Through the Bible in one year - Day 54

Psalm 54

O God, save me by your name,

            and vindicate me by your might.

O God, hear my prayer;

            give ear to the words of my mouth.

For strangers have risen against me;

            ruthless men seek my life;

            they do not set God before themselves. Selah

Behold, God is my helper;

            the Lord is the upholder of my life.

He will return the evil to my enemies;

            in your faithfulness put an end to them.

With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;

            I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.

For he has delivered me from every trouble,

            and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

In looking at this Psalm, I see that it echoes back and forth as if talking to someone. You might have noticed other Psalms work this way but each echo underscores the plea and supports the prayer. O God, save me – and vindicate me
            O God, hear my prayer – and listen to me...

            The bad guys are after me – they are ruthless and don’t believe in God...

And so it goes. We have a good pattern here for ourselves, we see it is good to support our thoughts and keep our prayers and petitions coming, and in the end remember to thank the Lord for his saving help.

This prayer in Genesis is long and gives an insight into the relationships of the sons of Israel. Their father knew them and saw them, and it wasn’t pretty. Judah is the only one to have redeemed himself in his father’s eye, the rest, other than Joseph seem damned by faint praise – or outright displeasure. We do get a glimpse here of why we read of so much war and fighting among the tribes of Israel.

2 Chronicles 27:1

Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok.

Here is a king who didn’t do what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and when he dies he was buried with honor. His mother’s name is my own mother’s name – and in fact this is where she got her name. It was a family name in her father’s family, and in this case we see that its root is Jerusalem. I know of two places elsewhere where this name is mentioned, and in each case, it seems that she was a woman of honor, since she was the mother of a king and the daughter of a king – and one who did not do what was evil in the sight of the Lord. For all its unusualness, it is a fine namesake. (So, far though, no grandchildren have been named Jerusha, with or without that ‘h’.)

Paul comes toward the end of his ministry on earth and we see something that is familiar to us who do not wish to lose our loved ones – please don’t go where it is dangerous, please don’t stick your neck out – please don’t leave us. And yet, Paul says, why would you wish to stop me from doing what needs to be done – what is right for me to do? And his friends relent and say the Lord’s will be done. This is hard for us to do, and we see it many times when we read, and in our own lives. Sometimes we have to do things that are right, although not comfortable, and in the end we all die; we all leave our loved ones. The choice, I guess is whether or not we have lived well, and whether we have indeed done what the Lord asks of us.

Today’s readings: Psalm 54, Genesis 49, 2 Chronicles 27, Acts 20:17-21:16