Meditation 247
Psalm 130
It has been about a year since I started writing these daily meditations. A friend had suggested that it would be a good thing to do during the pandemic, and it seemed to me to be a good way to keep in touch with people in the pastoral charge where I serve. The audience has expanded beyond the people in the Charlotte County Pastoral Charge, which has been a reminder of how widely spread the Church is. Here we are, a year after the declaration of a pandemic, with restrictions still in place for us, and with the hope for vaccines to be widely administered close at hand. It has been an interesting year.
The psalmist is writing of a time when he called to the Lord out of the depths. Many did just that in the last year. This year was a year that brought depths of worry, illness and in some cases, shortage of money. Maybe one of the great obstacles to us in the pandemic was the loss of independence. Most of us are used to deciding where we will go, who we will have over to our homes, and whether or not to wear a mask. Even when we accept that the limitations are in place for the common good, it has been a challenge to live differently. Songs have even been written about the need to “stay the blazes home!” and so we have been finding new ways to keep in touch as we listen to the news and pray that the disease will slow in its spread. We have prayed for those infected to get well, we have prayed for the creation of a vaccine, and we have prayed for strength to make it through. Out of the depths we have cried to the Lord.
The psalmist speaks of waiting for the Lord, more than those who watch for the morning. In the next verse we read that with the Lord there is steadfast love, so the psalmist’s time of waiting has been worth it. Some of us who wait for the Lord do so with grace and quiet, praying, meditating, even singing songs of praise. Others of us may cry and implore and walk the floor, but still we do so in the presence of God with whom there is steadfast love. God is like a parent who looks upon us with love, some of us may need a caring presence to help us sleep through the night, helping us through the long night to the morning. Others do not have such a peaceful night, there may be a fever or bad dreams, still the good parent calms the child and brings that child to the morning. God who has steadfast love gives hope.
The psalmist ends by reminding us that with the Lord there is great power to redeem. Over and over in the history of Israel God redeems the people. The steadfast love of the Lord causes God to seek out the people that God loves, to forgive them and give them a new day to walk in the path of God. It is to this trustworthy God of mercy that we turn now. We can give thanks for the progress that has been made this year, we can ask for the grace to encourage us, and we can look for ways to share this loving God with others.