Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 2-231 Sunday 24 Nov 2002

Reading: Psalm 135 – A PSALM OF REMEMBRANCE

Pray that God will give you a renewed vision of who he is and what he has done

The late Geoffrey Bull, imprisoned for his faith in early communist China, had lost almost every visible possession including his Bible. Yet he kept his spirit alive by repeating passages of Scripture that he had committed to memory and that were etched on his heart. Doubtless he based his prayers on much of this store of God’s Word.

We may see this psalm as a compendium of parts of earlier Scriptures. Stafford Wright comments: ‘It is a reminder that a well- stored mind can build up helpful prayers based on the Bible’*. The psalmist begins and ends with calls to worship (vs 1-4,19-21). Worship, ‘praise the Lord’, is the core of our fellowship in Christ, but ought to extend to the very edges of our lives. True worship is surely defined by the offering of the whole of our lives as a deliberate act of obedience (Rom 12:2).

The Temple worshippers and those who lead them should not be merely focused on the present, immediate and local. The psalmist reminds his listeners of God’s power over the natural world and every other rival to his authority (vs 5-7); his acts of salvation and judgement in history (vs 8-12); and in direct address to God (vs 13,14) – which should always be an element in our worship – praises him for declaring his triumph and compassion to successive generations.

Our narrow definitions and our spiritual tunnel vision frequently prevent us from discovering and acknowledging God’s presence outside our immediate experience. Reflect on the nature of the God we worship today. Is he of our own fashioning (vs 15-18) or is he the God whose name and renown endures?

‘Praise in the common things of life, its goings out and in; praise in each duty and each deed, exalted or unseen’. (Horatius Bonar, 1808-89)

– David Blair

* From Psalms, Bible Study Commentary, SU/CLC

Copyright Scripture Union, 2002

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