Your Turn for 3/4-5/2023 - Psalm 13
Welcome to the weekend, Seeds of Faith community!
Because this is a reflection on scripture using the SOAP method (Scripture-Observation-Application-Prayer), part of the purpose is sharing an example of what you might practice in your own scripture reading. So, the weekend invitation is to practice your own SOAP reflection.
Each weekend, I share a passage of scripture to work from. If you’re up for sharing in the comments, I’d love to see what you come up with. This week the prompt is Psalm 13, which you’ll find below. If you share, please copy and paste the sentence or phrase you are reflecting on.
Brief guidelines for a good practice:
The Basic Method. Pick one sentence or phrase in the scripture passage that stands out to you. Write down one thing you observe going on in that sentence or phrase. Reflect on how that observation gives insight that might apply to your faith and life. Write a short prayer about that.
Observe Well. Think about what the sentences and phrases are saying and not saying. Take care also not to extrapolate more than is there.
Stay Balanced. Focus on the particular scripture while keeping the whole witness of scripture (as well as you know it) in mind. Isolating a verse or passage from the whole can lead us to heresies, but reading each verse or passage deeply and well makes for a robust understanding of the whole. This is one purpose of the early creeds (Apostles’ and Nicene)—they summarize the major points of Christian scripture and doctrine so as to help us read individual biblical passages faithfully.
Psalm 13
1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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SCRIPTURE:
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.
OBSERVATION: it is very hard not to view this Psalm as a whole. However, I find verses 5 and 6 speak to me. David is crying out to God impatiently to solve his “troubles.” I know I have been impatient for answers in times of need when I take my problems to the Lord. It is hard to remain faithful and calm when our emotions are ruling and our thoughts are spinning. But these verses assure us, as they did David, God remains faithful to us if we only trust in Him. God does not work on our schedule but on His. I sometimes feel there is a reason, that being time in prayer and meditation, spending time with Him, talking with Him and miraculously, the problem diminishes.
APPLICATION:
Remember to be patient with our God. He has the answers in our lives. All we need to do is talk to Him, be faithful to Him and He in turn, remains faithful to us in our need.
PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, gracious God, teach me patience and to always seek you in times of sorrow, need and fear. Help me learn to be more faithful as you are faithful to me. AMEN
Amen!