Monday, December 23, 2013

Maureen Carey-Back
Lay Pastoral Assistant

Psalm 62

1 For God alone my soul waits in silence;
   from him comes my salvation.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
   my fortress; I shall never be shaken.
3 How long will you assail a person,
   will you batter your victim, all of you,
   as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4 Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence.
   They take pleasure in falsehood;
they bless with their mouths,
   but inwardly they curse.
      Selah
5 For God alone my soul waits in silence,
   for my hope is from him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
   my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my deliverance and my honour;
   my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
   pour out your heart before him;
   God is a refuge for us.
      Selah
9 Those of low estate are but a breath,
   those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
   they are together lighter than a breath.
10 Put no confidence in extortion,
   and set no vain hopes on robbery;
   if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.
11 Once God has spoken;
   twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
12 and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord.
For you repay to all
   according to their work.

Devotional

As I read and pray this Psalm I feel deep awareness in my heart that echoes this verse:

“For God alone my soul in silence waits for my hope comes from him.”

It is not a coincidence that I am writing about this psalm. It is what my friend calls “a God-incidence”. I have prayed this psalm every day since the spring. The spring and summer was what I will call a time of discontent for me. I learned during this time that God was calling me to a deeper union with him, to trust him, to walk with him, to rest with him; this refuge would give me hope and strength. This psalm and this verse in particular became my manna from heaven. So, as the list of readings were taken from the lectionary and assigned, I said “of course God, this would be the reading you have chosen for me to reflect on”. Again, I hear and feel that deep awareness echoing in every cell of my being:

“For God alone my soul in silence waits, for my hope comes from him”

It has taken me quite some time on my spiritual journey to understand that it is God alone who I need to rely on first and always. He is my rock, my fortress, my refuge, my go-to guy.

As I move deeper into a contemplative prayer life that Holy Spirit and I are creating together, I find that I crave and need this time with God alone. Within this holy time capsule I place my joy, my sorrow, my darkness, my love and my hope in God. It is in this thin place that God reveals his glory and provides for my spiritual care. This is God’s plan and it occurs in God’s timing not my own. So I wait. It is here that I have learned to trust and hope in God where peace will come quieting my mind and putting my heart at rest.

When we wait it gives us opportunities to honor God through steadfast trust and hope in him. It is like a seed that is underground during winter, although hidden and seemingly dead and lost it is taking root for a later spring and harvest. It is here embracing the journey, embracing the trial, embracing sadness, embracing loneliness that God’s light is revealed to us.

This is the story of Job in the midst of the storm, Abraham on the road to Moriah, Moses in the desert of Midian and Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

This is the story of Advent. The journey to incarnation that we take preparing our hearts, our minds, our spirits for the light that God shines in our lives to do God’s work.

What is your story?
What journey have you and God been on this Advent?
What is being born in you?

Additional Readings

Zeph. 3:14-20; Titus 1:1-16; Luke 1:1-25