Written by: Revd Murray McBride
Psalm 26 v 1-8
LORD, defend me because I have lived an innocent life.
I have trusted the LORD and never doubted.
LORD, try me and test me; look closely into my heart and mind.
I see your love, and I live by your truth.
I do not spend time with liars, nor do I make friends with those who hide their
sin.
I hate the company of evil people, and I won’t sit with the wicked.
I wash my hands to show I am innocent, and I come to your altar, LORD.
I raise my voice in praise and tell of all the miracles you have done.
LORD, I love the Temple where you live, where your glory is.
Notes
Going into my church once to say evening prayers, I met two visitors and invited
them to pray with me. Reading the psalm was like a modern echo in time of
the worship in the Temple.
After prayers, one of the visitors asked lots of questions but I didn’t answer them well. What I wanted to say to him was that Christianity is not about religion, it’s about a relationship with God. God’s Spirit draws us, like it drew the psalmist, into a worshipping relationship with our creator - to love, argue, persuade, thank, and to call on God to keep his promises. Worship is not a pep talk in the mirror, or mechanically entering words into a worship slot, like a coin into a vending machine, expecting a gift-wrapped spiritual chocolate bar experience.
The psalmist shows us how to approach God, to reach out with confidence and expectation. He also shows us that God sees deeper into us than our failures and broken promises – he sees the yearning to be faithful. God sees deeper than our habitual mistakes – he sees our true desire to be the child of God that our heavenly Father is proud of.
Prayer
Holy God of my heart, you know me better than I know myself. Release me to
praise you with all that I am. Let me respond to your Spirit with courage,
not to pretend but to worship you in every part of my life. I welcome you.
Amen
Psalm 26 v 9-12
Do not kill me with those sinners or take my life with those murderers.
Evil is in their hands, and they do wrong for money.
But I have lived an innocent life, so save me and have mercy on me.
I stand in a safe place.
LORD, I praise you in the great meeting.
Notes
One of the more powerful themes in scripture is loyalty. We see it between
husband and wife, families, those in authority over people, but most chiefly
in the loyalty of a worshipper to God.
The psalmist passionately defends himself before God. He could have chosen to be corrupt and engage in a life of godless behaviour with God’s gift of free will, but he remained loyal. He did not just keep a set of rules, but he had a personal relationship of loyalty with God in which God would always remain loyal, true and faithful.
In a world of moral meltdown and promises with short sell-by dates, God is always reliable and eternally consistent. When we falter, like Saint Peter, and our loyalty crumbles under the pressure of opposition, temptation and spiritual attack, God remains totally loyal to us in his love, compassion and sacrificial forgiveness. He offers us resurrection hope to rebuild and heal the bruised loyalty of our faith, and he reignites the loving loyalty of hearts on fire with love for our maker, Saviour and guide.
Prayer
God of the covenant, thank you for your unwavering loyalty to me when I have
let you down. You are always faithful. God of resurrection, show me how to
live my promises in a spirit of fulfilment and integrity that transforms
a hollow person into a whole person. Amen
Psalm 27 v 1-3
The LORD is my light and the one who saves me.
I fear no one.
The LORD protects my life;
I am afraid of no one.
Evil people may try to destroy my body.
My enemies and those who hate me attack me, but they are overwhelmed and defeated.
If an army surrounds me,
I will not be afraid.
If war breaks out,
I will trust the LORD.
Notes
It is strange how a familiar and friendly home can change its atmosphere when
night comes. The shadows grow, the light fades and darkness covers us. Nothing
has changed physically, and yet everything is different. A noise in the light
is a threat in the dark; a worry in the day can be a monstrous fear at night.
Psalm 27 is a wonderful prayer, honestly expressing a deep-rooted problem in humanity, which is fear. God is described beautifully as light. This expresses God’s character - in God there is no dark corner of evil, no shadow to threaten and no dark side. However, when we turn away from the light - turn our backs on God - we cast a shadow into the emptiness that is rejection of God.
Shadows are what we ourselves create - shadows of fears that haunt us, fears which like shadows follow us everywhere, casting a gloom wherever we go until we turn back to God and the shadows are put behind us where we cannot be worried by them.
Prayer
God of light, illuminate the darkness of my fears that plague my mind, distress
my thoughts and terrify my imagination. Call me and I will turn back to you
and feel the light of your presence on my life, dispelling fear and destroying
its power in the security of your love and light. Amen
Psalm 27 v 4-6
I ask only one thing from the LORD.
This is what I want:
Let me live in the LORD’s house all my life.
Let me see the LORD’s beauty and look with my own eyes at his Temple.
During danger he will keep me safe in his shelter.
He will hide me in his Holy Tent, or he will keep me safe on a high mountain.
My head is higher than my enemies around me.
I will offer joyful sacrifices in his Holy Tent.
I will sing and praise the LORD.
Notes
Out of the blue my wife and I were invited to use a famous person’s house for
a holiday. It was a once in a lifetime surprise which we accepted, and we
had a wonderful time. Have you ever enjoyed a special visit to a place you
would love to return to?
The psalmist loves God’s Temple so much; he loves nothing better than the privilege to share the same house as God. He would love to live there, as I would love to live in the place we visited. The psalmist wants to be more than a house guest; he desires more than anything to live daily in God’s house. However, it’s not the gold fixtures and grand architecture that mean so much to him. God’s house is a place that is safe, a sanctuary from harm and fear.
Saint Paul tells us that our bodies are now a temple for God, into which God longs to be invited (see 1 Corinthians 6 v 19). God desires to live every day in our hearts and minds, to live in a sacred space in our lives. God longs not simply to visit us as a guest on Sundays, but to take up permanent residence. Then we will feel secure from the inside out.
Prayer
God our protector, I long to live every day in your presence, to be safe from
harm and shielded from trouble. I welcome you to take up permanent residence
in the temple of this body. Accept the key to my heart and bring your peace
and security with you, because I don’t have any of my own. Amen
Psalm 27 v 7-12
LORD, hear me when I call; have mercy and answer me.
My heart said of you, “Go, worship him.”
So I come to worship you, LORD.
Do not turn away from me.
Do not turn your servant away in anger; you have helped me.
Do not push me away or leave me alone,
God, my Saviour.
If my father and mother leave me, the LORD will take me in.
LORD, teach me your ways, and guide me to do what is right because I have enemies.
Do not hand me over to my enemies, because they tell lies about me and say
they will hurt me.
Notes
I live in a country area with very narrow roads, not always wide enough for
two cars to pass. If I take a wrong turning it can be miles before I can
turn around and head back. When I am going the wrong way I want nothing more
than to find a turning point since I am wasting time.
There are certain turning points in our lives that change the direction of our future, and today may be such a point for you. The psalmist responds to the call of God’s Spirit in his heart to turn aside from the life he leads, and instead turn to God.
It is so easy to go with the flow, like motorists being pushed by busy traffic to go even faster, when they need to turn off the road for a rest and look at the map for direction. In a busy life of daily deadlines I am learning to listen to God’s voice in my heart and to turn to God for rest and direction.
To repent in worship can seem to some a guilt-burdened term, but originally it simply meant to turn about, to choose a new direction from the way that was going nowhere but away from God. It can mean drawing aside to take direction from God’s Bible, and the encouragement of the prodigal child coming home. The prodigal child knows that discipline may be waiting, but that is because love burns brightly in the heart of our heavenly Father for us, a love that sacrificed everything to give us the “cross” road that offers us the way, the truth and the life.
Prayer
God, our perfect parent, the one who is always there, always understands and
always accepts - turn my heart back to you with your gentle call; save me
from the pressures around me that push and drive me away from you; give me
courage to turn back to you, knowing you wait with love that heals all wounds,
peace that transforms memories and a hope that lights the way ahead. Amen
Psalm 27 v 13-14
I truly believe
I will live to see the LORD’s goodness.
Wait for the LORD’s help.
Be strong and brave, and wait for the LORD’s help.
Notes
Today the psalmist opens his heart to God in an act of total vulnerability,
when perhaps all around is undermining his trust in God and one problem after
another plagues his life. He persistently reaches out to God in the dark
knowing that God, though unseen, is reaching out to him.
Our problems can become so pressing that we cannot see past them; they become bigger than God in our eyes. However, worship restores our sense of perspective. God graciously sifts aggravation from problems and crises. Reading scripture again restores our perspective as we are coached by the saints of God who have gone along this path before us, who faced everything we will suffer.
But it takes courage, as the psalmist says, to keep your nerve when others around you are giving up. Turn to Noah and Job to teach you endurance; let Saint Paul encourage you about going through suffering. Our faith is built on the risk-taking God of resurrection, and the life-changing adventure of serving a God who is not a spiritual pizza delivery boy for our prayers and requests, but who is eternally faithful.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, in the middle of my problems, meet with me and give me the
gift of perspective. Help me to learn to trust you more as I go further out
of my depth in faith, because you are faithful. Amen
Psalm 28 v 1-2
LORD, my Rock, I call out to you for help.
Do not be deaf to me.
If you are silent,
I will be like those in the grave.
Hear the sound of my prayer, when I cry out to you for help.
I raise my hands towards your Most Holy Place.
Notes
The “Rock” is such a wonderful and powerful image of God’s strength, permanence
and protection, and yet these very qualities can make our creator so powerful
that he becomes distant to us, untouched by our suffering. The psalmist has
a great balance in his view of the nature of God, because although God is
rock-like in his awesome power he is not a fossil; he is not dead, he is
not deaf or distant, and he is not heartless.
The Christian gospel (good news) celebrates the God of the Old Testament expressing his strength, not in acts of powerful violence, but the amazing strength to become vulnerable in Jesus Christ. The “Rock” of the Old Testament is the stone referred to in the New Testament, which the builders rejected in Jesus, the foundation of our faith. Jesus, the Son of God, shows the same rock-like characteristics in flesh and blood - listening, grieving, suffering, and bleeding with us and for us.
When all about us is shaking and crumbling, Jesus is permanently there with us, unshakeable in his commitment to us, and immoveable in his loyalty to stand by us and to be our guard and guide in life, death and resurrection.
Prayer
Father God, thank you that nothing in this world can shake your love for me.
You are my rock of sanctuary, my high ground of faith. You are the fixed
point when all else crumbles around me. You are my permanent point to the
universe. Amen
word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes