Human life is surrounded by the snares of evil lying in wait that not only attack the person's life but also aim at destroying all human values. The person of prayer now has the feeling that he lies on a beach, miraculously saved from the pounding fury of the waves. In the first, the raging waters, a biblical symbol of devastating chaos, evil and death, predominate: "Then would the waters have engulfed us, the torrent gone over us over our head would have swept the raging waters" (vv. After the initial reference to certain "men" who rose up against the faithful and would have "swallowed them alive" (cf. In this regard it is a Psalm that is ever timely.Ģ. If the Lord had not taken the victims' side, with their limited strength they would have been powerless to free themselves their adversaries, like monsters, would have torn and shattered them.Īlthough this Psalm has been thought to refer to some specific historical event, such as the end of the Babylonian exile, it is more likely that it was intended as a heartfelt hymn to thank the Lord for being saved from peril and a plea for liberation from all evil. 1), thus encouraging all the people to raise lively and sincere thanks to God the Saviour. The Psalmist opens by proclaiming the invitation: "This is Israel's song" (v. We have before us Psalm 124, a song of thanksgiving intoned by the whole community in prayer, raising praise to God for the gift of liberation. These Responsive Readings are often freely adapted and condensed from the Psalms using the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.1. I have edited and omitted parts of the Psalms to best suit my own worship services, so you may want to read the Psalm in your own Bible and compile and edit the Psalm in the best way to suit your own worship service and style. If you choose not to read the Psalms responsively or put them in a bulletin, you can easily read the abridged Psalm and prayer provided here as a short Call to Worship instead of responsively (omitting the Leader and People, and reading the Psalm straight through as printed here) and then use the prayer as an opening prayer.Įach prayer ends with “Our Father.” so you can remind worshipers to continue to pray the Lord's Prayer and conclude the prayer with the Lord's Prayer, if you choose.Įven though the format for A Psalm and A Prayer is in the form of a Responsive Reading, you can easily read A Psalm and A Prayer as a brief devotional before praying the prayer that goes with the reading. If you conduct your worship service without a bulletin, Psalms and Prayers can easily be projected on a screen for congregational use. Some teachers have found these Psalms and Prayers useful before they begin their class or Bible study. In some cases, the psalms are so long that I have created several short "psalms and prayer" from them, as in the case of Psalm 119.You do not need to give credit for the use of these psalms and prayers in your worship service bulletin. In a worship bulletin, these Psalms and Prayers easily fit in the left hand side of the bulletin (with the right size font and type), and I have abridged the Psalms, or shortened or lengthened prayers, to fit easily in a church bulletin. These Responsive Readings from the Psalms and the prayers are freely provided for private devotions and use in a public service of worship, a Sunday school class, or with other groups. Copy and Paste these Psalms and the Prayers for use in a bulletin for public worship. Responsive Psalms have been used in worship for hundreds of years by Jews and Christians, and I hope you will find these responsive readings from the psalms and these prayers helpful to you. International Bible Lessons Commentaries and Lessons Bible Lesson Forum
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