psalm 31

Psalm 31 (NRSV)
19 O how abundant is your goodness
that you have laid up for those who fear you,
and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of everyone!
20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them
from human plots;
you hold them safe under your shelter
from contentious tongues.
21 Blessed be the Lord,
for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
when I was beset as a city under seige.
22 I had said in my alarm,
“I am driven fard from your sight.”
But you heard my supplications
when I cried out to you for help.
23 Love the Lord, all you his saints.
The Lord preserves the faithful,
but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the Lord.
[1]

Lord,
The poet has settled his inner argument, at least for the moment. With a clear awareness of the dangers that surrounded him and with a glaring honesty about his own sense of uncertainty, he chose to remember your faithfulness and to trust himself into your loving care.

Lord, help me to love you with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength. Help me to love you with reason and emotion and will. Help me to love you with behavior as much as with feeling. As the potter shapes the clay, shape my character so that I may be more like Christ himself.

Lord, the economic avalanche that has rolled over so many people continues its rumbling rush downhill. For all who are being buried in its destructive path, I pray your protection. Lord, see us through. And keep the words of the poet firmly planted in our hearts, “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.”

PERSONAL PRAYERS
Speak your fears to God even as you remember God’s abundant blessings over time.
Name 5 things for which you are grateful and say “thank you” to God.
In Christ’s name,
Amen.

d Another reading is cut off

[1] The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989