Amazing God of grace, pour out a double portion of grace on this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
I thought the Message version of Psalm 79 would be fitting for today. These are verses 1-9: 1 God! Barbarians have broken into your home, violated your holy temple, left Jerusalem a pile of rubble! 2 They've served up the corpses of your servants as carrion food for birds of prey, Threw the bones of your holy people out to the wild animals to gnaw on. 3 They dumped out their blood like buckets of water. All around Jerusalem, their bodies were left to rot, unburied. 4 We're nothing but a joke to our neighbors, graffiti scrawled on the city walls. 5 How long do we have to put up with this, God? Do you have it in for us for good? Will your smoldering rage never cool down? 6 If you're going to be angry, be angry with the pagans who care nothing about you, or your rival kingdoms who ignore you. 7 They're the ones who ruined Jacob, who wrecked and looted the place where he lived. 8 Don't blame us for the sins of our parents. Hurry up and help us; we're at the end of our rope. 9 You're famous for helping; God, give us a break. Your reputation is on the line. Pull us out of this mess, forgive us our sins - do what you're famous for doing!
We sometimes reach a point of despair where we feel it is everyone else's fault for our mess, not our own. And sometimes it might just be that someone has done us wrong. The psalm for today shares a despair for the ruin of the country of Israel; those who invaded completely destroyed everything and almost everyone. The writer is lamenting this fact and crying out to God to act on their behalf. The writer even blames "our parents" and their "sins," not once saying, perhaps we have strayed and our unfaithfulness has caused this - help us to do what's right.
We can always cry out to God for help. This is especially true when we reach our breaking point. Yet, I believe we need to throw in asking God to help us right our wrongs and forgive our sins so that we might live in a more faithful and fruitful way.
PRAYER: Loving God, I confess that some of the ruin that I sometimes feel around me could easily be blamed on me, so forgive me. Help me in my situation. Be glorified in my life so that I might be a blessing to others. Help me to live a faithful and fruitful life. In Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
PS A word of gratitude for all who are praying for my Dad, Eradio, Sr. Nellie and I were able to go and visit with him at his home yesterday afternoon. He was in good spirits, though his face was a bit banged up from his fall. He said his doctor gave him a couple of new medicines to help with his low hemoglobin count. The source of that has not been determined, but we remain hopeful in the Lord. Blessings to you all!
