March 10, 2014 Psalm
32
Monday 1
Kings 19:1-8
Hebrews
2:10-18
“For day and night your hand was heavy upon me” (Psalm 32:4a)
Sleepless
nights. Nights when all your body
wants to do is sleep. Nights when
your brain won’t shut off with all its worries, imaginings, questions and
struggles. We toss and turn. Try all that we can to relax our bodies
and souls, but restlessness prevails.
Both Psalm 32 and
the reading from I Kings share the laments of struggles, of outer conflicts and
inner worries. Their thoughts
reflect our own sleepless nights.
Elijah fears for his life as Jezebel hunts him down, despite his great
success on the top of Mount Carmel when God revealed his power over the lame attempts
by the prophets of Baal to call upon their gods (it’s a great story: read I
Kings 18:17-40). The Psalmist is
overcome by the weight of his own sins, the guilt eating away at him as his
body wastes away.
God’s response to
our own sleepless nights, to the struggles, concerns and shame that overwhelm
us is revealed in both of these readings.
Elijah exhausted by his fear finally falls asleep and awakens to be
nourished both physically and spiritually. The Psalmist in confessing his sin receives not just
forgiveness, but the promise that God’s love is steadfast and will continue to
guide him in his daily life.
God’s love is
steadfast. God is with us
always. God knows the worries and
concerns of our hearts. God hears
our own laments and cries. In prayer,
we offer them up to God as confession, as supplication and as intercession,
trusting in God’s grace to lead us through the dark nights of our souls into
the light of a new day.
Prayer: God of
grace, we lift before you all that weighs heavy upon our hearts, those things
that keep us awake at night. Help
us to trust in your grace to lead us through these worries and concerns. Grant us to rest in the assurance of
your loving presence, now and forever, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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