Quick Look at Psalm 131

Ps 131   My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.

Man, I love this psalm. It’s a huge confession, this gateway to humility, this doorway to peace in the midst of turbulence. When I can’t figure something out, this is where I go. When I’m so confused, or overwhelmed, or disgusted by life’s circumstances or the mystery of other people, when I need to just shrug my shoulders and get on with things, this is what I do.

First, a little self-examination. Is my heart proud? Do I think I’m self-sufficient? Is this circumstance within my comfort zone and therefore a potential area of pride? I have to remind myself at times that I don’t want to have a proud heart; I don’t want to go down that pathway, because it can easily lead me into haughtiness.

Haughtiness is being a jerk, thinking I’m better than others. It’s dehumanizing to those around me, too. If I don’t want to be proud, it’s because I sure don’t want to be haughty.

Then comes the letting go, the turning away. This is like getting rid of that bad to-do list that you had no hope of finishing, or giving up the idea of fixing that thing that was way too broke for you to fix anyway. This is great stuff, and the more reluctant you’ve been to give this whatever up, the greater the relief when you do reach this state of grace, this opening of your hand. You can’t fake this; it’s an act of balance, coming right out of the inside of the experience. You’re either stepping free of something that had you bound, or it doesn’t really happen.

Quick Look at Ps 113:5-6

Ps 113:5-6 Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?

I love this quality of the Lord’s to stoop. This action, stooping to us, is usually offensive from a human, but for the Creator of the universe to take notice of what’s going on in our personal little pocket-world is simply fantastic. We get ignored by plain, silly humans all the time. But our God doesn’t ignore us.

And He doesn’t just turn His eye our way, either. That would be sufficient, what with His super x-ray vision. I mean, He could know anything about our condition with the tiniest glance. Well, heck, He wouldn’t even need the glance. He just knows. But He’s so cool; He stoops over to get down on our level, to check us out. He really, really loves us.

Kathleen Norris on Childhood Epiphanies

From her book The Cloister Walk:

"If we teach children when they're young to reject their epiphanies, then it's no wonder that we end up with so many adults who are mathematically, poetically, and theologically illiterate."

As usual, Kathleen's on to something. Now, how do we reawaken our deadness to epiphanies?

Quick Look at Psalm 141:3-4

Ps 141:3-4  Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies. 

This fits right in with James 3, depicting the tongue as the gateway to our attitude, and our attitude as the gateway to our actions and affections. This is why saying negative stuff is so dangerous. It’s not that it’s magic and something has now been inadvertently cursed. It’s what it does to our attitudes. Like pouring salt on your garden plants – it just kills.

Quick Look at Psalm 146:7-9

Ps 146:7-9  He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. I love this statement of what it is that the Lord does. To wit:

1.    He takes up the cause of the oppressed

2.    He feeds hungry people

3.    He frees imprisoned people

4.    He gives sight to the blind

5.    He lifts up the weighted down

6.    He loves His own

7.    He watches over the different

8.    He takes care of those who need care

9.    He messes up the ways of the wicked

You know, I think I can really get into having a savior like this…