Categotry Archives: Sunday meditations

For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” –Gal. 3:10, NASB

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Sunday meditation, but Galatians 3 has been stirring in my soul all week–and particularly the verse above.

For this installment of the bi-weekly Sunday Meditations, I have a slightly different approach than normal. For the past few days, several passages from the “psalms of ascents” (Ps. 120-134) have been rolling around in my head and heart. Yesterday, I read them all the way through.

The “psalms of ascents”, as this set of 15 psalms is called, were traditionally sung by Jewish pilgrims as they walked the long ascent several times a year to the City of Jerusalem. They are songs to accompany “ascending the hill of the Lord.” I love these psalms because as I read them through, it’s as though I can feel my own soul being lifted up; taken together, they form an upward progression. (It is surmised that they were once one psalm, set in parts like Psalm 119 which comes immediately before them.)

The voice of the Lord is powerful,
The voice of the Lord is majestic.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon…
The voice of the Lord hews out flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord makes the deer to calve
And strips the forests bare;
And in His temple everything says, “Glory!”
–Psalm 29:3-9, NASB

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” –Matt. 5:43-45, NASB

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.” –Gal. 5:1, NASB

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul was addressing an attempt of religious Jews to enforce the Law of Moses on the young Gentile Christians, including telling them they needed to be circumcised like the Jews. It wasn’t so much the act of circumcision that Paul was coming against–it was all the religious legalism that it represented. Paul was trying to reinforce the gospel of grace to these young believers.

Ps. 139:7-12 (NASB):

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will leade me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.

I’m thinking at the moment about some words the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy:

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim: 3:16-17, NASB)