Psalms

On Monday I was asked to prepare a message/study on Psalms to help the pastor of our church meet all of his obligations. I was reluctant because I haven't been feeling well and it was short notice and blah, blah, blah, number of reasons that I wouldn't be up to the call of leading a group of our best Bible scholars in the church in a discussion on the Psalms. I stayed home sick yesterday and with plenty of rest and relaxation prepared my material for tonight's study. I gathered an outline on the theological significance, categorical classifications, literary significance, history, etc. and also pulled a couple of Longfellow's poems - A Psalm of Life and Cross of Snow. The whole thing kind of pulled itself together and I thanked God for his provision.

I had no idea what more was in store for me when I got to work. My boss was just down in Jamaica measuring up some building at a mission that we are going to design an addition for. He spent a long weekend with the CSI director and got to know many locals. He was having lunch with some locals and the director asked one of them if he'd like to sing my boss and his wife a song. Brad, the local, got up and sang a song.

My boss was so moved by the Psalm that Brad sang that after three tries he couldn't get it out amid the tears. He finally just emailed me the rest of the story. My boss just adopted a little boy from Kazakhstan less than a year ago and the hopelessness in the eyes of the other kids at the orphanage was more than he could take. I'll reprint part of the email that I got from my boss this morning:

So anyway, he continued to sing about how he has a gift to sing and with
this gift he tries to glorify God. But in the song he goes on about being a
boy who does not have the strength to carry the Lord’s message. As the song continues he asks the question about who will carry God’s message if he doesn’t have the strength. The rest of the song is about (him) this little boy asking God to give him the strength to carry His song…this orphan boy who, at the time, was growing up without anything but the boys around him.

The song was so powerful because I got to see first hand what it
meant for him to have nothing. To not have parents, to not have
opportunities, to not feel loved…God has blessed me with the opportunity to see that pain first hand in Luke and the other kids in the orphanage in Kaz. It was amazing that in the face of having nothing, the little boy in the song and, ultimately, Brad himself, struggles and feels real anxiety about not being able to carry God’s message through his song. At the end of the song the little boy prays for strength to carry God’s message in the face of this adversity because he worries that if he doesn’t God’s message may be unheard.

As I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to see different
parts of the world over the last 8-10 months I’m amazed and brought to tears by this message. That people who have nothing worry more about disappointing God than about their own human condition. That is a message that I’ll be forever grateful that I got to experience. I’m thankful that I got a chance to hear the angels sing through Brad, really…I actually felt like I was sitting in God’s presence at that moment…I can’t wait to see Him and hear the choirs of angels because if that is an indicator of what it will sound like, I’ll be speechless and crying. I’m also thankful that I got to see a real example of how to serve Christ…to see how selfish and
self-absorbed I am…to see that serving Christ has absolutely nothing to do with us or how hard our day is or how much money we have…Serving Christ is about carrying His song in spite of all that. Serving Christ is about serving each other first and then looking for the next person to serve after that…Serving Christ has absolutely nothing to do with me, myself or I and that was good to see up front and personal.

Anyway, it was a really strong message and it was totally impromptu. Brad sang us that song after lunch with absolutely no prompting and preparation. It was amazing how the Spirit moved in that moment…it was really strong. And, to be honest I didn’t realize how powerful it was until I tried to describe it to you guys this morning.

There are Psalms to be received from the God that is Near. I pray they
keep coming.