Reflections
Psalm 33: 1-2, 4-5, 18-19 (Read)
“The eyes of the Lord are upon those
who fear Him, to deliver them from death,
and preserve them in spite of famine.”
The Psalm says that the Lord's eyes are
upon us because we hold Him in awe,
we praise Him. Like a Good Shepherd
He protects us from harm; He puts up
a hedge around us and provides us with
armor in our battle against death and the
evil one. He feeds us when we go through periods of spiritual hunger. He nourishes
us and gives us our daily spiritual bread.
Where else would we turn for deliverance from
death, the kind of death which is a consequence
of sin? Remember, “The wages of sin is death,”
and we are all afflicted. Fortunately for us, Christ
destroyed death and brought life to us
We would be dead in our sins without the Lord's
protection, defeated by the evil one without the
Lord's armor. And when our hearts are starved
for God's presence, when our bones are dry, He
nourishes us and breathes life into our dry bones.
It is through His Plan that we are saved. Our
own feeble efforts count for nothing. We must be
submissive and abandon ourselves to His Plan.
Our Savior himself tells us in today's Gospel,
"I am the way and the truth and the life," and He
teaches us, "Whoever believes in me will do the
works that I do." (John 14: 1-12)
Because Christ humbles himself for our sake,
becomes a slave to our sin, there is hope for us,
even in our time of spiritual famine. That is the
meaning of the response, “Lord, let your mercy
be on us, as we place our trust in you.”
Amen
Discussion Questions for Reflection
1. Our psalmist speaks of holding the Lord in awe and knows that the eyes
of the Lord are upon us. Describe how you react when the eyes of the Lord
are upon you and you are in His presence.
2. The Psalm Response today inspires us to place our trust in the Lord and
await His mercy. Tell of how your trust in the Lord has strengthened you
and inspired you to do His will.
Psalm 33 overall seems to be an invitation to praise God Almighty... we praise Him for all His creations and His goodness. V.5, says, “He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.” I interpret that to mean God’s designs are woven throughout our physical earth and also our spiritual world — through loving relationships, an unexpected blessing, or even comfort through a time of sorrow, perhaps found in a beautiful sunrise.
ReplyDeleteThe last two verses of our passage say, “Behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his merciful love, that he may deliver their soul from death, and keep them alive in famine.” (V. 18-19) Though our God is Creator of the awesome and expansive universe, He also has his sights on each of us... delighted when we turn to Him in praise OR in petition. He will never force us to do so, because that would mean we are in bondage to Him. His plan is for our freedom and what joy there is, when we freely and humbly choose Him!
As we choose Jesus, we are overcome with hope...”the hope of his merciful love.” Some translations say, “...the hope of his unfailing love...” How would humankind fare without hope? I cannot imagine. Romans 15:13, says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” I have always loved such images of hope that OVERFLOWS.
From hope, I think trust grows. And I believe trust is what gives me strength to do His will — To wait for His timing, believe for promises that aren’t here yet, surrender plans I thought were good so that I may wait for His, that are better... and perhaps one of the hardest for me: reach out to someone in my path who is hard to love. And love them.
When we allow the Holy Spirit to wash over our hearts, and be changed, we are also delivered. We can experience being fueled or fed spiritually, to withstand any dry spell in our faith walk.
To bring it back full circle, this Psalm exhorts us to praise and rejoice in the Lord. We have every reason to do so when He is a God of such love, provision, and mercy, even for our wayward emotions and actions.