“Praying the Psalms”

            Our Bible Study book for this Lent included a section in chapter 4 about the end of Matthew’s Gospel, when the resurrected Jesus gave the Great Commission:  “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  I find that it is our tendency to focus more on the Great Commission than the sentences that come before it.  Just a few sentences before, Matthew tells us, “When they [the eleven disciples that were left] saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”  I think it’s important for us to remember that, as the author of our Bible Study book shared, “It there was room for doubt on the mountaintop with the resurrected Jesus, certainly the times when I struggle in faith pale in comparison” (p. 74, “The Final Days” by Matt Rawle).