Wednesday, November 24, 2021

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

 Originally composed for our missionary prayer letter in November 2001; recently tweaked for 2021



A Psalm of Thanksgiving

 

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;

               His loyal love always lasts.

Unchanging in His faithfulness;

               His loyal love always lasts.

 

At all times give thanks to Him;[1]

               His loyal love always lasts.

In sleepless nights and busy days,

               His loyal love always lasts.

At mealtime and bedtime,

               His loyal love always lasts.

Weekdays and weekends,

               His loyal love always lasts.

 

For everything give thanks to Him;[2]

               His loyal love always lasts.

For of Him, to Him, through Him it is;[3]

               His loyal love always lasts.

For mosquitoes, ants, and fleas,

               His loyal love always lasts.

For pollution and traffic,

               His loyal love always lasts.

For bus-station puppies and morning glories,

               His loyal love always lasts.

For illness and uncertainty,

               His loyal love always lasts.

For roses and for thorns,

               His loyal love always lasts.

For past deliverances and present hope,

               His loyal love always lasts.

 

In word and deed give thanks to Him;[4]

               His loyal love always lasts.

Writing a novel or a grocery list,

               His loyal love always lasts.

Cooking supper or cleaning commodes,

               His loyal love always lasts.

Building a house or pulling weeds,

               His loyal love always lasts.

Designing a webpage or filing insurance,

               His loyal love always lasts.

At battle or in surgery,

               His loyal love always lasts.

In Bible study and hymn-singing,

               His loyal love always lasts.

In work and in play,

               His loyal love always lasts.

 

For all people give thanks to Him;[5]

               His loyal love always lasts.

For all His image-bearers, of Adam’s race,

               His loyal love always lasts.

For family most dear, for husband or wife,

               His loyal love always lasts.

For friends new and old,

               His loyal love always lasts.

For leaders wise and leaders foolish,

His loyal love always lasts.

For heroes and enemies,

               His loyal love always lasts.

For doctors, nurses, and lab technicians,

               His loyal love always lasts.

For pastors, elders, and deacons,

               His loyal love always lasts.

For waitresses and loving maids,

               His loyal love always lasts.

For difficult people like us ourselves,

               His loyal love always lasts.

 

In everything give thanks to Him;[6]

               His loyal love always lasts.

In sickness and in health,

               His loyal love always lasts.

In war and in peace,

               His loyal love always lasts.

In sunshine and in storms,

               His loyal love always lasts.

In riches and in poverty,

               His loyal love always lasts.

In birth and in dying,

               His loyal love always lasts.

For better or for worse,

               His loyal love always lasts.

As long as life endures,

               His loyal love always lasts.

Forever and forever,

               His loyal love always lasts.

His loyal love always lasts.

               His loyal love always lasts.


 



[1] Eph 5:20

[2] Ibid.

[3] Rom 11:36

[4] Col 3:16

[5] 1 Tim 2:1-2

[6] 1 Thess 5:18; Phil 4:6

Monday, November 15, 2021

Bandaged Heart





"He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds."
Psalms 147:3 CSB

Yesterday, reading this verse showed me something new. Healing and bandaging are very different kinds of actions (both needed). Healing can be done from a distance. Jesus healed without touch and without words on occasion.

But bandaging? Bandaging requires touch, close personal contact, and frequent repetition. A healer can't bandage a broken heart or body from a distance. He has to be present, near, attentive, and actively engaged.

If your heart is broken and bleeding today, here is my prayer for you:

May the Lord heal your pain, and in the liminal in-between time, may you experience and believe that He is right next to you, holding your wounded places in His pierced hands, examining and cleansing any trace of infection, and gently bandaging your bruised and battered heart again and again until the Day He wipes away all tears.

In the name of Jesus, who lived, died, rose, and ascended into heaven--
Amen.


Saturday, November 6, 2021

A Learner's Prayer



 
Father of lights,
In whom there is no shadow of darkness:
Thank You for the gift of learning and education,
For Your outbreathed Word in my native tongue,
For literacy to read it,
For its adequacy to equip Your children to walk worthy of You,
For the wise, Spirit-instructed people
You have given the church over the millennia
To help us understand it,
For the abundant wealth of information about a vast myriad of curiosities,
From the deepest depths of the oceans
To the outer reaches of our galaxy and beyond;
From summits, sea creatures, sequoias, and stars,
To subatomic particles, viruses, and genomes;
From the fine arts to Fibonacci sequences;
From cabinet-making to computer science to combustion engines.
 
What a wonderful world You have made for us to explore!
We praise You for the marvelous mystery inviting enquiry,
For the order and structure awaiting discovery,
For all the sparks of curiosity kindling daydreams and imagination.
 
Thank You also for the limits of our comprehension,
For in our finitude we know not even where they are.
If I were the undefeated, undefeatable quiz-show champion,
Knowing one hundred percent of the answers
One hundred percent of the time,
If I knew and understood every book and parchment
In every library
In all of human history,
All my knowledge would be—
And this is generous—
One hydrogen atom
On one water molecule
In one droplet
In the ocean of Your infinite wisdom.
 
You are diamond,
And the sharpest mortal mind cannot scratch the surface
Of Your understanding.
Know-it-alls know nothing in light of You who know all.
 
In the final reckoning,
Eternal life or death rests not on facts we know
But on whom we trust.
Knowledge of You, O God,
Knowledge of Christ,
In whom all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden,
Knowledge worked in Your children by the Spirit of truth—
Who knows the mind of a person
But the spirit who indwells him?—[i]
Personal knowledge of the Triune God is the only knowledge
That breathes life into dead hearts.
 
“This is eternal life:
That they may know You, the living God,
And Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”[ii]
 
To gaze upon Your glory,
To be transformed into Your likeness,
To bear the privilege of making You known—
This is the truest knowledge,
And to revere You is the beginning of wisdom.
 
So I thank You, Lord, for learning,
For books,
For the Book of books,
For education,
For reason and imagination and memory.
Make us faithful stewards of the gifts You have graciously entrusted to us;
Make us humble stewards, always conscious of how miniscule our understanding is
Before the inscrutable majesty of Your glory,
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.

 



[i] 1 Corinthians 2:11

[ii] John 17:3