalms of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation (Walter Brueggemann), this one is definitely a psalm of orientation. This is a psalm sung by a person who is on solid footing. But then, does it have to be? Can this be a psalm of disorientation? I don’t think I’m mature enough for it to be for me, but wouldn’t it be great if I were able to get to the point that, in the middle of extreme disorientation, I was able to pray and sing these words. Lord, you are gracious. You are slow to anger. Abounding in love, you are good to all.

Father, teach me to worship you fully. Oooo, it scares me to pray those words. I’m so thick-headed sometimes that I’m afraid of what kind of breaking of my heart I would have to go through to learn that lesson completely. But I’ve given up my life. It is worth nothing to me. If only I may finish the race and complete the task you have given me. The task of testifying to your grace through Jesus (Acts 20:24).

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amens

 
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Posted by on September 3, 2024 in Hymns and Songs, Psalms

 

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“I Just Want To Be With You”

18 Nov 
I just want to be with you 
So come close and put your arms around me. 
I just want to love you. 
So come close and look right at me. 

So I can sing into your eyes. 
So I can look into your heart. 
So I can feel you by my side 
And know that you're here.

Dear God, my wife and I went to the chapel at our church last night to pray for a friend who is seriously ill. While we kneeled on the front row and prayed silently, I had this song come to mind. The church we attended nearly 20 years ago in Waco used to sing it. I’ve searched it and Googled it, but I can’t find it online anywhere. Maybe it was original to the church and the music minister, Antioch Community Church and James Mark Gulley, respectively. I don’t know.

One thing I’ve always found interesting about this song is that it is a little vague about who the singer is. Who is “I” in the song and who is “you?” My inclination is to say that I am the singer and it’s from my perspective. And that’s certainly how I felt last night as I prayed. I just wanted to be with you. As I prayed, I was praying about my lack of faith. I was praying, “Father, I believe. Help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) But as I sat there in the silence and tried to tap into the Holy Spirit’s presence, I just felt this song pouring out of me. “I just want to be with you.” Sometimes there aren’t great, or even good, answers to our concerns. In those moments, all I’m sometimes left with is your comfort. I just want to be with you so I can feel your arms around me. So I can feel you look right at me. So I can sing to you. So I can look at you. So I can feel you. So I can just know that you’re near.

But then there’s the flip side of this song. What if it is you singing to me? What if you are the one saying, “I just want to be with you”? What if you want to feel my presence? What if want to sing to me? What if you want to see my heart? What if you want to feel me by your side and know that I’m near?

Hagar named you El-roi, the God who sees me. (Genesis 16:13) You see me now. You see me as I sit here at my computer. You see me when I am scared. You see me even when I walk away. But the idea that you love me that much…well, sometimes it’s simply impossible to believe.

Father, I am substitute preaching tomorrow morning for a pastor who suddenly got COVID this week. I think I know which direction I’m going, but I want to make sure. I want to just sit with you for a bit and feel your presence. I want to feel you by my side and know that you’re near. Thank you, Father.

I pray all of this only through the grace you afford me through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 18, 2023 in Hymns and Songs

 

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“I Have Been There” by Mark Schultz

20 Aug

“I Have Been There” by Mark Schultz

In a room without a view, a new mother smiles and holds
The tiny fingers of her brand new baby girl.
Her husband takes her by the hand, so unsure about the future
Have no money can they make it in this world?
And they pray, Lord all we have to give is love
Then they heard a gentle voice like an echo from above,

I have been there. I know what fear is all about.
Yes, I have been there and I’m standing with you now.
I have been there
And I came to build the bridge oh so this road could lead you home.
Oh I have been there.

He’s been a pastor twenty years
But tonight he sits alone and broken hearted in the corner of the church
He tried to change a fallen world
With his words and with his wisdom but it seems like it is only getting worse
And he cries, Oh Lord I just don’t understand
Then he felt the hand of grace, and he heard a voice that said

I have been there, I know what pain is all about
Yes I have been there, and I’m standing with you now
I have been there, and I came to build a bridge
Oh so this road could lead you home
Oh I have been there.

An older man up on a hill
Holding flowers but he can’t hold back the tears.
Oh he has come to say goodbye.
He thinks about the life she lived,
Thinks about how hard it’s been to live without her
Sixty years right by his side
And he cries, oh Lord I loved her till the end
And he heard a gentle voice say you’ll see her once again

I have been there
I know what sorrow’s all about
Yes I have been there and I’m standing with you now
I have been there, and I came to build a bridge
Oh so this road could lead her home, the road could lead her home

Oh I have been there, You know I overcame the cross, yes I have been there
So her life would not be lost
Oh I have been there, and I came to build
A bridge so this road could lead you home
The road could lead you home

Oh I have been there
Yes I have been there

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Mark Mitchell Schultz

Dear God, I haven’t done two of these prayer journals in one day in a long time, but today seemed like a good day.

In 2005, I was unemployed for about six months. One of the things I did back then was make a CD of songs that comforted me. Several years later, since CDs are much of a thing anymore, I made a playlist with those songs and saved them to my iTunes. I came across that playlist today. Coincidence? Maybe not. It feels like something the Holy Spirit led me to. The songs have been great and brought back some memories. Here’s a list of the songs, in order:

All of these songs are a comfort to me. They are a touchstone to a time when I was very sad, scared, down, and even a little depressed. I’m grateful for this list.

With all of that said, “I Have Been There” by Mark Schultz is the one that brought tears to my eyes. There is nothing I can experience you haven’t experienced. I wish I could find it, but there was something fictional I heard someone read about 35 years ago that still sticks in my brain. I’m sure the person who wrote it would be flattered that it made that much of an impression on someone. In this case, it was people lining up to say what they thought you should have to experience, as God, to understand us better. These are me paraphrasing some of the things. It’s been a long time, and I only heard it once, but it was something to the effect of:

  • One person said that God should have to be poor so he can understand what it’s like to struggle without anything.
  • One person said that God should have to have to endure scandal in his family so he would understand what it’s like to be gossiped about and rejected.
  • One person said he should have to know what it’s like to be rejected for his nationality and be a foreigner.
  • One person said that God should have to lose his son and watch him die a terrible death.

The list went on and on, ultimately ending with that God should have to die to know what it’s like to fear death. Then, one by one, the people walked away because they realized you did all these things through Jesus.

So as I sit here now, feeling rejected by some, there is nothing I can experience you haven’t experienced. Like the song from Mark Schultz says, “[You] have been there.” As I stopped and listened to this song closely, playing it back a second time, I teared up. I felt you comforting me, Holy Spirit. You have been there. You know what I’m going through right now, and you have been there.

Father, I’m sorry for the times I have been a source for your sorrow. I am sorry I have caused you to be there. Thank you for comforting me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for being a God who left no stone unturned so that you might know everything about me, including what it’s like to be me.

I gratefully pray all of this as your child,

Amen

 
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Posted by on August 20, 2023 in Hymns and Songs

 

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