Scripture: Psalm 23:1-6
Journal: How does this Psalm invite you into deeper intimacy with God? How does it encourage you to move from talking
about God to talking to God?
Reflection: The true movement of prayer is always one toward deeper and deeper
intimacy. The more we pray, the more we
are drawn into the very heart of the One who knows us best and loves us most.
This spiritual dynamic is on
full display in one of the best known prayers of all time—the 23rd
Psalm. This infamous prayer begins by revealing
truth after truth about who God really is, but in the middle of the Psalm it
takes a subtle, yet remarkable turn.
David, a shepherd himself, shifts from using the word he to using
the word you. David moves from
simply talking about God, to actually talking to God, and invites us to do the
same.
And it is certainly no
accident that this shift takes place just as David is talking about “walking
through the valley of the shadow of death.”
For it is in the darkest valley that we need to not only know truths
about God, but we need to experience the nearness and the presence and the care
and the comfort of God personally.
Prayer
Closing
Prayer: I love you, O my God; and I desire to love you
more and more. Grant to me that I may love you as much as I
desire, and as much as I ought. O dearest Friend, who has loved and
saved me, the thought of whom is so sweet and always growing
sweeter, watch over my lips, my steps, my deeds, and I shall not need to
be anxious either for my soul or my body. Give me love, sweetest of all
gifts, which knows no enemy. Give me in my heart pure love, born of your
love to me, that I may love others as you love me. O most loving Father of
Jesus Christ, from whom flows all love, let my heart, frozen in sin, cold to
you and cold to others, be warmed by this divine fire. So help and bless me in
your Son. Amen. ~St. Anselm
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