Focus

Experience silence in the midst of your busy day. Take some time to relax into a time to be with God.

---

Read

Psalm 74 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

A Maskil of Asaph.

O God, why do you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?

Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago,
which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage.
Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.

Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.

Your foes have roared within your holy place;
they set up their emblems there.

At the upper entrance they hacked
the wooden trellis with axes.

And then, with hatchets and hammers,
they smashed all its carved work.

They set your sanctuary on fire;
they desecrated the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it to the ground.

They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

We do not see our emblems;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is no one among us who knows how long.

How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

Why do you hold back your hand;
why do you keep your hand in your bosom?

Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the earth.

You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.

You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.

You cut openings for springs and torrents;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.

Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you established the luminaries and the sun.

You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;
you made summer and winter.

Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and an impious people reviles your name.

Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;
do not forget the life of your poor forever.

Have regard for your covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.

Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.

Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.

Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.

---

Reflect

Have you ever had a crisis of faith and felt as if God had forgotten you?
When our granddaughter received a diagnosis of advanced-stage lymphoma, our world collapsed. As she and her parents raced to the pediatric cancer center, we moved her little sister to our home for an indeterminate stay. None of us knew when – or if – we would all be together again. We prayed until we couldn’t pray anymore. Where was God, and why did God allow this to happen?
The Jews were having a crisis of faith. Their places of worship had been destroyed, their prophets were gone, and they were feeling forgotten. Where was God, and why did God allow this to happen? But then, they remembered. God the King – who divided the sea, who opened springs and dried up rivers, and who created the sun and the moon – had chosen them and would surely deliver them again. God is faithful!

The day our daughter sank to the hospital floor, distraught and incapable of voicing a prayer, God sent an angel in the form of a housekeeper. God’s sweet messenger dropped to her knees, wrapped her arms around our sobbing daughter, and boldly petitioned Heaven on her behalf. Yes, God is faithful!

---

Pray

Loving God, when are broken and feel forgotten, please help us remember. Help us remember that you know our names and the number of hairs on our heads. Help us remember that you hear our pleas, even when we can’t put them into words. Help us remember that you knew us before we were born and that you have a plan for each and every one of us. Help us remember that you are faithful. Amen

Go with God!