Psalm 69
Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
3 I am weary with my crying out;
my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
with waiting for my God.
4 More in number than the hairs of my head
are those who hate me without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
must I now restore?
5 O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
6 Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
O Lord God of Hosts;
let not those who seek You be brought to dishonor through me,
O God of Israel.
7 For it is for Your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonor has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother's sons.
9 For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
and the drunkards make songs about me.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of Your steadfast love
answer me
in Your saving faithfulness.
14 Deliver me
from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
15 Let not the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O Lord, for Your steadfast love is good;
according to Your abundant mercy,
turn to me.
17 Hide not your face from Your servant,
for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies!
19 You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.
20 Reproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
22 Let their own table before them become a snare;
and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
and make their loins tremble continually.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
25 May their camp be a desolation;
let no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom You have struck down,
and they recount the pain of those You have wounded.
27 Add to them punishment upon punishment;
may they have no acquittal from You.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
29 But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
30 I will praise the name of God
with a song;
I will magnify Him
with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 When the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God,
let your hearts revive.
For the Lord
hears the needy
and does not despise His own people who are prisoners.
34 Let Heaven and earth praise Him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
For God will save Zion
and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
36 the offspring of His servants shall inherit it,
and those who Love
His Name
shall dwell in it.
We could begin this post with yellow leaves.
But let's talk about blue instead. When we get to the point we are weary and just sick and tired of being blah, we look for patterns in our lives to allow our discomfort to shine. We could point to this friend, that acquaintance, the neighbor and discuss how life isn't comfortable or shiny with glee in this blue season. And as we collect the blue facts, we have to shake this off. Shake the pattern off.
Many people shake it off. It has been a year of hardship and difficulties for many.
We met a family having 4 jobs. 2 careers and ,then, commercial fishing on their time out of the office. With grandparent child care.
Our peaceful neighborhood had 2 neighbors going to the Police for life and death consequences, and a Police car was seen in our streets today. Last night, a police airplane.
We will pray for health and safety for us all, worldwide.
And when we observe the earth, God saw it was Good. His Word does not fail. And when He speaks, He is telling us the truth of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Into our Good Souls.
We have a swimming pool and this high summer, we begin, early, in high summer, to see yellow leaves in the skimmer baskets. In Texas, I'd laugh and say, we don't have Autumn (we do, just a little one generally) we have a gasp and the leaves fall off. The trees want the rest from the heat. And yet, this year, we have had spectacular rain and cooler temperatures. And the leaves have begun to arrive.
The trees are not tired, they are rested, have had high winds test their strength.
And the dead wood fell off. In our yard, this Hurricane was 25 feet and 5 feet high. The trees must have felt better after a windy haircut. The next few days, the pile was 25 feet and 2 and 3 feet high. Some problems just diminish easily. Even when we want to see the pile, to discuss it in loud tones and brag on the heavy work. But instead, the problem is diminishing.
So, now we have a bevy of yellow leaves.
Why? The sun and earth. The Word of God upholding the Universe, is giving the land, the tides, the trees more rest. The seasons are making a gentle change. The trees, reaching up to the Light, feel the preparedness of change. Schools have parking lots suddenly fill with parents and children looking to the season changing.
We will choose Joy. Choose optimism. Gently. Patiently. With determination, even if we begin with
grim determination.
We did a little of the dog in the water thing today, too. Not as dramatically. Definitely.
We will turn our eyes away from what could potentially be blue. Say a prayer and grow in strength and verve.
Gently, the season is changing.
Proverbs 31:25, 26 Parallel
Strength and dignity are the clothing we pray for,
and
we want determinedly
to laugh at the time to come.
We will open our mouths with wisdom,
and
teaching that kindness
is on our tongue.
Isaiah 49:1-13
Listen to me, O coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The Lord called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother
He named my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of His Hand He hid me;
He made me a polished arrow;
in His quiver He hid me away.
3 And He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the Lord,
and my recompense with my God.”
5 And now the Lord says,
He who formed me from the womb to be His servant,
to bring Jacob back to Him;
and that Israel might be gathered to Him—
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
He says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel and His Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the Lord,
Who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel,
Who has chosen you.”
8 Thus says the Lord:
“In a time of favor I have answered you;
in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I will keep you and give you
as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
to apportion the desolate heritages,
9 saying to the prisoners,
‘Come out,’
to those who are in darkness,
‘Appear.’
They shall feed along the ways;
on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
10 they shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,
for He who has pity on them will lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them.
11 And I will make all My mountains a road,
and My Highways shall be raised up.
Behold,
these shall come from afar,
and behold, these from the north and from the west,
and these from the land of Syene.”
Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord has comforted His people
and will have compassion
on His afflicted.
John 13:1
Now before the Feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world
to the Father,
having loved His own who were in the world,
He loved them to the end.
Abba, Father,
Dwell in us, please, Father.
Dwell in those we Love.
Help us to seek You first.
In Jesus Christ, we will finish well.
To see
to bring
to be
more daily
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
on earth
as in Heaven
In Jesus Christ is
Our Love, Joy and Hope.
Bless those working for
Post Pandemic Healing
and Care.
Bless us all, worldwide
with Healing
Safety
Prosperity and
Peace.
Thank You for Jesus.
To You, our Father, be the Glory
Our God is an Awesome God!
Amen and Alleluia
♔ Lord Jesus Saves †
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