Proper 23
Preaching
Aids To The Psalms
Exploring The Message
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You turn us back to dust, and say,
"Turn back, you mortals."
For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday
when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
You sweep them away;
they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning;
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
For we are consumed by your anger;
by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
For all our days pass away under your wrath;
our days come to an end like a sigh.
The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty,
if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger?
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
Alternate Image
The Singer stands beside a huge waterfall. Millions of gallons
of water cascade over this precipice and crash into a pool far
below. How tiny the Singer feels beside this immense
phenomenon. How puny she is beside it. If she fell into that
rushing, crashing water she would be a mere speck, an
insignificant particle to be washed along. How long that water
has flowed on its course and fallen over that waterfall; long
before and long after the Singer and perhaps her entire race have
come and gone. And yet, standing so small and so short of life
beside this magnificent waterfall, the Singer feels contentment,
well-being, and a sense of steadiness and purpose as strong as
those mighty waters. She feels she is as important, even as
essential to creation, as that waterfall. Because the same God
has created them both.
Reflection
Standing in the awesome parts of God's creation such as
waterfalls, many of us feel more intimate with God while we stand
awestruck. Part of the genius of the Hebrew faith is the
understanding and affirmation that God is "right here" in
creation, not just "out there," aloof and uninvolved with the
world.
Moses, to whom this Psalm is credited, certainly must have
felt that. The God of creation, the "I AM," had personally picked
him to do an important and essential task. Moses didn't feel like
a "big" man but rather unimportant and unskilled. With God's
constant prodding and guidance, God accomplished great things
through Moses. The God of Moses, the God who creates waterfalls,
gives each of us important and essential tasks. God will be with
each of us so we can carry them to completion. If this were not
so, we would not be here.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You turn us back to dust, and say,
"Turn back, you mortals."
For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday
when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
You sweep them away;
they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning;
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
For we are consumed by your anger;
by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
For all our days pass away under your wrath;
our days come to an end like a sigh.
The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty,
if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger?
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
Alternate Image
The Singer stands beside a huge waterfall. Millions of gallons
of water cascade over this precipice and crash into a pool far
below. How tiny the Singer feels beside this immense
phenomenon. How puny she is beside it. If she fell into that
rushing, crashing water she would be a mere speck, an
insignificant particle to be washed along. How long that water
has flowed on its course and fallen over that waterfall; long
before and long after the Singer and perhaps her entire race have
come and gone. And yet, standing so small and so short of life
beside this magnificent waterfall, the Singer feels contentment,
well-being, and a sense of steadiness and purpose as strong as
those mighty waters. She feels she is as important, even as
essential to creation, as that waterfall. Because the same God
has created them both.
Reflection
Standing in the awesome parts of God's creation such as
waterfalls, many of us feel more intimate with God while we stand
awestruck. Part of the genius of the Hebrew faith is the
understanding and affirmation that God is "right here" in
creation, not just "out there," aloof and uninvolved with the
world.
Moses, to whom this Psalm is credited, certainly must have
felt that. The God of creation, the "I AM," had personally picked
him to do an important and essential task. Moses didn't feel like
a "big" man but rather unimportant and unskilled. With God's
constant prodding and guidance, God accomplished great things
through Moses. The God of Moses, the God who creates waterfalls,
gives each of us important and essential tasks. God will be with
each of us so we can carry them to completion. If this were not
so, we would not be here.
