Psalm Devotion: Psalm 137 and "I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord"

Psalm Devotion
May 13, 2020

I hope this evening finds you very well. I'm doing okay myself and am appreciating the shift into the summer schedule that we teachers enjoy and need!

I am also appreciating this weekly check-in and reminder of our community of folks who have studied the Book of Psalms together sharing some specifics of our own journeys along the way. I am reminded of our discussion of what psalmists do which is to process the human condition in the presence of God. May we all always be psalmists in that sense, and may this check-in be a reminder of that vital orientation.

Tonight's psalm-paraphrase selection is another familiar hymn, "I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord" and, even more than some of the looser paraphrases we've studied, it takes a tiny bit of a psalm and a general idea of that psalm as a launch pad for making what might be considered a completely different point.

The author, Timothy Dwight, was the grandson of the very famous Jonathan Edwards. He was engaged in emphasizing that the natural expression of the faith of the regenerated believer took place in the church. And his hymn, "I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord" extols the wonders of that institution and that faith expression. For comparison, Psalm 137 speaks of joyless Israel in Babylon, cut off from Jerusalem, the location of her true worship.

One specific bit of psalm language seems to have captivated Dwight and shows through in a portion of his text, all of which I have copied below:

"If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy."
Psalm 137:5-6

I love Thy kingdom, Lord,
The house of Thine abode,
The Church our blessed Redeemer saved
With His own precious blood.

I love Thy Church, O God!
Her walls before Thee stand
Dear as the apple of Thine eye,
And graven on Thy hand.

If e’er to bless Thy sons
My voice or hands deny,
These hands let useful skills forsake,
This voice in silence die.

Should I with scoffers join
Her altars to abuse?
No! Better far my tongue were dumb,
My hand its skill should lose.

For her my tears shall fall
For her my prayers ascend,
To her my cares and toils be given
Till toils and cares shall end.

Beyond my highest joy
I prize her heavenly ways,
Her sweet communion, solemn vows,
Her hymns of love and praise.

Jesus, Thou Friend divine,
Our Savior and our King,
Thy hand from every snare and foe
Shall great deliverance bring.

Sure as Thy truth shall last,
To Zion shall be given
The brightest glories earth can yield
And brighter bliss of Heaven.

Psalm Devotion: Psalm 72 and "Jesus Shall Reign"

Psalm Devotion
May 6, 2020

I hope this breezy evening finds you well and peaceful. I am feeling more okay than sometimes and am glad we get to share a little psalm time tonight.

As always, I invite you to pause and breathe and take stock of where you are emotionally and spiritually. Perhaps something is weighing on you that you had not noticed. Or maybe someone else's concerns have been drawing your focus. Now is a good time to become aware, to acknowledge, and direct ourselves to the Divine however God is present.

We return to the work of Isaac Watts for this evening's psalm-paraphrase hymn. You will recall that Watts applied the ideas of psalms much more flexibly than some of the earlier writers who translated psalms into metrical poems in English, and he also brought a strong Christological perspective to his paraphrasing. This is seen immediately and powerfully with the first word of his text, "Jesus," claiming that he is the true king of Psalm 72.

Along these same lines, Watts eliminates the Psalm's references to Sheba, Seba, Tarshish, and Lebanon. (In Watts's original text, he actually replaced those references with Europe and Persia and India, all areas that were bringing a sort of tribute to England's King George and through which some spirit of Christianity was expanding.)

For your meditation, I am copying the text below as it appears in our hymnal with the psalm references associated with each stanza. In comparing them myself, I was especially moved by the way Watts gives the psalm text greater specificity that I think could suggest some of his concerns about the time in which he was living. As you will see, the needy and weak and oppressed of the psalm become infants and prisoners and the weary in his vision of the struggles of the world.

Psalm 72:5,8,17

Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
does its successive journeys run,
his kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
till moons shall wax and wane no more.

Psalm 72:15


To him shall endless prayer be made,
and praises throng to crown his head.
His name like sweet perfume shall rise
with every morning sacrifice.

Psalm 72:10-11


People and realms of every tongue
dwell on his love with sweetest song,
and infant voices shall proclaim
their early blessings on his name.

Psalm 72:12-14


Blessings abound where'er he reigns:
the prisoners leap to lose their chains,
the weary find eternal rest,
and all who suffer want are blest.

Psalm 72:19


Let every creature rise and bring
the highest honors to our King,
angels descend with songs again,
and earth repeat the loud amen.

Psalm Devotion: Psalm 84 and "How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place"

Psalm Devotion
April 29, 2020

Hello, All, and welcome.

It's Wednesday already again, again. Time for a midweek breath and a thought of each other.

Our psalm-paraphrase hymn selection for this week is "How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place" which is on page 517 of our hymnal.

If you compare the text, which I will copy below, with Psalm 84 in the King James Version, you will find a number of differences which the author of the paraphrase introduces to enhance our meditation.  I am placing some of those key words in bold print and underlining them so their specific meanings might sink in with us tonight.

How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, to me!
My thirsty soul desires and longs within thy courts to be.
My very heart and flesh cry out, O living God, for thee.

Beside thine altars, gracious Lord, the swallows find a nest.
How happy they who dwell with thee and praise thee without rest.
And happy those whose hearts are set upon the pilgrim's quest.

Is it not the case that one of our deepest experiences is that of a thirsty soul?

And the author shifts the psalm's references to God from third person to second person. How much better it is to talk to God than about God!

Again, the hymn author restates the psalmist's idea of blessedness with the word "happy." That connotes gladness to me and a particularly enlivening sort of blessing.

Finally, there is the reference to the pilgrim's quest which seems to me often to be that which quenches the deep thirst of the soul. We travel from God, with God, and to God.

May you find peace with the Spirit within as you contemplate this hymn and its psalm inspiration.

Psalm Devotion: Psalm 103 and "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty"

Psalm Devotion

April 22, 2020

Another week has gone by and it's Wednesday night again.

I'm having a hard time feeling settled and am sometimes not feeling peace from the sources I normally do, at least not to the usual degree. So that's my confession tonight, and perhaps some of you identify with it.

I'll take a moment now for a breath and to recall that I am a soul and so are you. And I'm also a body living in this world where we are susceptible to the things we fear and to the things we wish were just different. 

Now, may we take a moment to lift each other up because we share that same human condition.

Our hymn tonight is "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" which was inspired by the opening lines of Psalm 103 and has the overall theme of all creation praising as is expressed in Psalm 150. 

This hymn is probably the loosest paraphrase of a psalm that we've studied, and it has almost entered some other category. Not so much a creative restatement of any one psalm, it is more an exploration of key ideas in those two psalms along with hints of Psalms 17 and 26.

Those key ideas are speaking to me tonight. The Lord is the strength of my soul (Psalm 103), and he is the King praised by his Creation (Psalm 150). We're part of that, so not only are we not alone in our human condition but we are members of his praising Creation. 

I'll include words from both psalms and two verses of the hymn below for your meditation. I'm hoping we can all feel grounded in this whole world of God's making now that the sun has set on this Earth Day. 

Psalm 103 excerpt

1 Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Psalm 150 excerpt

1 Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
. . .
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.

"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" verses 1 and 4

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is your health and salvation!
Come, all who hear; now to his temple draw near,
join me in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that has life and breath, come now with praises before him.
Let the Amen sound from his people again;
gladly forever adore him.