Morning, Midday, & Evening

Recently, I heard an invitation to center my day on morning, midday, and evening prayer - harkening back to the rhythms set in place long ago by the early Jewish community and carried on by the early church.  You can read a bit more about those rhythms here.

In this case, the invitation was to begin the day praying Psalm 23, then to pause at midday to pray for the lost, and finally to finish the day by offering a prayer of gratitude.

I tend to be a pray-all-day kind of gal.  When I’m doing dishes, running errands, folding laundry - whenever a person or a situation comes to mind I’ll just pause and pray.  I am also a bit forgetful, so when people ask for prayer whether via text or in an email I tend to stop and pray for them right then so I don’t forget.  Or as I’ve mentioned before I’ll set reminders on my phone for things I want to pray over as they are happening at the moment.

All that to say, prayer is a rhythm in my life that is deeply important to me.  Yet, when I heard this invitation to consider praying morning, midday, and evening in these specific ways I felt a nudge to consider incorporating this into my rhythm of prayer.  It didn’t feel like an obligation or a requirement, but rather a way to experience prayer in a different way.  So I’m giving it a try.

So far I have had a hard time getting into the practice of remembering to pause at midday to pray for the lost and to pause in the evening to offer gratitude.  I think I will set up some calendar reminders to help me get into this rhythm over the next few weeks.

But, I have been spending time praying Psalm 23 in the mornings and I wanted to share “The Bible for Everyone” translation I’ve been reading and some things that have stood out to me.

Psalm 23 - In the dark of the canyon
A composition.  David’s.

My shepherd being Yahweh, I don’t lack;
     he enables me to lie down in grassy pastures.
He leads me to settled water;
     he turns my life back.
He guides me in faithful tracks
     for the sake of his name.
Even when I walk in a deathly dark ravine,
     I’m not afraid of bad fortune,
Because you’re with me;
     your club and your cane - they comfort me.

You spread a table before me
     in front of my adversaries.
You’ve enriched my head with oil;
     my cup fills me up.
Yes, goodness and commitment pursue me
     all the days of my life.
I shall go back to Yahweh’s house
     for long days.

I’ve underlined the lines that have really resonated with me this past week.  Those words - “My shepherd being Yahweh, I don’t lack” brought me to tears this week as I thought about God’s faithfulness.  My shepherd is Yahweh.  God is my guide.  He cares for me.  He desires for me to be well.  He cares about what I need and goes before me.

It’s been a couple of months since I officially wrapped up my year-long sabbatical.  It was an odd time to take a year off of work.  Financially it didn’t really make sense to give up our second income.  And yet we said yes to the invitation of rest.  I would love to say I never worried about the money all year, but that would be a lie.  I did.  I still do.  There were things we said yes to last year that don’t make sense financially.  And yet even this week as I sat trying to figure out what to do next these words “I don’t lack” brought peace to my mind.

I also found myself thinking about this idea of settled waters.  Shepherds would lead sheep to still water, settled water.  Water that they could drink from safely without being swept away in the current.  I’m still thinking about what that looks like for my life - what are the settled waters where God is trying to lead me?  Am I resisting?  Or am I aware that I am safe and can drink deeply?  I’m not sure.

The last bit that stood out to me this week was this line - “He guides me in faithful tracks for the sake of his name.”  I’m not sure what it is about this different wording, but it just struck me in a new way.  As I read “He guides me in faithful tracks” I imagined the tracks of other followers of Jesus that have gone before me.  Well-worn pathways of those that have known Jesus and left a trail behind.  I was pondering this idea that God guides me in these faithful tracks, not for my sake, but rather for the “sake of his name.”  His name is holy and we are the ones who represent his name.  The way we live is seen by others and what we believe impacts the reflection of God we are to the world around us.

I’m always amazed at how many times we can read the same verses and yet see new things or be challenged in new ways.  Did this different translation cause anything new to stand out for you?  Will you consider morning, midday, and evening prayers as a part of your prayer rhythm?

I pray that this week you would experience God in tangible ways and that you would share his love with others in tangible ways too.

~  Melissa