Hope... in the Lord

"I pray for the desire to pray and meditate.  I pray to abstain from anger, anxiety, shame, discouragement, and compulsive behaviour.  I pray for patience, tolerance, gentleness, compassion, and empathy.  I pray to know Jesus more intimately, love him more deeply, and follow him more closely.  I pray to know myself and others as Jesus knows us, as made in the image and likeness of God.  I pray to have a better understanding of God's will for my community of faith."

Psalm 146:5-7

⁵ Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
   whose hope is in the Lord their God,
⁶ who made heaven and earth,
   the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith for ever;
⁷   who executes justice for the oppressed;
   who gives food to the hungry.


1) "...hope is in the Lord;" "...who keeps faith for ever;" "...who executes justice;" "who gives food to the hungry;" "Happy are those;" "...whose hope;" "...hope;" "...who made...who keeps faith...who executes justice... who gives food..." "...help...hope;" "
2) I sense this longing to trust in this God of Jacob who is help and hope.  This God of Jacob who made everything, keeps faith, executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.  It is good to be on the "side" of this God.  But there is resistance to trusting this God.  What if this God doesn't want things the way I want them.  What if I am not the hungry, but the one who causes the hunger?  What if I am not the oppressed, but the oppressor?
3) What is the invitation in all this?  I hear an invitation to deeper humility.  An invitation to trust more deeply in God's hope than in the hope of people.  To trust that God's hope is recognizable by justice for the oppressed and food for the hungry.  Can I hear the oppression experienced by the people around me who are feeling burdened?  like too much has been asked of them? like they are spread too thin and doing too much?  Can I hear there exhaustion and discouragement?  That is not where God is.


"Holy One, help us to discern your presence and be mindful of it.  Help us to experience your help and your hope.  Free us from the shackles of our discouragement and exhaustion.  Help us to discern a new way.  Amen."


Breathprayer: "Hope... in the Lord"