Friday, November 6, 2009

Seek God's presence continually

Psalm 105:  This is a lengthy hymn of praise for God's wonderful works for the people of Israel. In its 45 verses, the psalmist recounts the history of God's faithfulness to the Hebrew, right from the covenant with Abraham to the exodus from Egypt, with many details of famine and suffering along the way. We've seen these theological histories earlier in the psalms. What strikes me with this one, the second last psalm in Book IV, are the opening verses which call on the people to give thanks to God. After being called to sing and praise and glory in God's holy name, the point of this psalm in laid out in verses 4, to 6, what journalists call the nut graph, or the focus of the story. Here the focus is a theological admonition:
 "Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually. Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles and the judgements he has uttered, O offspring of his servant Abraham, children of Jacob, his chosen ones."
After dozens of preceding psalms where the psalmist has been pleading to be in the presence of God, here the psalmist is saying something else. It's more like: Remember God and remember where you come from.
Yet's there's something more that speaks to me here. What does it mean to seek the Lord and the Lord's strength, and seek the Lord's presence continually? This seems to be a admonition to faithfulness, to look to God, not to human kings or governments or each other, especially important in during the exile when the human structures had failed them. The psalmist is reminding them of God's faithfulness in the past, and that God will continue to be faithful  and the people of Israel need to seek out God to again experience that faithfulness. It's a familiar theme, but one that bears repeating: seek his presence continually.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.