Lent 3
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
-- Psalm 63:3
The lectionary places this psalm in response to the passage from Isaiah about the incredible grace of God. It is a reminder that we discover that longed-for relationship through worship. Psalm 63 was given the context of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah by its superscription. That wilderness had been his sanctuary when Saul sought to kill him and later when his son, Absalom, tried to overthrow him. We pray this psalm as one who has been stripped of power, so our soul thirsts for God like we were in the desert (v. 1).
That was possible for David because this sanctuary in the desert was in the context of a life of having gone to the sanctuary of the temple to behold the power and glory of God (v. 2), to praise God's steadfast love (v. 3), and call on God's name (v. 4). His practice of praise had become his food for living (v. 5), nurtured by a constant prayer life (v. 6). This continual placing of self in the presence of God had allowed him to keep reality in perspective. Now, when in dire physical distress, the reality of the majesty of God gave him confidence in the future (vv. 8-11). The psalm becomes a prayer for those threatened by a loss of control over their situation -- a reminder of who is really in charge of all future -- an invitation to put our most desperate situation in the context of praise.
-- Psalm 63:3
The lectionary places this psalm in response to the passage from Isaiah about the incredible grace of God. It is a reminder that we discover that longed-for relationship through worship. Psalm 63 was given the context of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah by its superscription. That wilderness had been his sanctuary when Saul sought to kill him and later when his son, Absalom, tried to overthrow him. We pray this psalm as one who has been stripped of power, so our soul thirsts for God like we were in the desert (v. 1).
That was possible for David because this sanctuary in the desert was in the context of a life of having gone to the sanctuary of the temple to behold the power and glory of God (v. 2), to praise God's steadfast love (v. 3), and call on God's name (v. 4). His practice of praise had become his food for living (v. 5), nurtured by a constant prayer life (v. 6). This continual placing of self in the presence of God had allowed him to keep reality in perspective. Now, when in dire physical distress, the reality of the majesty of God gave him confidence in the future (vv. 8-11). The psalm becomes a prayer for those threatened by a loss of control over their situation -- a reminder of who is really in charge of all future -- an invitation to put our most desperate situation in the context of praise.
