It’s Not About Me

A Reflection on the Psalm ​for Sunday, November 3rd, 2024:
Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

---

Psalm 18

R. I love you, O Lord, my strength.

I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the source of my salvation, my stronghold.

R. I love you, O Lord, my strength.

I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, so I shall be saved from my enemies. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.

R. I love you, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation. Great triumphs he gives to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed. 

​R. I love you, O Lord, my strength.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Jesus is coming.  Look busy. 

Lately, I feel like this phrase describes my days. These words immortalized in gifs, memes, and old-school bumper stickers are funny because they’re true. Jesus has much that He wants – dare I say needs –  me to do, so there is much I should be doing. And as an added bonus, the Lord made me a planner. I have always loved planning events, trips, projects, meals. You name it, I will plan it! I love sketching out the bones of a project then adding in all the necessary elements. It keeps me… busy. 

I love you, O Lord, my strength.

Jesus entrusted me (and you!) with His mission to spread the Good News and make disciples. I do that through my words and actions. However, on my busy days, my focus is on action. After all, actions are visible and they speak louder than words. But if I keep filling my every moment with actions, no matter how good and faith-filled they are, I edge out the space necessary for God. The space God needs to speak to me and the space necessary for me to listen to God’s Word so I can more fully know His desires for my life. Sure, I may hear Him. But if I want to truly hear and listen, I have to slow down. I need to stop the multitasking, because that’s just busyness. My busyness. Not God’s. And my busyness depends on my strength. Not God’s. 

I love you, O Lord, my strength. 

If I am a follower of Christ, my strength is not self generated. It comes from somewhere. It comes from Someone. Yes, a healthy lifestyle including the right food and exercise helps bring about human strength. But true, supernatural, mountain-moving, heart-transforming strength comes from the Lord. My strength has its origin in Him. Not me.

I love you, O Lord, my strength. 

I often say to ministry friends: You can’t strengthen others if you don’t have any strength yourself. I have not always heeded my own advice. When I depend on my own strength I will always reach my limit. I am, after all, human. Yet the Lord’s strength is infinite. The psalmist brings that out quite clearly in this passage. It is this same strength that God gives to me without my asking or earning it. So really, it isn’t about me being busy but rather me creating the space for God to get busy. 

I love you, O Lord, my strength.




Aurea Sadi

---