The First Baptist Church of Redlands
TA PE S T RY Woven Together In Love: Colossians 2:2
AUGUST 2016
ISSUE No. 8
A MESSAGE FROM PASTOR SHAWN
Getting Past the “Pretty” in Psalms I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally he listened. He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn’t slip. He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God. More and more people are seeing this: they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God. (Psalm 40:1-3 The Message) We have all had times when we have felt like this: waiting and waiting and waiting for God to answer our prayers. Now may be such a time, whether it is what we are hearing on the news every day or things going on in our lives, like broken relationships, or the loss of someone special, disappointment, failure, depression, someone close to us who is struggling. At times we may even feel like God doesn’t
want to hear us complain, or hear our frustrations. But when we read the Psalms and see the raw feelings that show up in them, sometimes we are uncomfortable, until we realize that the Psalms are written to provide expression to our praise to God but also to our frustrations and our weaknesses. Praying the Psalms can actually provide the words that we need to express our innermost feelings, desires and struggles. Later in the same Psalm we read:
But all who are hunting for you— oh, let them sing and be happy. Let those who know what you’re all about tell the world you’re great and not quitting. And me? I’m a mess. I’m nothing and have nothing: make something of me. You can do it; you’ve got what it takes— but God, don’t put it off. (Psalm 40:16-17 The Message)
In just a couple of verses we see hope, confidence, self-doubt, lack of confidence, impatience and longing. Have you ever felt all of those things wrapped up inside of you all at once? I think that we all have. A couple of weeks ago at our first “Worship Outside the Box” we explored the Psalms through readings, songs and the testimony of Bono and Eugene Peterson. I would like to encourage all of us to take a fresh look at the Psalms. Use a different version of the Bible than the one that you usually use. Don’t skip over the difficult parts, that parts that aren’t “pretty.” Allow the entire Psalm to speak to you and to speak for you. Look for Psalms in the songs that we sing. You may even want to write your own Psalm, expressing the “good, bad and the ugly” of what you may be feeling or experiencing at the time. And if you would like to watch the video conversation between Eugene Peterson and Bono check out this link: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=-l40S5e90KY. To hear the song, called “40,” that Bono wrote based on this Psalm check out this link: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=1XzHlySYR_Y.