April 16th - Reflection

Psalm 31:9-16 (NRSV)
I commend my spirit

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my eye wastes away from grief,
my soul and body also.
For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,
and my bones waste away.

I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
a horror to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many
terror all around!
as they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.

But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, "You are my God."
My times are in your hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your steadfast love.

Reflection
I begin this reading and think how I relate to the writer of this Psalm. The writer's is right on with how I feel now! But as I slowly continue, I begin to realize other friends, family, and people I know are in this same boat with me. I think further of all the people that have prayed to God for me while I was at my depths and how grateful I am for that support. I ponder how we have all been able to relate to one another, maybe not in the specifics of each individual pain and suffering, but to pain and suffering in general. Then I thought about how I have turned to God for another person and groups of people.

Many times throughout life we come together in pain and suffering. Yet in that suffering, we are drawn out, even in just brief moments, to a joy in life that brings hope and salvation. At those moments, God is always at the source. When we back away from ourselves and let God into the group or the "boat," we find that God is the source of life.

And this is when we see in our very own boat that God is the one in our midst who will deliver us from the hand of enemies and persecutors, from pain and sorrow. Not in a magical way, but in a way that we will know, even as we experience the pain and the emotions, God is with us and has gone through this too, and has given us the hope to follow him, through the pain, through the suffering, through the persecution, to life in him and life in his kingdom.

God is closer than you think. There with his steadfast love and grace to deliver us. What a hope! What a life! What a way to live in the here and now, good and bad, pain and joy, sorrow and happiness. What a way to live in the trust of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord, thanks for being in the boat with us. Our trust is in you...today...tomorrow...and forever. --- Amen