It is too bad that most of us don’t know Hebrew, for today’s psalm, Psalm 119, is an acrostic based on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each new stanza begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line continues with that letter. Thus every line in verses 1-8 begins with the letter Aleph, lines 9-16 with the letter Beth, etc. This is meant as an aid to memorization. (You will notice that the Canadian Book of Alternative Services and the 2019 Book of Common Prayer both have these headings.)

But even apart from simply acting as an aid to memorization, this set-up wants to alert us to something so very important, namely the importance of knowing, understanding--and obeying--what God has revealed to us, His word, His commands, His teachings, His laws etc. To the psalmist, this is more than of ‘passing importance’: it is essential to our lives as God’s people.

But, herein there’s the rub: how many of us and our fellow Christians actually take the time to study and understand the Scriptures, much less meditate upon them and commit them to memory, so that they become part of our very beings, part of the way we subconsciously think and act and speak. I have to admit that, though I love the Scriptures and endeavour to read and study them every day, I am absolutely dismal at memorizing them. And, as for obeying them, well, the jury is probably ‘out’ on that one.

So, today’s Scripture and meditation are timely and useful reminders to all of us to ‘pull up our socks’ and become a bit more intentional, and disciplined, in our study and application of Scripture.

Today’s meditation put me in mind of something said in my ordination vows so many years ago, “Will you do your best to pattern your life (and that of your family) in accordance with the teachings of Christ, so that you may be a wholesome example to your people?” (BAS pp. 656 and 647). It is something expected of priests and deacons, but then, is this not something that all of us, lay or ordained, should also strive for? I certainly think so. After all, the entire world is watching!

Today’s psalm comes at a very traumatic point in the future King David’s life. People have let him down--again. And, worse than that, it is his own people, his own tribesmen, and worst of all, they have gone to his enemy, Saul, of their own free will, and have offered to surrender David into his hands. How awful is that!

But probably all of us have been let down by someone we trusted, by friends perhaps, or sad to say, perhaps even one’s own family. Yes, I have seen far too many family situations over the years where family members were at odds with each other--or worse!

But here we have some good news. Both Psalm 27 verse 10 and Isaiah 49 verse 15 speak of situations where someone near and dear to us has let us down. But then they assert that the Lord will never, ever do so. God will always and ever be there for us. That is the message of today’s meditation, and it is ever good news for us to hear. Thanks be to God.

Today, according to one lectionary, is Good Shepherd Sunday, and happens to be one of my favourite Sundays of the year, namely because it focuses so intently on God’s incredible and never-ending, never-failing love and care for us. To me, that truly is something worth remembering, and celebrating.

The book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Scriptures has all sorts of pithy and wise sayings. One of these is Proverbs 3:7, which reads “Be not wise in our own eyes” (also translated 'own conceit, wisdom or opinion’). Other translations render it, 'Don’t depend on your own wisdom’, ‘don’t consider yourself to be wise’, and ‘never let yourself think you are wiser than you are.’ The next phrase puts it all into the proper perspective: ‘fear/ respect/ obey the Lord.’

All of this coincides nicely with what our psalmist for today has learned: namely that it is best to seek God’s ways and God’s wisdom rather than our own, and to seek to understand it more completely and then obey it.

It is good advice for everyone, regardless of what age or place we happen to live in. God’s way is best.

Unfortunately, it is far too easy to sit back and ‘rest on our laurels’ in terms of our relationship with God. What I mean is this: to be satisfied if we, and hopefully our friends, family and other loved ones, are right with God and know and love and follow Him, but not really think that much about all ‘those others out there’. And yet those very ‘others’ are also people that God calls us to minister to, with the hope and intention, of course, that they will hear, really hear, of God’s love and faithfulness, and want to explore it, accept it, for themselves. The trick, of course, is that our faith, Christianity, was never meant to be a solitary religion, but for far too many people that is what it has become. So, what about us? It is quite a challenge, one that most of us are not really ‘up’ to. Fortunately, we have a God who can help us with it. Thanks be to God.

Unfortunately, over the years, countless individuals or groups have misused or twisted passages of Scripture to their own ends, using, for instance, the crowd's words in front of Pilate (his blood be upon us and upon our children, Matthew 27:25) as their justification for persecuting Jews, or the story of Israel entering the Promised Land as a model for ‘taking over’ other lands as their ‘promised lands’, or shunning people who have somehow transgressed church people’s sensibilities, following the lead of Matthew 18:15-17.

But this is not all: people routinely take Scriptures written in another time or place, and within a totally different context, and seek to draw a direct parallel to us today. Thus they see God’s provision of manna to the Israelites as an indication that God will invariably provide for us today. Sadly, this does the Scriptures a grave injustice. What we need to do is two things when we come to the Scriptures. Firstly, to look intently at the context and see whether there are indeed any parallels to us. And secondly, to look at the whole witness of Scripture. Often other passages can help us see more clearly what God wants to say to us, especially if the first passage seems to be unclear.

Anyway, something to think about.

Probably most of us feel overwhelmed at times, though probably not on the scale of the future King David when he was being pursued, hunted down, by King Saul. There he was at risk of losing his very life. We seldom are at ‘such straits’, but nevertheless, we can feel pretty frantic, worried or helpless at times. This is where David’s example is a good one to follow, namely his fervent prayers to God for help. It’s a good thing for all of us to do as well.

At those times when we are under stress and facing great difficulties, it is easy to become fixated on our problems and issues, and forget that the Lord is there, and that He is ever faithful and ever helpful. Our psalmist today reminds us of this fact, and asserts that as God has helped us in the past, He will continue to do so even today.

The experience of being ‘orphans’ is a powerful one for anyone who has been through it. But even more powerful is what Jesus offers us. After giving my life over to Him as an adult in June 1970, I felt an incredible sense of being safe and secure, almost like that of a child being held in his or her parent’s arms. And then, in the fall of that same year, encountering the Holy Spirit, not as a presence ‘out there’, but as a presence within, made it all complete. I certainly did not feel like an orphan. And such is the kind of presence that God offers to each and every one of us.

The story of the Annunciation, the visit of the archangel Gabriel to Mary, highlights an issue that confronts every present or past human living on earth--just as it did for Mary. The issue is whether we will say ‘yes’ to God and His desire and plan for our lives, and whether we will say ‘yes’ without any guarantee or foreknowledge of where that will take us--other than the guarantee that God will be with us and guide us and help us, and, work out everything for our ‘best’ (whatever that might be!). So, the issue is really about whether we are willing to trust Him, and how far we are willing to go with Him in terms of that trust. Mary was willing to ‘go all the way’: what about us?

I don’t know about you, but debating whether the resurrection did or did not happen can seem somewhat remote and detached from everyday life as I know it. However, considering whether God is alive and at work in our world today--and able to make a difference to it, is a lot more pertinent. When it comes to questions like this, my belief and faith in God suddenly becomes much more crucial. That is, do I really believe that He can make a difference in Ukraine, or in Gaza and Israel, on the world stage? Or, in the more immediate questions and problems that you and I face? Here’s where my faith comes up for a reckoning, just as did the faith of Thomas. And here’s where I need some help--just as he did.

Far too often we underrate God, underestimate just what He can do. But then, faced with something as seemingly impossible as the Resurrection--or Paul’s conversion--who can blame us? I’m afraid that most of us are probably like the father of the epileptic boy, “I do have faith! Please help me to have even more” (Mark 9:24). “Help us, Lord, to have even more faith--so we can be more faithful and expectant in prayer, and more ready to take risks in doing your work. Amen.”

I don’t know about you, but risk-taking isn’t exactly my forte. I like things to be comfortable, steady and predictable, and so watching the two disciples Peter and John as they ‘take on’ the Jerusalem establishment and preach a message that isn’t at all ‘acceptable’, is a bit unnerving. It poses, for me, something of a challenge, namely about taking risks today, whether by word or by example or by actions. I sort of wonder: are there risks that I should be taking for the sake of the faith, for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel? And if so, what might they be? Something to think and pray about.