June 1, 2014
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Beauty Instead of Ashes

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Opening Prayer

Eternal God, on this Your day, I offer You my highest praise. I want to worthily honor Your name.

Read PSALM 69:1-36

[1] For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David. Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. [2] I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. [3] I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. [4] Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal. [5] You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you. [6] Lord, the LORD Almighty, may those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me; God of Israel, may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me. [7] For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face. [8] I am a foreigner to my own family, a stranger to my own mother’s children; [9] for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me. [10] When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn; [11] when I put on sackcloth, people make sport of me. [12] Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of the drunkards. [13] But I pray to you, LORD, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation. [14] Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink; deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep waters. [15] Do not let the floodwaters engulf me or the depths swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me. [16] Answer me, LORD, out of the goodness of your love; in your great mercy turn to me. [17] Do not hide your face from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in trouble. [18] Come near and rescue me; deliver me because of my foes. [19] You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are before you. [20] Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none. [21] They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst. [22] May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap. [23] May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever. [24] Pour out your wrath on them; let your fierce anger overtake them. [25] May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents. [26] For they persecute those you wound and talk about the pain of those you hurt. [27] Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation. [28] May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous. [29] But as for me, afflicted and in pain- may your salvation, God, protect me. [30] I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. [31] This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hooves. [32] The poor will see and be glad- you who seek God, may your hearts live! [33] The LORD hears the needy and does not despise his captive people. [34] Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and all that move in them, [35] for God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it; [36] the children of his servants will inherit it, and those who love his name will dwell there.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright &copy 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.&reg Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“The poor in spirit see and are glad–Oh, you God-seekers, take heart! For God listens to the poor, He doesn’t walk out on the wretched” (Psa. 69:32,33, The Message). What a promise!

When we think of David, is it his fighting skill, his leadership, his failures or his poetry that we remember? In the psalms attributed to him, we see a very different man from the one who faced Goliath. Perhaps this is what Jonathan saw: this popular hero was not just a fighter but a man whose courage in God’s name came from an ever-replenishing inner well. This trust, so much more valuable than developing a hard shell or simply shaking off trouble, may have formed during his adolescence out on the hills protecting sheep. His later, vulnerable years on the run in danger of his life, hiding in caves, also built his reliance on the Good Shepherd. Our psalm today is the first of many written as a cry for help as he is threatened by his enemies. After Psalm 22, no other is quoted more often in the New Testament, and several verses (9,21) are applied to Jesus.

David’s cry of pain demonstrates to us the value of pouring out our heart to the God who hears. He cannot be shocked by the depths of our despair, even our desire for retribution. And as we give words to our predicament we get clarity about the way forward, recalling the promises we have received of God’s ever-ready help. So David’s extreme expressions of the crisis in the opening verses (1-4) give way to taking responsibility, even confession (5), before launching into a more measured cry of pain. This is the work of prayer. It assures us that we are not alone and that God understands. It lifts us out of the “miry depths” (2). Ultimately, we need to shift our focus from the enemy (22-28) to God’s saving work (29) and to give thanks in faith that he will accomplish this salvation (29-36).

Apply

God’s promise for his people is “beauty for ashes,” “the oil of joy for mourning” (Isa. 61:3, KJV). Claim yours today.

Closing prayer

Loving Father, it is easy to be distressed when trouble is all around. I ask for grace to look forward with joy to the day when evil and injustice will be gone forever.

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