Introduction

The Congregation Council at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Beatrice, Neb., where I am serving as interim pastor, opens its monthly meetings with devotions. These are the thoughts for the September meeting. The Psalm for the upcoming Sunday is the reading.

Reading

I love the LORD,
because he has heard my voice and my supplications.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
Then I called on the name of the LORD:
“O LORD, I pray, save my life!”
Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
The LORD protects the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return, O my soul, to your rest,
for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
(Psalm 116:1-9, NRSV)

Devotion

One of the amazing and powerful parts about reading the Psalms, about soaking our spirits in their thoughts and expressions, is realizing how honest they are. Sometimes that honesty is beautiful, and sometimes it is painful. This portion of Psalm 116 is no exception. It’s hard to imagine a more loving, compassionate, and nurturing image of God than to picture him inclining his ear to catch the whispers of our voice. He cares so much about us, about what we have to say to him, that he doesn’t want to miss a word. So he leans into our conversation.

And naturally then, the Psalmist commits himself to calling on God as long as he lives. We, too, can be sure that God cares as much for us, so we can trust that he will listen to us whenever we turn to him in conversation.

One seminary professor taught me that the real difference between animals and people, at least according to the creation account in Genesis, is that God spoke about animals, saying, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures…,” but he spoke with people, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it….” (Genesis 1:24, 28, NRSV) He made us like him, in his image, so that we could join him in conversation.

This conversation is our prayer to God. It’s like the breath in our life with him. Sometimes it’s slow and relaxed. Other times it’s sharp and quick. It depends upon the joys and sorrows we face in any given moment. This is the painful honesty of the Psalms. There are times when we find ourselves ensnared by death and the weave of its nets: sickness, temptation, loss, sadness, loneliness, despair, doubt, and so on. Then our prayers may be short: “O LORD, I pray, save my life.” When God blesses us with moments of joy and happiness, we also find ourselves moved to exclaim, “Thank you, God!” in a short and powerful prayer.

Sometimes we find ourselves living in those in-between moments, wondering what we ought to do, where God is calling us to go, both as individuals and as a congregation. Then we can remind ourselves of the Psalmist’s words: “Return, O my soul, to your rest….” (Psalm 116:7, NRSV). Our LORD promises to incline his ear to hear us, even when our prayer is simply, “Where next, O God?”

Prayer

O LORD, lean over and listen to us. Help us to trust in your grace and mercy to guide us along paths of faith, so we may walk before you all our days. We pray in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.