Daily PresenceSample

Reading today’s longest chapter in the bible reminded me of Sunday morning church as a youngster. The pastor, my Daddy, would give the opening prayer following the first congregational hymn. He prayed for every imaginable need and illness, beginning with the congregation’s and continuing on to the world’s. We had been standing since the opening hymn, and now this interminable prayer droned on forever. In reality, the prayer lasted four or five minutes, but such were the perceptions of a fidgety seven-year old. As a means for enduring the prayer, I invented a game, counting slowly 1, 2, 3, 4, so on and so on until the final “amen,” to see how far I could count. Week after week, each Sunday's count was a contest with last Sunday vying for “longest prayer” honors.

Perhaps some Jewish boys in David’s time felt similar dread when the choir master rose and announced the singing of Psalms 119. Such a long time to stand! And would the boy even notice the artistic form of the Psalm, which was composed as an acrostic poem? Would he have noted, as one commentator explained, that the Psalm unfolds not as a chain where each link is connected to the other, but as a chain of pearls “where each pearl has equal but independent value?” Would he have noted the praise and reverence for the wordscriptureorword of God,whichoccurs in at least 171 of the 176 verses? No, the little Jewish boy probably missed all of that, the same way this little Baptist boy missed the point of his Daddy’s earnest prayers.

OK, that was then. But here’s the problem. I confess (you do, too?) that sometimes still, the prayer lasts too long. The scripture reading takes too long. The song goes on for too long. Why would we ever find tedious things that should excite us?

I confess: I have no perfect answer! But we can find peace in admitting that, sometimes, “Flesh wins!” That confession requires humility before God, but God knows how to use our humility. Our example for humility, in fact, is the Psalmist, who so often humbly confessed his abject frailty and inadequacy, calling on God for help deliverance. And that same Lord delivers us, too, even when our flesh complains that the prayer is too long.

Glory to God!