The Living Word of God

 I love you, Lord, my strength;
O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my savior;
my God, my rock where I take refuge;
my shield, my saving strength, my stronghold,
I cry out, "O praised be the Lord!:
and see, I am saved from my foes.

The waves of death rose about me;

the torrents of destruction assailed me;

the snares of Sheol surrounded me;

the traps of death confronted me.

In my anguish I called to the Lord;

I cried to my God for help.

In the heavenly temple my voice was heard;

my crying reached God's ears.

From on high God reached down and seized me,

drew me forth from the mighty waters,

and saved me from my powerful foe,

from my enemies, whose strength I could not match.

(Psalm 18, portions)

As I pondered this psalm this morning in my daily reading, I thought of St. Peter reading/praying this psalm after his rescue by Jesus on the waters of Galilee.  The Jews prayed the psalms regularly, both in their daily prayers and in the Temple or synagogue services.  Much like Catholics today, they worked their way through all 150 Psalms on a yearly basis.  

What must have he thought, reading this Psalm after his experience of trying to walk on water and having Jesus reach down to save him from the deep?  Who was this Living Word of God who "reached down and seized me, drew me forth from the mighty waters, and saved me from my powerful foe"?

I think anyone over 30 must have had some experience like that of Peter, where we have felt scared, trapped, like we were drowning in waters too deep for us to tread.  Most of us at some point, I would think, have called out to God in our anguish -- and have somehow also experienced in some form that "My crying reached God's ears!"  

Last week, my brother was dying from ALS and COPD, and I hardly knew how to pray for him in his suffering.  Alternating between oxygen therapy and a BiPap machine to breathe for him, he said, "This is no way to live."  We all knew, and the doctor said, that this was not a permanent solution.  He was literally drowning in carbon dioxide, which his lungs could no longer expel on their own.  My sister called asking for prayer as he struggled with each breath.  

Feeling numb at the approaching death of one of my brothers, I glanced down at the cover of my daily meditation book, which pictured Jesus reaching down to snatch St. Peter from the waters of Lake Galilee.  Spontaneously, I prayed, "Lord, my brother is drowning! Reach down from on high and pull him out of these waters too deep for him."  Within half an hour, my brother took his last breath.

Although I was saddened to lose him, I was overwhelmed with gratitude that the Living Word had once again become incarnate in our lives.  Once again, God showed me that His Word is "living and active, more powerful than a two-edged sword...."  Jesus came in the flesh, living and active, to touch our lives and remind us that God is still with us.  All of the Old Testament takes flesh and lives in Him.  

The prophet Isaiah said, "Here is your God, He comes with vindication; With divine recompense, he comes to save you.  Then the eyes of the blind shall see, and the ears of the deaf be opened; then the lame shall leap like a stag, and the mute tongue sing for joy."   Jesus fulfilled each word of the prophecy during His lifetime on earth --- but His mission as the Living Word of God continues today, even 2000+ years later. 

When our lives become such that we too experience the anguish that causes us to "cry out to God for help," as Psalm 18 expresses, we too will know the power of God's Living Word reaching down to save us!