DAY 9

"Sunrise, Emre Beach Marmaris" by Brian Brady
Marmaris, Turkey

Psalm 105
Quails

†

A Greeting
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
   tell of all his wonderful works.
Glory in his holy name;
   let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
 (Psalm 105:2-3)

A Reading
He spread a cloud for a covering,
   and fire to give light by night.
They asked, and he brought quails,
   and gave them food from heaven in abundance.
He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
   it flowed through the desert like a river.
For he remembered his holy promise,
   and Abraham, his servant. 
(Psalm 105:39-42)

Music


Meditative Verses
Seek the Lord and his strength;
   seek his presence continually. 
(Psalm 105:4)

A Reflective Poem
Dear God,
why do I keep fighting you off?
One part of me wants you desperately,
another part of me unknowingly
pushes you back and runs away.

What is there in me that
so contradicts my desire for you?
These transition days, these passage ways,
are calling me to let go of old securities,
to give myself over into your hands... 

Is it that I refuse to be out of control,
to let the tears take their humbling journey,
to allow my spirit to feel its depression,
to stay with the insecurity of "no home"?

Now is the time. You call to me,
begging me to let you have my life,
inviting me to taste the darkness
so I can be filled with the light,
allowing me to lose my direction
so that I will find my way home to you.
–from Praying Our Goodbyes, by Joyce Rupp, OSM

Verse for the Day
So he brought his people out with joy,
   his chosen ones with singing. 
(Psalm 105:43)

†

Another detail from the
mystery painting

"Flying California Quail" by Janice McIntire

 There is no specific mention of quails in the Levitical and Deuteronomic prescriptions about birds (see Day 2) as either clean or unclean. God's provision of quails as food for the Israelites in the wilderness (See Exodus 16 and Numbers 11) is slightly different in the two accounts of the feeding: in Exodus the quails are linked with the appearance of manna and are a manifestation of God's abundance. In the Numbers account, they are summoned from the sea and the consumption of them is immediately followed by God's impatience and anger at their craving. Quail do migrate in large flocks. In our own time, quails migrate by the thousands from Europe to Africa where they are then trapped by hunters in huge nets spread along the edges of the Mediterranean in Egypt as they arrive, exhausted. The nets used are fishing nets, erected along sand dunes. Thus the life of the quail continues to live out now as it did in the wilderness of Kibroth-hattaavah.   

"Quail in a Golden Field" by Pat Ulrich

LC† Psalms in the Stable is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto.
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