Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.
In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Hear my prayer, Lord; let my cry for help come to You. Do not hide Your face from me when I am in distress. Turn Your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly.
In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Hear my prayer, Lord; let my cry for help come to You. Do not hide Your face from me when I am in distress. Turn Your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly.
For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers. My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food. In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones. I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof. All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse. For I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears because of your great wrath, for You have taken me up and thrown me aside. My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
But You, Lord, sit enthroned forever; Your renown endures through all generations. You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come. For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity. The nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the kings of the earth will revere Your glory. For the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in His glory. He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their plea. Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
“The Lord looked down from His sanctuary on high, from heaven He viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.”
So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord.
In the course of my life, He broke my strength; He cut short my days. So I said:
“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days; Your years go on through all generations. In the beginning, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing, You will change them and they will be discarded. But You remain the same, and Your years will never end. The children of Your servants will live in Your presence; their descendants will be established before You.”
Psalm 102
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
At the first second of January 1st, the world was caught up in the revelry of celebration as the brightly lit ball hit bottom in Times Square when the countdown hit zero, triggering tons of falling confetti and speakers blaring the musical strains of Frank Sinatra singing, “New York, New York.” At New Year’s Eve parties across the globe, people drank and danced and kissed in merriment and joy and love. And for at least that moment in time, all seemed well in our world.
But sadly, the celebration was just a veneer over the reality of the suffering that exists in our world.
You see, millions of people were not celebrating at New Year’s Eve. They were experiencing doubt and fear and worry and anxiety. Instead of partying and celebrating, many were wondering whether this year might be their last. Consider just a few things impacting the people of our world as 2013 begins:
1. Cancer. Approximately 12.7 million people have it and 7.6 million of them will not survive. That’s a 40 percent chance of living or a 60% chance of dying depending on whether you want to look at the glass half empty or half full.
2. Starvation. As the new year dawned, it’s estimated that 870 million people lacked enough to eat each day. Can you imagine dying because you have nothing to eat?
3. Lack of water or poor water problems. Water is essential to life and proper bodily functions. We must drink water to continue to exist and yet approximately 3.4 million died last year because of either not having water to drink or consuming water not fit for consumption. Sad but true.
4. Child trafficking. Statistically, 1.2 million children are exploited and trafficked each year globally either into unpaid labor, serving as child soldiers, or thrown into the sex trade. Think about 1.2 million of what was to be a future generation abused and neglected as children in some of the worse ways imaginable. How can we stand for this?
Indeed, we can choose to turn a blind eye to the suffering of our world, to ignore the facts like they are some dirty little secret but this is reality. Not everyone is getting along well as we begin a new year. In fact, many could be praying like the psalmist in the 102nd Psalm, a writer only identified as an “afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.” Look at these words of one in the midst of great difficulty and distress:
Hear my prayer, Lord; let my cry for help come to You. Do not hide Your face from me when I am in distress. Turn Your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly.
For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers. My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food. In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones. I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof. All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse. For I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears because of your great wrath, for You have taken me up and thrown me aside. My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
But You, Lord, sit enthroned forever; Your renown endures through all generations. You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come. For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity. The nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the kings of the earth will revere Your glory. For the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in His glory. He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their plea. Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
“The Lord looked down from His sanctuary on high, from heaven He viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.”
So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord.
In the course of my life, He broke my strength; He cut short my days. So I said:
“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days; Your years go on through all generations. In the beginning, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing, You will change them and they will be discarded. But You remain the same, and Your years will never end. The children of Your servants will live in Your presence; their descendants will be established before You.”
You can almost feel the emotional pain and distress pressing down on the psalmist as he lifts his prayer up to the only One he felt could help him, although he saw God as the One also responsible for his current condition (“I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears because of your great wrath, for You have taken me up and thrown me aside. My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass”). His anguished words are almost as heavy on the reader as they were on his heart:
“For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers. My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food. In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones. I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof. All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse.”
Indeed, oppressive hardship had befallen the psalmist and he was in no mood to celebrate, like so many mentioned prior as we enter this new year. Instead, he was looking for mere survival (“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days”), some relief and escape from the difficulties he was experiencing.
Where would he turn? Where can we turn, those of us who are in similar circumstances and under the same emotions?
We turn to the One who has brought promise and rescue to His people throughout the history of creation. We turn to God.
For as we see in the psalm, the writer, despite his lament, is holding onto hope and boldly declares his trust in a God who was the same God who had brought compassion and deliverance to generations of ancestors. Look at this part of the passage:
But You, Lord, sit enthroned forever; Your renown endures through all generations. You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come. For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity. The nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the kings of the earth will revere Your glory. For the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in His glory. He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their plea. Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:
“The Lord looked down from His sanctuary on high, from heaven He viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.”
So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord.
The Lord’s reputation proceeded Him. This was the God who delivered the Israelites from Egypt and Pharaoh’s repressive rule, leading Israel to the Promised Land and helping them conquer those who inhabited it. Many times, the Israelites were in tough times and when they cried out to God, He always provided for them, leading them to praise. And He would do it again and again and again. This was the hope that allowed the psalmist to remain hopeful even when things looked dire.
Friends - yes, life changes, sometimes for the good as we revel in God’s blessings, sometimes for the bad as hardship falls upon us. But through it all God remains God and is ever the same. He has been God and has remained God across all generations.
He was God and there at the genesis of all things.
He is God and with us as we live in His presence this very moment.
And He will be God when Jesus returns and pushes the reset button on all of creation.
When life changes and hardship comes, when matters begin to tread on you and ruin your celebration, hold onto these truths and the hope they bring.
God is God and let’s give thanks for that forever, no matter our circumstances.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment