Sometimes the world is perceived as all against me, the feeling that every negative force is networked to trip up, to upset, to disengage vision, to detract, to spoil and corrode the security of who I am and why I am. The overbearing cosmic forces pressing in upon me and the paralysis of action and thought sets in. A breathless moment, a gasp for oxygen a cry for hope. It is the journey of the human soul in quest for spiritual union with God. The journey is not about mundane musings, impotent measures or tired rituals. The dynamics are beyond our domain names and prescribed limitations. Then the Other bursts in and all is changed as the psalmist writes about the transcendence of this God we serve, minister to and love with all our heart, soul and mind -
“In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
7Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
8Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9He bowed the heavens, and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
10He rode on a cherub, and flew;
he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
11He made darkness his covering around him,
his canopy thick clouds dark with water.
12Out of the brightness before him
there broke through his clouds
hailstones and coals of fire.
13The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice.*
14And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.
15Then the channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
16He reached down from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of mighty waters."
