Monday, August 25, 2014

Monday August 25, 2014  

Psalm 91

I can’t help hearing this Psalm as a hymn: “He will raise you up on eagle’s wings, Bear you on the breath of dawn, Make you to shine like the sun, And hold you in the palm of his hand.”

That was one of the hymns we chose for my father’s funeral in January of 2014.  We sang it in the church and then around the gravesite.  I had known it from earlier, introduced probably at Renison or 53rd weekend, and I associate it with people like Patti Carlisle and Morse Robinson.  So this Psalm has a lot of resonance for me.

The clear message of the Psalm is that no harm can come to me - I shall be protected.  My experience is that pain still happened; I was not saved from the experiences of death of loved ones, of illness, of worldly troubles.  However, when I read it with that knowledge, I hear God say to me, “But Ann, you were safe in my arms.  Your spirit, the real you, the essential you, the eternal you, always has been and always will be safe.”

This Psalm reminds me of part of the Lord’s prayer: Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil. Trials will come, evil will attack, but if I hold on to God for dear life (14) I can count on his presence and protection.  Sometimes I may not recognize what the true trial or evil is: it may not be the physical circumstances that are the real danger, but the spiritual ones.  I may risk falling into despair; to believing I am alone, unloved; to missing out on God’s gifts.  I may be so focused on the physical challenges that the hidden traps catch me.  I realized this earlier, when writing another reflection, noting that being overly afraid of having (or not having) enough money for the future (even though I have no true idea of the future!!) can result in holding on to money or things too tightly, to being afraid to be generous.  That can be a hidden trap, a deadly hazard. (3, The Message)

The visual pictures in the Psalm are beautiful: spending the night in God’s shadow (1), huge outstretched arms protecting me (4), standing and watching, untouched, from afar (8), guarded by angels (11).

That last picture is also an echo from my youth: He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.  (King James translation)  Now from The Message: He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go. If you stumble, they’ll catch you: their job is to keep you from falling.  I really find comparing the two translations enriches my understanding.  In this case, I also remember that this was one of the temptations in the desert: truly the angels protected Jesus from stumbling - he saw clearly where the danger lay and so was able to avoid it.  How wonderful to know that I am offered the same protection!!!

And so I end this reflection singing the Psalm:

You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord,

Who abide in His shadow for life,

Say to the Lord, "My Refuge,

My Rock in Whom I trust."

CHORUS:

And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,

Bear you on the breath of dawn,

Make you to shine like the sun,

And hold you in the palm of His Hand.

The snare of the fowler will never capture you,

And famine will bring you no fear;

Under His Wings your refuge,

His faithfulness your shield.

CHORUS

You need not fear the terror of the night,

Nor the arrow that flies by day,

Though thousands fall about you,

Near you it shall not come.

CHORUS

For to His angels He's given a command,

To guard you in all of your ways,

Upon their hands they will bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

CHORUS

And hold you in the palm of His Hand.

Blessings

Ann Kelland