March 10

Psalm 62:5-7 

“All my hope comes from God.  He alone is my rock…”  The psalmist’s words ring in chants and church hymnody, and yet it is easy to be distracted from this truth. We put all our eggs in the basket of our need to be in control or the desire to please others or we give them up altogether, overcome by despair in the face of overwhelming circumstances.  How do we hear the truth in the midst of such distraction? 

Detachment is the name given to such a practice; to unattach our heart from all that binds us, whether that be of great joy or great sorrow; and to attach our heart to God through prayer.  While we acknowledge various kinds of prayer, the purpose of all prayer is God, union with God and the certain knowledge that God alone is our rock.  This is the intent of Paul’s appeal to pray without ceasing.  It is the heart of the Lord’s Prayer and the Jesus Prayer in its repetition:  “Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”  Such commitment to prayer requires discipline, even and especially in those moments when we are overwhelmed, when we seek to be in control or when we believe we don’t have time or energy.  In such discipline, we tune the ears of our heart to the voice of the Spirit that prays within us; and the psalmist’s words continue to ring a truth that seeks ever-deepening roots in the hearts of God’s people.