Watering Dry Land

26/8/2020

A Reflection on the Psalm for August 30th, 2020:
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Psalm 63

R. My soul thirsts for you, O Lord my God.

O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

R. My soul thirsts for you, O Lord my God.

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

R. My soul thirsts for you, O Lord my God.

So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name. My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips.

R. My soul thirsts for you, O Lord my God.

For you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

R. My soul thirsts for you, O Lord my God.

Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

Praising the Lord makes my heart happy.

Although I love to take time to praise God, it's not always something that comes naturally to me. During hard and stressful times, it can be hard to enter into prayers that aren't centered around, “I need…”, “God please help me with…”, and all of those other asks that we have of God. But the thing is, the Lord already knows the desires and burdens that we have on our hearts. Knowing this fact has helped me to strive to place the focus more on the Lord, rather than on myself, during times of chaos and anxiety.

When we praise God, we place our focus on Him. In the psalm, it says: “For you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.” It can be so easy to focus on all of the dread and despair that we have within us. But, allowing the Lord to be with us through those experiences can help shift our perspective; it can even bring joy. Through all of the bad in life, the Lord is always good. Focusing on that Goodness can be so therapeutic during hard times. However, I can also appreciate that getting into that state of praise can also be very difficult at times. My absolute favourite go-to for times of praising God is a good praise and worship playlist. It takes all of the pressure off of me to come up with those praising words and instead I can just enter into God’s goodness. I find that my best times of prayer come with the help of some praise and worship tunes.

As the psalm mentions, our souls thirst for the Lord. We can quench that thirst through praise and time spent with Him. Praise is like the watering of dry lands. I pray that I can practice the words of this psalm in my everyday life: “So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name.” I pray that I praise the Lord in both good and bad times. I pray that I may focus on the Lord’s goodness always. Amen.

Megan Noye

2 Comments

Alana

26/8/2020 07:50:22 am

Megan, thank you for sharing your gift of writing. Your God-inspired words really touched my heart and soul and made me tear up. I relate so much to continually praying from a place of my needs. Thank you so much Megan for the reminder that - “ allowing the Lord to be with us through those experiences can help shift our perspective; it can even bring joy. Through all of the bad in life, the Lord is always good.“ Lord, I praise You, I adore You, I glorify You, I give You thanks and glory. ‘For you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.‘ Forever and ever. Amen. 😊🙏🏻💕xo

Lori

26/8/2020 10:24:42 pm

Megan, I went ahead and took your advice. In desperate need of water on the dry land of my prayer life, I flicked on some praise and worship music tonight and praised God with all my might. It was a game changer--an opportunity to commune with Jesus at a time when my mind is busily running away in all the directions at once. Thank you for your faithfullness, and the inspiration of your words today.