Thoughts for the Day

I live as an alien in the land;
do not hide your commandments from me.
My soul is consumed with longing
for your ordinances at all times.
You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,
who wander from your commandments;
take away from me their scorn and contempt,
for I have kept your decrees.
Even though princes sit plotting against me,
your servant will meditate on your statutes.
Your decrees are my delight,
they are my counsellors.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

As we come towards Ash Wednesday and the solemn time of Lent when we look at ourselves and try to live a life that befits a Christian, before we arrive at the hopelessness of Good Friday, and finally the hopefulness of Easter Day, this passage from Psalm 119 is appropriate. The psalm is anonymous but the writer obviously knows the feeling of being an outsider.

We may not live at a time when the Romans or others ruled with an iron rod, but never-the-less we live in a world that seems dangerous, where many in society seek only their own desires, and where the life-style we try to live is alien to others. To set aside time for study and prayer seems to the world to be a waste of time; to attend worship on a Sunday would disrupt shopping or sports time; and to go to an Ash Wednesday Service would cut in to their prime time television. This is to over-exaggerate perhaps, but nevertheless the way we are called to live is, and should be vastly different to any who live only for themselves.

The psalmist refers to the Ten Commandments. These are the 'decrees' that are his delight and his counsellors, that is, his teachers. We have the distillation of these from Jesus (Mark 12.30-31) and if we love God and everyone else, then we shall be obeying these laws. However, we're human and we don't always manage to do this. As we come to Lent this year can we challenge ourselves to take on something (worship, prayer, or study perhaps) rather than give up chocolate, for example. The latter after all takes six weeks to lose the very real desire to eat it, and then we eat Easter eggs and desire it again!

Heavenly Father,
Your words in scripture are our delight,
may they also be our counsellors.
Help us to learn to apply what we read
to our present-day life,
and especially to make changes
to the way we live and think this Lent.
Give us the will power to observe
a Holy Lent,
so that we may come to Easter
closer to You and to others.
Amen.