The Psalms are the prayer book both for Jews and Christians. Praying with the psalms has been a part of my daily life for more than sixty years. Some psalms are prayers for forgiveness, some are praise of God, some are the lament of one in trouble or conflict.
As I pray some of those psalms, I am united in spirit with people suffering the ravages of war. An example:
Psalm 37
I
If you trust in the Lord and do good, then you will live in the land and be secure. If you find your delight in the Lord, he will grant your heart’s desire.
Commit your life to the Lord, trust in him and he will act, so that your justice breaks forth like the light, your cause like the noon-day sun.
A little longer–and the wicked shall have gone. Look at his place, he is not there. But the humble shall own the land and enjoy the fullness of peace.
II
The just man’s few possessions are better than the wicked man’s wealth; for the power of the wicked shall be broken and the Lord will support the just.
The Lord guides the steps of one and makes safe the path of one he loves. Though he stumble he shall never fall for the Lord holds him by the hand.
I was young and now I am old, but I have never seen the just man forsaken nor his children begging for bread. All the day he is generous and lends and his children become a blessing.
Then turn away from evil and do good and you shall have a home forever; for the Lord loves justice and will never forsake his friends.
III
The just man’s mouth utters wisdom and his lips speak what is right; the law of his God is in his heart, his steps shall be saved from stumbling.
Then wait for the Lord, keep to his way. It is he who will free you from the wicked, raise you up to possess the land and see the wicked destroyed.
The salvation of the just comes from the Lord, their stronghold in time of distress. The Lord helps them and delivers them and saves them: for their refuge is in him.
Fr. Steve Adrian
Photo by Brett Jordan: https://www.pexels.com/photo/text-on-a-white-paper-11506033/
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