Links for today’s readings:
Jun 10 Read: Isaiah 6 Listen: (2:24) Read: Psalm 102 Listen: (2:45)
Scripture Focus: Psalm 102:4, 17-18
4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass;
I forget to eat my food. …
17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;
he will not despise their plea.
18 Let this be written for a future generation,
that a people not yet created may praise the Lord
Reflection: Letters for Tomorrow’s Folk
By Erin Newton
I was sitting by the pool with a friend, our kids swimming nearby. I was enjoying the sunshine and sounds of laughter when my friend turned and said, “How are you doing since her death?” The question jolted me out of my blissful daydreaming. “Oh, fine. I’m doing ok.”
I went home and got the kids dried off. Looking around my house, it was clear I was not ok. My house had become a mess. Every inch was a pile of neglected chores. Dishes piled and overflowing the sink. Laundry baskets spilling out into the kitchen and hallway. Wrappers of
half-eaten granola bars littering my desk.
My best friend died unexpectedly a month ago today. The anguish and grief in my heart were visibly evident in my house. I often forgot to eat. Just like the psalmist’s prayer, eating was a task and no longer enjoyable.
Pain, suffering, grief, depression, anxiety, and a host of other emotional states often have physical signs. As much as I like to muster up the “I’m fine” statements, one step in the door and you’d know.
I’m relieved to see that such reactions were common thousands of years ago. We are not sure what has happened to the psalmist, but the author is in pain. Appetites are poor; hope is fading.
The prayer here is not a plea for amnesia. He does not ask God to make his troubles a distant memory. He simply states reality: I am miserable, emotionally and physically.
And then he turns to looking at God. Words of praise and admiration fill the next verses. There is the recognition of God’s power and sovereignty, his love for his people, and his promise to hear their cries.
Then we get a lesson that still rings true today: This can be recorded for someone else’s benefit. Why record your misery? Why put on paper a time when life sucked? Why testify to your own frustrations? The answer, for others.
The psalmist is suffering for an unknown reason. Perhaps it was deserved, or natural consequences, or completely unwarranted. We have no information to claim his suffering was for others—but his testimony is.
Have you told someone a story of God working in your life? Take time to record your own story. We might think our lives are too simple for archiving, but testimonies are an act of remembrance and a light for the future.
Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
O God of hosts, show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved. — Psalm 80.7
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.
Read more: Temple Confrontations
Uzziah angrily claimed purity and was made unclean. Isaiah fearfully confessed uncleanness and was made pure.
Read more: Baring Your Soul
When strangers ask, “How are you?” we’ll mumble, “Fine. How are you?” …How can we share deep hurt with those we do not trust deeply?
