bluidkiti
06-02-2018, 08:33 AM
Psalm 130:1-8 (http://www.luthersem.edu/godpause/default.aspx#verses)
Have you ever experienced "the depths?" In life's journeys, we often feel desperately lost in places and circumstances we never imagined or which are not of our own choosing. Alternatively, perhaps we make poor decisions or take sinful actions that result in painful, broken relationships and a sense of desolation. Oppressed by our burden of regrets, we may feel hopeless.
The psalmist, too, had fallen into this pit of despair. However, the psalmist remembered that God seeks to reconcile. He cried out to God and awaited a forgiven, redeemed relationship with God. The psalmist experienced hope. Then he appealed to his co-travelers and reminded them of God's loving forgiveness and redemptive reconciliation. He shared the message of hope.
Are you in despair's depths? God seeks to reconcile with you. God hears your cries. God forgives you. Once freed from your depths, could you share the hope-filled message of God's love with a despairing co-traveler?
Gracious God, we exalt you for the unmerited love and reconciliation you impart. We implore you to answer our cries; forgive our failure to trust you and our actions that cause our despair. Show us with whom we can share a message of hope. Amen.
Mary Simonson Clark
Have you ever experienced "the depths?" In life's journeys, we often feel desperately lost in places and circumstances we never imagined or which are not of our own choosing. Alternatively, perhaps we make poor decisions or take sinful actions that result in painful, broken relationships and a sense of desolation. Oppressed by our burden of regrets, we may feel hopeless.
The psalmist, too, had fallen into this pit of despair. However, the psalmist remembered that God seeks to reconcile. He cried out to God and awaited a forgiven, redeemed relationship with God. The psalmist experienced hope. Then he appealed to his co-travelers and reminded them of God's loving forgiveness and redemptive reconciliation. He shared the message of hope.
Are you in despair's depths? God seeks to reconcile with you. God hears your cries. God forgives you. Once freed from your depths, could you share the hope-filled message of God's love with a despairing co-traveler?
Gracious God, we exalt you for the unmerited love and reconciliation you impart. We implore you to answer our cries; forgive our failure to trust you and our actions that cause our despair. Show us with whom we can share a message of hope. Amen.
Mary Simonson Clark