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.
No comments:
Post a Comment