Links for today’s readings:
Aug 5 Read: Isaiah 65 Listen: (5:00) Read: Psalms 142-143 Listen: (2:35)
Scripture Focus: Psalm 143:8
8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I entrust my life.
Reflection: Two-Item Wishlist
By Erin Newton
In 1 Kings 19, there is a story of an exhausted and downtrodden prophet, Elijah. Fleeing from Ahab and Jezebel, who sought to kill him, he cries out to God, “I have had enough, Lord. Take my life.” But he lies down and falls asleep. An angel wakes him to say, “Get up and eat.” So he eats the divinely supplied bread and water…then goes back to bed. The nap and meal repeat a second time, finally restoring Elijah with energy and hope for the next task.
When decisions seem overwhelming, we often suggest someone should “sleep on it.” We might even cry ourselves to sleep during times of deep sadness. Cranky children are told to take a nap. Our sluggish thinking and snippy attitudes are blamed on a bad night of sleep.
We know that sleep is good for us. But what about the hope of the coming morning? Isn’t that sometimes even more encouraging?
I love this verse for the fact that the night is still assumed. The psalmist is weary from his or her day. Maybe she is existentially exhausted (a phrase I’ve used just this past week). Maybe he is being wrongfully accused or purposely bullied.
Psalm 143.8 is a sigh of resignation—resigned hope that things are not okay right now, that night is coming no matter what, but that the sunrise brings new possibilities. Maybe I’ll feel the love of God tomorrow.
I try to begin my days asking God to make himself known to me, especially when I wake up knowing it will be full of dreaded appointments, hard conversations, and unmet expectations. When I drove to the high-risk pregnancy doctor back in 2016, my only prayer was that I would feel God’s presence in that room. That would sustain me. That would be enough to help me endure.
The psalmist asks for two things: Let me know you love me. Show me what to do. We could live our whole lives just asking God for these two things. A two-item wishlist.
The two requests also function fairly well alone. I can rest in God’s love for me when I do not know what to do or where to go. I can also do what God calls me to do with gritted teeth, not feeling God’s love very clearly at that moment.
When the next sunrise comes, ask God for these two things—love and guidance.
Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Show your goodness, O Lord, to those who are good and to those who are true of heart. — Psalm 125.4
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.
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