Psalm 54: Nothing is in Vain
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Adapted from a Favorite from May 24, 2010.
Nothing I experience is useless; not even one second is in vain. We should be aware of everything we live, because everything is for his plan.
Monsignor Luigi Giussani (MAGNIFICAT, Monday, May 24, 2010 Meditation)
We read these words and comprehend their meaning; but this does not always translate into something we can live. We are not always able to manage our anxiety and fear.
We know that sacred scripture is God speaking to us and that the Psalms of petition are particularly appropriate for the faithful to intone when they are frustrated, disheartened or discouraged. Psalm 54, Confident Prayer in Great Peril, is one that we will want to pray often, especially when we feel that all we have said and done has been said and done in vain. As Monsignor Giussani reminds us today, in God’s economy, no word and no act is lost or wasted. All that we say and do finds a place in God’s plan.
In verse 7 we see that the psalmist asks that the work of the evil be turned back upon them. The writer is familiar with how God moves in our lives for we know that when the wicked fall, it is by a plot of their own making that has turned in upon them. And when the faithful flourish, they do so despite the evil that would severe their connection with God. In the closing verses, the psalmist recognizes the power we find in making petitions in God’s name and so we find the logic in ending each prayer with the final words of . . . we pray this in God’s name . . . or . . . we ask this in Jesus’ name . . . or . . . we make this petition in Jesus’ name who together with the Holy Spirit hears our prayers.
God’s word lies open to us today and we have the opportunity to examine our word as we make our requests known to God. We will want to consider if we pray in confidence or in hesitation. We will want to examine our relationship with God. Does our doubt outweigh our faith? Is our disappointment stronger than our hope? Is our antagonism more intense than our love? And we will want to take a look at how and when and why we think that the words we have uttered and the acts we have accomplished in God’s name may have been completed in vain.
Nothing I experience is useless; not even one second is in vain. We should be aware of everything we live, because everything is for God’s plan.
When we petition the Lord, let us ask with confidence, let us know that God turns evil back upon itself, and let us believe that all we say and do has a place in God’s plan, especially when we ask in God’s name.
Cameron, Peter John. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 24.5 (2010). Print.
Images from: https://lsaruminations.edublogs.org/2016/02/01/my-plan-or-gods-plan-for-me/ and http://easttntimes.com/faith_pages/Your_Plan_B_Is_Still_Gods_Plan_A.html
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