Be Still And Know

Psalm 120:1-2 I love the psalms because they span the full range of human experience. Some are full of praise and worship, but others burst out with anger and disappointment. However you are feeling, there are psalms that will be just right for you, because God meets us where we are. We don’t need to pretend to be something that we are not. We can come to him with our struggles, fears, passions and hopes and know that he will understand us completely. I’ve had the privilege of visiting a number of Benedictine monasteries in this country and in France.  I have been thrilled to live as part of their worshipping communities for a few days of retreat. Every day there are eight times of worship, and you need to know that I didn’t attend them all! Each week all of the 150 psalms are read or sung and that seems to me a wonderful rhythm of life. What has often struck me is the ruthless honesty of the psalmists. They hid nothing when they came into God’s presence. They told him exactly how they were feeling and used l