September 8 — Psalm 130

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.” The psalmist has every confidence that God will hear and respond to every cry of pain, because mercy, the writer insists, is who God is. “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice!”

The lament of Psalm 130 is familiar to our hearing and our living. The psalmist cries out to God from “the depths”, from the darkest abyss of human suffering. That abyss takes different shapes in our individual and in our communal existence. We all have had or will have some experience of it. Grief, depression, illness, poverty, abuse — any of these experiences, and so many more, can plunge us into a darkness so deep that it can feel almost like death. That the abyss, the pit, the deep, is so centrally and universally a part of human life is reflected in the Psalms’ repeated reference to it.

Augustine, in his exposition on this psalm, likened the abyss to the belly of the whale in which Jonah was trapped: Jonah’s abyss was deep in the water, in the center of the whale’s body, tangled in the “very entrails of the beast.”

Let us Pray:

God of compassion, you sent your Word into the world to announce the dawn of salvation. Do not leave us in the depths of our sins, but give to us the fullness of your redeeming grace; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

September 9 — Psalm 131

“O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like the weaned child that is with me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time on and forevermore.”

The big surprise when we come to Psalm 131 is that this is a psalm of triumph, but God’s triumph looks a lot different than the world’s triumph. Instead of talking about power and wealth and fame, Psalm 131 is all about humility and contentment. Psalm 131 teaches us that the way up is actually down. Psalm 131 might seem like a step down, but this truly is a step upward to God. As James 4:10 says: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

How is your soul today? Is your soul quiet or disturbed? There may be any number of reasons why your soul is disturbed or agitated; crying out rather than quiet and restful. You may have a guilty conscience; you may be worried about something or envious of someone; you may be distracted or fatigued. But G-d wants you to have a quiet heart, and a soul at rest.

One of the most awesome experiences in life is to quiet your soul in G-d’s presence – to know the Lord’s peace, rest, and comfort. G-d makes peace, rest and comfort available to us at all times, but we do not always take the time to feel them. We each need to take time out each and every day to find some quiet time with G-d.

Psalm 131 is only three verses, but each verse has a simple and clear instruction for us to follow every day: 1) Practice humility. 2) Learn contentment. 3) Live in hope. Those who practice humility before the Lord find contentment, and therefore rest in the hope of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Let us Pray:

Lord Jesus, gentle and humble of heart, you promised your kingdom to those who are like children. Never let pride reign in our hearts, but, holding us with a mother’s embrace, teach us to live in quietness and humility now and forever.

Amen.

September 7 — Psalm 129

“Often have they attacked me from my youth”—let Israel now say— “often have they attacked me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed on my back; they made their furrows long.” The LORD is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked. May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward. Let them be like the grass on the housetops that withers before it grows up, with which reapers do not fill their hands or binders of sheaves their arms, while those who pass by do not say, “The blessing of the LORD be upon you! We bless you in the name of the LORD!”

Why Psalm 129 was made one of the “Songs of Ascents” is unknown. It speaks to the fact that Israel had often been roughly and severely treated; and it contains a prayer that those who were the enemies of Zion might be punished in a proper manner. It would seem probable that it was composed during a time of trouble and persecution, and that the main purpose was to refer to the fact and to find consolation and support.

The principle on which it is founded is, that there is nothing to be dreaded as the result of trial, because the trials will not win the day — because the Lord is righteous.

In the Commentary on the Gospel According to Luke, the bishop of Milan expresses wonder at the gifts that G-d adds to G-d’s forgiveness: “See how good God is, and disposed to forgive sins: not only does he give back what he had taken away, but also grants unexpected gifts.”

And St. Ambrose writes, “it is one of the greatest graces of the Lord, that the very ones who denied him confess him. No one therefore should lose confidence, no one should despair of receiving the divine recompenses, even if he is remorseful of past sins. God knows how to change his mind, if you know how to amend your guilt”

Let us Pray:

Lord Jesus, your death broke the bonds of sin and death, and by your wounds we are healed. Send us your blessing, and strengthen us by your power and grace, that we may praise you now and forever.

Amen.