Listen to my heart, O Love Divine; heart the cry within me!
Heed my prayer form lips that would utter truth! For in You do I seek justice!
Be Thou my eyes that I may see with clarity.
If You try my heart, if You visit me by night, if You test me, You will discover
My only desire is to draw closer to You.
I see the injustice and the oppression piercing the hearts of your people.
Be Thou my feet that I may walk along your paths;
that I may be a benevolent presence on life’s highway.
I call upon You knowing You will answer me,
Heart of my heart; incline your ear to me, hear my words.
Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Love Divine,
You walk beside me giving me strength to face the fears that dwell within.
Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide mean the shadow of your wings,
from all that would separate me from your Love.
Open my heart that compassion may be my companion;
Where I meet pride, humble me; Where I meet anger, calm my fears;
Where I meet injustice, cause me to act in love’s way.
May I be as gentle as the doe, as fearless as the lion, as faithful as the dog.
Arise, O Heart of Love! confront all within me that is not whole!
Deliver me from deadly fear and doubts, shine your Light not my darkness.
May my heart receive the bounty of your Love,
may my children and their children walk with You in gratitude and joy.
For I shall behold your face in Truth, when I am fully awake,
I shall dwell in the house of love and peace and joy!
Nan C. Merrill Psalms for Praying
Reflection:
What does it mean to see God’s face or to be in God’s presence? To me this sounds like centering prayer. A way of being silent and listening, creating space that is still and calm, practicing letting go of intrusive thoughts. This practice allows me to become aware of God’s presence during the practice and at other points in the day. My hope is that my life will be like a prayer that never ceases; an openness to God’s presence and a willingness to co-create a world filled with love.
Sometimes I follow centering prayer time with reading or scripture study or prayer with words. Sometimes I volunteer or do other work that I hope is in line with God’s will, like writing these psalm reflections.
Psalm 17 sounds different to me each time I read it. If I’m overwhelmed I hear that in the psalmist’s words. There are days when I want nothing more than to crawl into God’s lap and be held like a child. God keep the crazy away and hold me tight so that I feel nothing but love and peace. I crave the comfort of steadfast love.
Sometimes Psalm 17 is a prayer for when I need to do something brave. Similar to the Breastplate of St. Patrick, asking God to be with me, around me, to go before me and behind me, helps me to feel surrounded by love and courage.
Prayer sustains me and allows me to be compassionate and loving towards myself and others. Prayer centers God and God’s word in my soul and I hope that my lived response to God is full of love and peace and joy.
Check out other psalm reflections in the links below or find more of my writing published in Presbyterian Outlook or listen to my experiments in podcasting on the Period Pastor Podcast. Follow me @periodpastor
Past reflection links:
Psalm 17 Year C (2024-2025)
Psalm 17 Year D (2019-2020)
I began writing Psalm reflections during Lent of 2020. Shortly after, we decided to close the church building, work from home, and worship via zoom. Many churches use the Revised Common Lectionary (RLC) that rotates scripture on a three-year cycle (A, B, and C). Starting in Advent 2019, the church decided to worship with the texts from Year D, which is still not circulated as are years A, B, and C. Year D was created with the goal of including scriptures that were left out or not used as frequently as others. While we were using Psalms in year D, most other lectionary followers were using Year A. In Advent of 2020 we rejoined those who use the lectionary in year B. Advent of 2021 year C. When we returned to in person worship, we took the psalm reflections out of the order of worship. I continued to write them for the blog. Advent of 2022 year A. I left church work in July of 2023 but continued the practice of writing psalm reflections. Advent of 2023 year B. Advent of 2024 year C. I finished year C early, so I began work on psalms I missed: Psalm 119, Year D and others not in the lectionary. By the end of 2025, I have written a reflection for each psalm.
Advent of 2025 year A.
I use the Vanderbilt Divinity Library’s resource for lectionary readings and the PCUSA planning calendar to make text selections.
Year A Psalms
1st Sunday in Advent Psalm 122, 2nd Sunday in Advent Psalm 72, 3rd Sunday in Advent Psalm 146, 4th Sunday in Advent Psalm 80, Christmas Psalm 96, Psalm 97, Psalm 98, 1st Sunday after Christmas Psalm 148, 2nd Sunday after Christmas Psalm 147, 1st Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 29, 2nd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 40, 3rd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 27, 4th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 15, 5th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 112, Transfiguration Sunday Psalm 2 or Psalm 99.
1st Sunday in Lent Psalm 32, 2nd Sunday in Lent Psalm 121, 3rdSunday in Lent Psalm 95, 4th Sunday in Lent Psalm 23, 5th Sunday in Lent Psalm 130, 6th Sunday in Lent Psalm 118 or Psalm 31.
Easter Psalm 118 or Psalm 114, 2nd Sunday of Easter Psalm 16 or Psalm 111, 3rd Sunday of Easter Psalm 116 or Psalm 34, 4th Sunday of Easter Psalm 23 or Psalm 100, 5th Sunday of Easter Psalm 31 or Psalm 119: 9-32, 6th Sunday of Easter Psalm 66 or Psalm 115, 7th Sunday of Easter Psalm 68 or Psalm 21, Pentecost Psalm 104.
1st Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 8, 2nd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 33 or Psalm 50, 3rd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 116 or Psalm 100, 4th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 86 or Psalm 69, 5th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 13 or Psalm 89, 6th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 45 or Psalm 145, 7th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 119: 105-112 or Psalm 65, 8th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 139 or Psalm 86, 9thSunday after Pentecost Psalm 105 or Psalm 128 or Psalm 119: 129-136, 10th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 17 or Psalm 145, 11th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 105 or Psalm 85, 12th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 133 or Psalm 67, 13th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 124 or Psalm 138, 14th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 105 or Psalm 26, 15th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 149 or Psalm 119, 16th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 114 or Psalm 103, 17th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 105 or Psalm 145, 18thSunday after Pentecost Psalm 78 or Psalm 25, 19th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 19 or Psalm 80, 20thSunday after Pentecost Psalm 106 or Psalm 23, 21st Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 99 or Psalm 96, 22ndSunday after Pentecost Psalm 90 or Psalm 1, 23rd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 107 or Psalm 43, 24thSunday after Pentecost Psalm 78 or Psalm 70, 25th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 123 or Psalm 90, 26thSunday after Pentecost Psalm 100 or Psalm 95.Sources and notes:
I’m including the previous reflection because I still love these quotes about prayer.
The lectionary suggests Psalm 17:8-14(15), not the entire Psalm, so I want to focus the reflection time on what it means to see God’s face or to be in God’s presence. Perhaps prayer is being aware of the presence of God wherever we are. So what does it mean to be present in God’s presence? What does it mean to pray?
“Prayer to me is anything we do that opens our heart, mind and soul to the always-with-us presence of Sacred Cosmic Mystery Creator with the intention to give thanks for gifts of grace in our lives. And in connecting with the infinite light and love of Spirit, we are asking to be used as a channel for those gifts into the world, sending God/Goddess Love into others without attachment to a result.” Tom Pinkson, in “How do you Pray?” edited by Celest Yacoboni
“My belief that God is love–that love is everything, our true destiny–sustains me. I affirm these beliefs through daily meditation and prayer, through contemplation and service, through worship and loving kindness. …. All awakening to love is spiritual awakening.” Bell Hooks, All About Love
“The longer I practice prayer, the more I think it is something that is always happening, like a radio wave that carries music through the air whether I tune in or not.” Barbara Brown Taylor, An Alter in the World
Psalm 17 “is composed of petitions for deliverance (vv. 1-2, 6-9), a plea of innocence (vv. 3-5), a description of the adversaries and a petition for their defeat (vv. 10-12, 13-14), and a concluding assertion of trust.” Mays p. 89
“The concluding statement of confidence (v. 15) makes it clear how important the relation to God is in the theology of these prayers. Their purpose is not simply to gain relief from dangers and difficulty. The real trouble with the trouble reflected in these prayers is that one’s relations to God is troubled. Deliverance not only brings relief but restores a sense of acceptance and communion. Acceptance bestows righteousness. Communion occurs in the experience of the presence. The prayer anticipates an answer given as a vision of the form of the presence (face) of the LORD. The vision will convey justification; it will be a sign of the acceptance that makes the relation to God right. “The upright shall behold his face” (11;7; see Matt. 5:8). Just how the vision of the presence occurred is not known. Israel was forbidden to make any likeness of the LORD in the form of an image (Exod. 20:4; Deut. 5:8). But Moses and the elders “saw the God of Israel” in the ritual meal that concluded the Sinai covenant. Moses as officiant in the tent-tabernacle “beheld the form of the LORD” (Num. 12:8). In the psalms there are references to seeing God or the face of God in the temple (e.g., 42:2; 63:2; 3:7-9). There is a seeing that comes with prayer and waiting that transcends what eye can behold.” Mays pp. 89-90
“In Christian interpretation there is along tradition that sees a reference to the resurrection in verse 15. “When I awake from the sleep of death, my life will be finally fulfilled when I see God.” In the context of Israel’s religion, “when I awake” may have referred to a ritual of spending the night at the holy place after prayer for help waiting for the propitious time of the morning. But the verse can be read with a second sense, because it is only the resurrection to be with the LORD that brings the final and full justification of the life of the faithful.” Mays p. 90
“There may be other ways that Israel and we see God–in momentous historical events, like the exodus or the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa, or in daily rituals that sustain and nourish, or in the faces of friends and loved ones, or in the faces of strangers, who may be among the least of our sisters and brothers. In any case, the psalmist is convinced of and apparently transformed by the possibility of experiencing unbroken communion with God. The psalmist anticipates the expertise hat Jesus proclaimed: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matt. 5:8 NRSV). Christian tradition has interpreted v. 15 as a reference to the resurrection. While the psalmist probably had no doctrine of resurrection, her or his language pushes toward the notion of a communion with God that nothing –not even death– can interrupt” NIB p. 348
v.1 “A David prayer. This is one of several times in Psalms in which tefilah, prayer, is used instead of the anticipated mizmor, psalm. The generic distinction is not clear because this poem is essentially a psalm of supplication. The speaker is beset by enemies who threaten to destroy him as he entreats God to confound his foes and rescue him. Perhaps the note of inwardness in the first part of the poem, in which the speaker proclaims the integrity of his prayer (tefilah is the term he uses), and his having met the challenge of God’s probing are what qualify this text as prayer.” Alter p. 48
V. 14 “This line employs the strategy of incremented repetition that is common in the oldest stratum of biblical poetry, –as, for example, in the Song of Deborah. The idea of the line is to remind God that these bloody-sided series are mere morals, and of a sort whose actions warrant that their fate of morality be instantly full fined. The reference to God’s hand is motivated by the fact that this hand wields a sword.” Alter p. 50
Alter, Robert. 2007. The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary New York: W. W. Norton & Company
WBC Allen, Leslie C. 1983. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 101-150. Vol. 21. Waco, TX: Word Books, Publisher.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1974. Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible. 8th ed. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Press.
Bourgeault, C. (2006). Chanting the psalms: A practical guide Audio Book. New Seeds.
Brueggemann, Walter. 2007. Praying the Psalms: Engaging Scripture and the Life of the Spirit. 2nd ed. Eugene, OR: Cascade.
Brueggemann, Walter. 2014. From Whom No Secrets Are Hid: Introducing the Psalms. Edited by Brent A. Strawn. 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
Brueggemann, Walter. Davis Hanskins, Editor. 2022. Our Hearts Wait: Worshiping Through Praise and Lament in the Psalms Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville KY.
Brueggemann, Walter. (2002). Spirituality of the psalms. Augsburg Pub. House.
Brueggemann, Walter. (1984). The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg.
Chilson, Richard, ed. You Shall Not Want: A Spiritual Journey Based on the Psalms. Ave Maria Press, 2009.
Chittister, Joan. (2011). Songs of the heart: reflections on the psalms. John Garratt Publishing.
Cudjoe-Wilkes and Wilkes Cudjoe-Wilkes, G., Wilkes, A. J., & Moss, O. (2022). Psalms for black lives: Reflections for the work of Liberation. Upper Room Books.
WBC Craigie, Peter C. 1983. Psalms 1-50–Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 19. Waco, TX: Word Books.
Creach, Jerome Frederick Davis. 1998. Psalms: Interpretation Bible Studies. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
DAFLER, J. (2021). PSOBRIETY: A journey of recovery through the psalms. Louisville, KY: WESTMINSTER JOHN KNOX.
W de Claisse-Walford, Nancy L. WISDOM COMMENTARY: Psalms Bks. 4-5. Edited by Barbara E. Reid. Vol. 22. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2020.
Green, Barbara. 1997. Like a Tree Planted: An Exploration of Psalms and Parables Through Metaphor. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
W Hopkins, Denise Dombkowski. WISDOM COMMENTARY: Psalms Bks. 2-3. Edited by Barbara E. Reid. Vol. 21. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2016.
NIB Keck, Leander E. 2015. The New Interpreters Bible Commentary. Vol. 3. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Lewis, C. S. (2017). Reflections on the Psalms. Harper One, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers.
Mays, James Luther. 1994. Psalms. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.
McCann, J. C. (1993). A theological introduction to the book of Psalms: The Psalms as Torah. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
McCann, J. C., & Howell, J. C. 2001. Preaching the Psalms. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Merrill, N. C. (2020). Psalms for praying an invitation to wholeness (10th Anniversary Edition ed.). London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Miller, Patrick D. 1986. Interpreting the Psalms. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.
Morgan, Michael. 2010. The Psalter for Christian Worship Revised Edition. Westminster John Knox Press.
Schlimm, Matthew Richard. 2018. 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. Nashville, TN: Abington Press.
Spong, M. (Ed.). (2020). The words of her mouth: Psalms for the struggle. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press.
WBC Tate, Marvin E. 1990. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 51-100. Edited by David Allan. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker. Vol. 20. Waco, TX: Word.
Weems, Ann. 1995. Psalm of Lament. Westminster John Knox Pres
OTL Weiser, Artur. 1998. Old Testament Library: Psalms. Translated by Herbert Hartwell. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Manchester University Press.
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