Psalm 38: Affliction
Friday, March 18, 2022
These are beautiful words that we might pray when we feel overwhelmed . . . which for some of us is often. It is a hymn of trust and hope to the God who knows all, who sees all. The St Joseph edition of the Psalter names this psalm, Prayer of a Sinner in Great Peril and the name is apt. When we pray this song, we can be honest and open with God. We can bring our most intense infliction to him . . . and be rewarded with a new sense of meaning, new hope in our petitions, and a new trust in God’s creation. In this Lenten season, we might enter into this prayer often as we make our pilgrimage to Easter and Restoration and as we do . . . we might keep in mind the difference between sometimes and always . . .
Lord, punish me no more . . .
Sometimes the craziness is too much to bear . . .
Your arrows have sunk deep in me . . .
Sometimes the rumors are too piercing to withstand . . .
My iniquities overwhelm me, a burden beyond my strength . . .
Sometimes I stray so far from my potential I cannot find my way back to you . . .
I am numb and utterly crushed . . .
Sometimes I do not know how I have gotten out of bed in the morning . . .
Friends and companions shun my pain . . .
Sometimes I have no place left to vent my anger or to express my fears . . .
Those who seek my life lay snares for me . . .
Sometimes I have no energy left to fight the good fight . . .
I am like the deaf, hearing nothing . . .
Sometimes I believe I am completely detached from my lifeline to you . . .
Lord, I wait for you . . .
Always I remember you, morning, noon and night . . .
Forsake me not, O Lord . . .
Always I will follow you, no matter how difficult the path . . .
My God, be not far from me . . .
Always I will turn to your presence, even when I cannot feel it . . .
Come quickly to help me . . .
Always I will speak of the many times you have saved me before . . .
My Lord and my salvation . . .
Always I will recall that you who cares for even the tiniest sparrow, will not allow the waters to rise over me . . .
Lord, my deepest yearning is before you; my groaning is not hidden from you . . .
Always I will be honest with you . . .
Forsake me not, O Lord; I wait for you . . . Always.
Amen.
A Favorite first written on Monday, March 16, 2009.
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