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Friday September 22nd 2022

You know how some of the stories in the Bible seem so incredulous – a global flood, a burning bush, 40 years wandering in the desert, an itinerant preacher who could heal people, and who raised Lazarus from the dead? Not to mention the empty tomb. I mean unbelievable, right? How could this happen?

When I think about some of these stories (that some of us hold as narrative and some of us hold as fact) I think about how HUGE they are – so beyond what anyone had experienced or known before. Something inexplicable. Something that would have been a real challenge to put into words.

Well, that’s how I feel about Psalm 91 (our scripture for Sunday – vs 1-6, 14-16). When I read it and hold it privately in my heart it makes all the sense in the world and feels comforting and nourishing. Feels like a real gift I want to hold safe. Reading it out loud, trying to put into words what the feelings mean and how they stir a heart, and where God is in all of it – well I wonder if that’s how the Israelites might have felt when they had to explain Manna, without warning, falling from the heavens. Inexplicable.

What is your experience of Psalm 91? How would you articulate it to a friend?