GATHERING
RESPONSIVE CALL
James 1:26, 3:5–8
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. […] So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!
And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind,
but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
SILENT MEDITATION or MUSICAL MEDITATION: (listen to this meditation from Psalm 120)
ASSURANCE
John 17:6, 11b [ESV]
I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. […] Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
SING: Gloria Patri
Glory be to the Father
And to the Son and to the Holy Ghost
As it was in the beginning
Is now and ever shall be world without end
Amen Amen
WORD
Day 5 (Psalm 7 and 64) – “Refuge for the righteous”
Read Psalm 7
2nd Reading: Psalm 64
“O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver…if I have plundered my enemy without cause,… let him trample my life to the ground.”
Psalm 7 and 64 have similar themes and language so they are group together in our reading today. The focus will be on Psalm 7. Both psalms ask for God to be our “refuge”, and both describe God defeating our enemies with very human poetic expressions such as “shooting my enemy with arrows.” However, there is another theme that can be difficult to understand. Particularly in psalm 7, David pleads for help because of his own righteousness. The basis of his petition for God’s help is that there is no “wrong in his hands.” How can we say this psalm as a prayer, when we also confess that we sin daily in “thought, word, and deed”? (WSC #82)
There are two ways to look at this. First, it may be that David is thinking narrowly about his innocence in a particular matter. In this particular conflict, some enemy is trying to hurt him, and it is not something that is directly related to David’s sin. In the NT, Peter says that sometimes we suffer because of our own mistakes. Other times, we suffer and it is not our fault.[1] (Presumably, sometimes there is a mixture of both.) It is not hard to imagine times that we might experience uncomfortable consequences of our own bad decisions. It may be that we are meant to read this as David expression that this particular situation is one where he is suffering unjustly. There is a particular sting when we did the right thing and suffer anyway. But David believes that God is able to help.
But this psalm also teaches us to look past David to see his greater descendent, the true anointed King – Jesus. Jesus can help us whether we are suffering justly or unjustly. He can forgive our sins, and he can sustain us when we share in the fellowship of unjust suffering with him. More importantly, Jesus could plead his righteousness – not just in a limited situation like David, but – in all situations. As the “man of sorrows” Jesus suffered deeply. But in every situation he could plead his innocence before God. And therefore he is perfectly equipped to be our great high priest. As our priest he continues to pray for his people as we suffer – both in our guilt and in our innocence.
[1] I Peter 3:17 “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”
ABIDING
SING | Psalm 120MEMORIZE | Psalm 120
– Spend time memorizing the words of Psalm 120 as best you can –
SENDING
LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever,
Amen.
COMMISSION
As you go into your calling and vocation, take special care to observe the ways you are tempted to join in words of war from those you live with.