Psalm 133: A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.
I woke this morning to the voices of my older two children coming through the baby monitor that sits on my night stand. This is usually the sound that wakes me up, unless by some act of Providence they sleep past 6:00 am, in which case it’s my husband’s alarm. Today it was the children. I listened as they exchanged a few lines of the excited sort of conversation children carry on in the mornings when they realize the time for sleep is over and they have an entire day of play ahead of them. Once I was assured that they were happily playing I turned off the baby monitor to get a few more minutes of sleep.
Read morePsalm 130: A Song of Ascents.
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
2 O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.
I remember many nights as a child (and, let’s be honest, as an adult) laying awake in my bed waiting for a thunderstorm to pass. Some people enjoy a good summer storm, but I am not one of them. Each flash of lightning and crash of thunder sends new waves of terror through my body. The minutes drag by as I wait for the dawn that always seems to drive the storms away. It’s nights like these, kept awake by a storm, or a child who won’t sleep, or by my own anxiety, that call to mind verse 6 of this Psalm:
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