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.
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