Day 19 of Searching the Psalms
Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can
God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures each evening.
3-4 Their words aren’t heard,
their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.
4-5 God makes a huge dome
for the sun—a superdome!
The morning sun’s a new husband
leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete
racing to the tape.
6 That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies
from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts,
warming hearts to faith.
7-9 The revelation of God is whole
and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are
clear
and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are
right,
showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are
plain
and easy on the eyes.
God’s reputation is
twenty-four-carat gold,
with a lifetime guarantee.
The decisions of God are
accurate
down to the nth degree.
10 God’s Word is better than a diamond,
better than a diamond set between emeralds.
You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring,
better than red, ripe strawberries.
11-14 There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger
and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way?
Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
Keep me from stupid sins,
from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed,
scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
These are the words in my mouth;
these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them
on the morning altar,
O God, my Altar-Rock,
God, Priest-of-My-Altar.
Such beautiful descriptions of God's Grandeur in this psalm and the version above is powerful and lovely as well.
ReplyDeleteThe final words of the Douay asks that "the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart" be pleasing to my "Lord, my helper and my redeemer. A good prayer for the start of the day!
There is a beautiful lyrical praise song by Fernando Ortega ( Let the Words of My Mouth) that combines the above lines at the end of Psalm 19 with lines from the conclusion of St Paul's letter to the Philippians in which he exhorts the faithful to think on whatever is true, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is worthy. I need to do this just to get through the difficult days during this time.
I think many of us could be helped by reading and rereading this psalm to calm our anxieties and allow ourselves to rejoice in the Lord. Check out the Fernando Ortega praise song too!
Thanks Mom! A good prayer for the close of the day too. For others who want to hear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TIgfoH_mzk
DeleteCS Lewis says this is the moste poetic of the Psalms, his favorite. This psalm is helping me be in joyful awe and wonder of God as I look at "the heavens" and the sun(but not too directly). A better way to live than taking on more stress and we have plenty.
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