Praise for Deliverance from Oppression
O Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you, I will praise your name;
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
For you have made the city a heap,
the fortified city a ruin;
the palace of aliens is a city no more,
it will never be rebuilt.
Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
For you have been a refuge to the poor,
a refuge to the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat.
When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,
the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place,
you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds;
the song of the ruthless was stilled.
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Reflection
Protection and salvation... through the storms of life we received protection, relief and salvation.
But before the protection and the relief and the salvation... doesn't this imply that we will struggle, wrestle, deny and possibly turn our backs? God permits us to see our sin. God permits us to smell the stench of our sin. God wrestles with us and touches us and we feel the pain in our flesh. Yet God also heals us and protects us and saves us.
Yes, God leads us to the feast of life... everlasting life in and through Jesus after the cross and into the light of the resurrection.
In knowing this truth we respond in love towards God and in love towards one another. We respond in action and in prayer. We gladly jump right back into that baptismal waters to daily seek forgiveness and grace and new life to live each day in God.
Wait on it... believe and trust in God and wait on it. The feast is coming...
Prayer
Lord, I look forward to that great feast to come with all the saints. I look forward to Sunday and I look forward to the feast of your Kingdom come... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen
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