A Meditation/Prayer – Psalm 114

^114:1 When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
² Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.

O Lord, where is your holy dwelling place? Where is your kingdom? When your people were on the move, when you were delivering them from Egypt – then, O Lord, your people themselves became your sanctuary, your people became your dominion! You dwell with your people, your church!

³ The sea looked and fled;
Jordan turned back.
⁴ The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.

When you move with your people, when your powerful presence in with your people – then all obstacles flee before you! Insurmountable barriers melt like wax!

⁵ What ails you, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
⁶ O mountains, that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?

Your people can only, in joy, ask the triumphal questions – yes, taunts - of the victors!

⁷ Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
⁸ who turns the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a spring of water

O Lord, it is not your people, but your presence with your people that parts seas, moves mountains, brings streams in the desert, and transforms the wilderness! Yes, tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord – amidst His people!