We Are Never Without Our Hallelujahs

June 7, 2017

We Are Never Without Our Hallelujahs

O Lord, God of my salvation,

    I cry out to you by day.

    I come to you at night.

Now hear my prayer;

    listen to my cry.

Psalm 88:1-2

Images of Jerusalem again flooded my mind as I read Psalm 88 this morning.

The Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu is a Roman Catholic church located on the eastern slope of Mount Zion, just outside the walls of Old Jerusalem. This is believed to be the site of the house of the High Priest, Caiaphas, where Jesus was taken after his arrest. It is also the place where Peter denied Jesus. (Gallicantu in Latin means “rooster crows.”) Adjacent to the church there is a dungeon where a deep pit was hewed into the rock. It is believed this may the pit where Jesus was kept overnight. When we visited the site our group gathered in the darkness of the pit, and with help from my iPhone flashlight I read Psalm 88:

“You have thrown me into the lowest pit,

    into the darkest depths.

Your anger weighs me down;

    with wave after wave you have engulfed me.”

Psalm 88: 6-7

There are no hallelujahs at the end of this psalm. This is a prayer of one who is in great despair. In Mark’s Gospel, the only words spoken by Jesus from the cross were “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Mark 15:34) In this fallen world, people face sickness and tragedies every day. There is a longing for closure, vindication and justice. For some people, their longing will not be satisfied this side of the grave.

But, the psalmist begins his prayer with, “O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out to you . . .”, and Jesus’ first words on the cross were, “My God, my God.” These salutations evidence a faith that justice denied in life will be received beyond the grave.

In the midst of suffering and loneliness, the followers of Christ can remember that our Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

Because of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we can rest in the assurance,

“But he was wounded for our transgressions,

   crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the punishment that made us whole,

   and by his bruises we are healed.”

                                                                                (Isaiah 53:5 NRSV)

Because of God’s love for us in Christ Jesus, we are never without our hallelujahs.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.