Read this first:https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+40&version=NIV
And then of course we have to listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEV-Y3b_hvw while you read this- I’m listening to it while I’m writing. This is the only chapter in the Bible that makes me immediately think of a rock band.
Of course it begins with the cry to wait for the Lord. The theme we had yesterday. Waiting implies dependence on the change that is to come. At a certain point things are out of our hands and so we wait. In a sense that’s what quarantine’s about and in a sense that’s pentecost- we’re waiting patiently for the Lord. For Him come and clean up this mess we’ve created. The longer I live the more I realize it’s a mess and the more we need some Jesus to come quickly. As we wait- we do what the disciples did before pentecost. We pray. We also do what they did after- we share. We share what Jesus has done for us in the best ways we can which leads to the part that spoke to me the most today:
I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.
I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness
from the great assembly.
This week I’m angry. I’m angry at what my country has become and I fear will turn into. Maybe I have righteous anger. I do think I’m right and everyone is wrong too often. I need to think more about how God’s right and righteous and I am nothing compared to Him.
Do I hide His righteousness? Probably. Strangely I’ve probably been more open and public about my faith since I’ve been home. At least online. I hope that continues. Do I hide God’s work in my life? Do you?
How do we share God’s righteousness more when work demands another sermon, another newsletter, another birthday parade, another cancellation notice, another video to edit. How long must I do this job before I can do it with others? I don’t know. I want Jesus to come.
Marking It Up 