Free & Fit - Summer with the Psalms - Psalm 40 Wednesday 10 July
Summer with the Psalms
Psalm 40 Wednesday 10 July
“I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord. Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord, who have no confidence in the proud or in those who worship idols. O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them. You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings. Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand— you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings. Then I said, “Look, I have come. As is written about me in the Scriptures: I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.” I have told all your people about your justice. I have not been afraid to speak out, as you, O Lord, well know. I have not kept the good news of your justice hidden in my heart; I have talked about your faithfulness and saving power. I have told everyone in the great assembly of your unfailing love and faithfulness. Lord, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me. Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me. For troubles surround me— too many to count! My sins pile up so high I can’t see my way out. They outnumber the hairs on my head. I have lost all courage. Please, Lord, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me. May those who try to destroy me be humiliated and put to shame. May those who take delight in my trouble be turned back in disgrace. Let them be horrified by their shame, for they said, “Aha! We’ve got him now!” But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you. May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, “The Lord is great!” As for me, since I am poor and needy, let the Lord keep me in his thoughts. You are my helper and my savior. O my God, do not delay.”
Psalms 40:1-17 NLT
Reflection on Psalm
This same doubt or anxiety is not dissimilar for any Bride or Bride groom when they are at their wedding. Especially at the moment when the Pastor calls on the congregation to state if their is any persons here present who would oppose or see any reason as to why these two people can not be partnered to marry in Holy matrimony. That little moment causes some doubt even in the celebrant of the wedding.
The congregation, when first addressed at a wedding ceremony, are greeted as “Dearly Beloved.” The phrase “Beloved” is defined in three different forms within the Hebrew. Firstly in reference to “my beloved.” In the Bible study tools online it states that “my beloved, used by prophets of ׳י under figure of husbandman Isaiah 5:1 (twice in verse); so my (thy, his) beloved.
I love to read the Bible in the Amplified version and find it here in Isaiah helping me to understand more relationally that the “my beloved” in this translation it’s referring to our relationship with God.
“Now let me sing for my greatly Beloved [LORD ] A song of my Beloved about His vineyard (His chosen people). My greatly Beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile slope (the promised land, Canaan).”
Isaiah 5:1 AMP
Secondly, another contextual definition of “Beloved” from Bible Hub tools is “lovely, מַהיְּֿדִידוֺתמִשְׁכְּנוֺתֶיךָ Psalm 84:2 how lovely are thy habitations!.” Which again sounds fantastic in the amplified version. It astoundingly resonates with our first commandment to love the Lord our God.
“My soul (my life, my inner self) longs for and greatly desires the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.”
Psalms 84:2 AMP
Finally, the excellent Bible Hub tools defined “Beloved” as a feminine plural as abstract substantive שִׁיריְדִידֹת Psalm 45:1 = a song of love. Again, I love to hear it in the Amplified which reads as follows and leads us into a new song: a Song of Songs.
Which draws me to a different hymn that has been excellently interpreted by the Episcopal Priest The Rev. Diana E. Carroll who speaks into the feminine beloved through scripture and the Song of Songs from verse 2:10 which says: “My beloved speaks and says to me: Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” (Song of Songs 2:10).
In closing, Carrol picks a part of the new hymn which melts my heart to read and listen to. From this extract, a part of the poem I will read in a moment, dnd firstly her, Carroll’s commentary, highlights the beauty of Gods love for us as we focus on the feminine parts of the Beloved. This will act as our closing reflection and prayer.
Carroll states that “At the beginning, as in the Song of Songs, it is the way the couple addresses one another. “You are my beloved.” “I am your beloved.” But the second part of the hymn shifts to a much wider meaning for “beloved.” We recognize here that the two people are not alone in their love, for they are also God’s beloved, individually and as a couple. Even more, they belong to a beloved community. Recall how the Letter of James addresses the whole church as “my beloved.” In the church, we are beloved of one another and of God.”
I would love to welcome us all home with a welcoming home this day today with our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, together, either silently or aloud feel free to repeat after me.
This Closing Prayer is adapted from the Dearly Beloved Wedding hymn.
Dear Lord I am your beloved.
All I have I share with you O Lord
All I am I give you O Lord
All things I will bear for you O Lord
With this solemn promise O Lord
With you O Lord two have become one.
I am your beloved O Lord.
Until all our lives are done.
in Jesus name.
Amen
Sources:
Jobe, Kari. (2020). Source: Accessed: (March, 2021): https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/karijobe/mybeloved.html
Carroll, Rev. Diana, (2020). Source:
Accessed: (March, 2021), , https://www.thehiveapiary.com/post/you-are-my-beloved-a-new-wedding-hymn
Bible Hub. Text on Beloved Definitions. Accessed: Source: (March, 2021): https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3039.htm
“So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.”
Lamentations 3:26 NLT
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