Thoughts for the Day

Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people;
from those who are deceitful and unjust
deliver me!
For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
why have you cast me off?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because of the oppression of the enemy?

O send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy;
and I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

* Psalms 42 and 43 are actually one psalm. If you want to read the first half click here: Psalm 42.

These words are the lament of a Temple singer who is far from home and in trouble. He is desperate to be back in God's house, but notice that by the end of the psalm he has turned his longing into faith and hope in God Himself. These two beautiful psalms are a fitting tribute for those eleven disciples who at this time of the year were waiting in Jerusalem for the coming of God's Spirit at Pentecost, which we celebrate tomorrow.

Imagine the position the disciples found themselves in after all they had experienced over the last fifty days - Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and then ascended into heaven, leaving them with the command to stay in Jerusalem until they would "receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you" (Acts 1.8). The city is crammed with people because it's the festival of Shavuot, initially one of the harvest feasts, and later also a time to thank God for the Torah (the Law - the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures). They must have felt threatened by the authorities as they waited, yet their faith held fast even as time went on, and their trust in Jesus' words does not seem to have wavered.

The writer of Psalm 43 longs for God's 'light and truth' that it might lead him to the Temple where he will worship God. The disciples were about to receive that "Spirit of Truth" in "tongues" like flames and a rushing wind. It is that same Spirit that we too received at our Baptism (and Confirmation/Ordination) and their lives as well as ours, would never be the same again.

Lord Jesus Christ,
calm our hearts and minds this day
as we too wait for the festival of Pentecost
and the coming of the gift of the Holy Spirit
that will initiate the beginning of the Church.
May we prepare ourselves for tomorrow
as we hear again the familiar story,
and resolve afresh to involve ourself more fully
in Your work in the world,
in the power of the Spirit.
Amen.