“I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall always be in my mouth. In the Lord shall my soul make its boast; let the meek hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my tribulations. Come to him, and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be ashamed. This poor one cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him from all his tribulations.” (Ps 33/34: 1-6)
I’d like to begin this Friday in the Spirit of this psalm. It doesn’t rant and complain about what is “wrong” with the world or with us, as the words we read or hear in the news (and share on social media) often do. No, the psalm teaches me humble gratitude, in the light and lightness of God-reliance, elevating me to “bless” and to “praise,” rather than to complain “at all times.” Is this some kind of unrealistic optimism, blind to the burdens of all that is “wrong” in our world? No. It is a handing over of all these burdens to One Who is most “real,” and most capable of “carrying” them. It is lighting a candle where previously there was darkness, as the people are doing in this picture, at one of the sites of the recent shootings in Vienna. In God, I find true relief from the stress of self-reliance and burdensome worry.
So let me re-connect with God this morning, as best I can, opening up to His ever-available help, to do the next right thing. “Come to him, and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be ashamed.” I do that today, because I can light a candle in this world, instead of spreading darkness.