Weekly Devotion

For the rest of Lent, I will be reflecting on the Psalms in these weekly devotions. I hope that these little, informal riffs will spur spiritual growth for all of us. I’ve mentioned before that the Psalms are both the prayer book of Israel, and even more, the prayer book that Jesus used. These prayers are, like old love letters exchanged among our ancestors, a rich treasure that we are blessed to inherit.
 
This week, we turn to Psalm 27.
 
This is a prayer for help. The psalmist cries out to the Lord, who protects him from harm. Enemies are assailing him. Hostile armies are encamped at the gate. There is good reason to be alarmed.
 
In a few days, we will enter into the month of March, which derives its original name from the Roman god of war-Mars. During this time of the year in the ancient Roman empire, soldiers would begin to take their weapons out of storage, in order to clean and sharpen them. They would make plans for battle.
 
As grim as this thought is, we are familiar with this in our Christian life. Just a few weeks ago, we heard the story of Satan ambushing Jesus in the wilderness, trying to prevail upon the Lord. We know from the life of Jesus, and we know from our own lives that the forces of evil are always readying weapons to do us harm. They are continually laying plans for battle. Doubt, despair and temptation are never far from our experience.
 
However, the psalmist teaches us here what it means to be confident in God. The Lord is our light and our salvation. He is a stronghold for us, and He confounds our enemies. Jesus is able to do what we would not be able to do-refute the devil’s twisting of scripture, and triumph over doubt, despair and temptation. You and I are set upon the rock which is Jesus, and because of him, we are able to resist evil.
 
We are given weapons of the Spirit, and this Lenten season is a time when we focus on taking those treasures out of storage for cleaning. We oil and sharpen them. We observe the blueprints of stronghold we’ve been set within by God, so that we can resist the devil’s assaults. 
 
However, God doesn’t just offer bodily and spiritual protection. In His goodness, He also offers us beauty-a feast for the senses, and a source of deep joy. The singing and melody-making that the psalmist mentions here is a sort of echo of psalm 23, where the Lord prepares a feast for His servant in the midst of enemies. Imagine that-a dinner table with an abundance of fine wine, in the middle of a battlefield! That’s the kind of God we serve; providing us with moments of profound joy and peace, even as we bear difficult crosses.
 
Outside, the battle rages. But in the midst of the assaults of the devil, we come together to lift our voices in song, to contemplate light that pours forth from the cross, to feast on rich wine and finest wheat, to grow in joyful friendship with Jesus.
 
Protected as we are, and given as much cause for joy as we have been given, indeed, whom shall we fear?

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Nathan