Links for today’s readings:
Jan 30 Read: Job 32 Listen: (2:12) Read: Psalms 15-16 Listen: (2:03)
Links for this weekend’s readings:
Jan 31 Read: Job 33 Listen (3:00) Read: Psalm 17 Listen: (1:58)
Feb 1 Read: Job 34 Listen: (3:26) Read: Psalm 18 Listen: (5:47)
Scripture Focus: Psalm 16.9-11
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Reflection: Mortality and the Path of Life
By John Tillman
The “Colbert Questionert” is a recurring segment on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Some questions are light and some weighty. One weightier question is “What do you think happens when we die?”
Guest’s answers are a mismatched pastiche of mostly vague scientific, philosophical, or theological takes. Ryan Gosling answered, “We wake up.” Keanu Reeves said, “The ones who love us will miss us.”
Modern westerners might be the most death-avoidant culture in the world. If we aren’t fully in denial about dying, we employ endless tactics to delay discussing, thinking about, or preparing for it. But death is an undeniable reality of our existence. We need more than a quick questionnaire. We need meditation and lament.
If you pull verse six out of psalm 16, it sounds like a simple praise for happy, peaceful blessings. “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” (v. 6) But the opening line and the closing section of the psalm make clear that the psalmist has suffering, danger, and death on the brain. It’s a lament disguised in the clothes of praise.
Praise in the midst of suffering, persecution, or death is often found in lament. Federico Villanueva, in the Asia Bible Commentary Series says, “Confidence or trust in God arises out of lament,” and “It is in the context of lament that the opportunity to trust in God best presents itself.”
Meditating on mortality is not morbid. It brings wisdom, inspiration, and energy for today. Remember, we will die. Remember also, that in Christ, we will live again and evermore.
While considering death, the psalmist’s lament provides an opportunity to trust God and praise him. Taking the “Colbert Questionert,” the psalmist might say, “God will keep me safe. He will not abandon me to death’s decay. A path of life is open for me and on that path I will find joy and pleasures for eternity in God’s presence.” (v. 9-11)
There is only one path to life and Jesus is its pioneer. (Hebrews 2.9-11; 12.1-3) He makes it known to us and asks us to make it known to others. Many paths may lead to Jesus, but no path leads to life unless it first comes through him. (John 14.6-12) Ask others to join you on this path. Share with them the delightful inheritance we have by adoption into the family of Jesus. Their path of life could start today.
Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus taught them saying: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me! Let anyone who believes in me, come and drink! As scripture says, ‘From his heart shall flow streams of living water.’” He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive; for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified. — John 7.38-39
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.
Read more: Our Delightful Inheritance
With headlines that remind us of all that we lack, do we see God as our all?
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