Psalm Meditation 1146 ¶Pentecost ¶June 5, 2022 ¶Psalm 13 1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I bear pain in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, 4 and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. 5 But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD because he has dealt bountifully with me. (NRSV) ¶Wouldn’t it be nice if God would get it together to answer our prayers the way we want them answered and on our timeline? When things don’t fall into place for us, we assume that God has not answered our prayers. In most cases, we want a specific outcome and God answers by being present with us no matter what happens. As discombobulating as that answer can be, in the long run, the presence of God is a more lasting answer than our specific request. ¶God does not count victory or success in the same manner that the world does. So, our enemies and adversaries may seem to prevail over us. They get to win because they have ticked all the right boxes as far as the world is concerned. As we remain faithful in the face of adversity, we discover that the steadfast love of God is sweeter and more lasting than the victories that the world relishes. ¶Prices are paid that are too high, sacrifices are made that seem to gain nothing, friends are lost over issues that seem weighty at the time and end up being trivial. Each one of these feels devastating at the time and we wonder if we will ever recover. And yet, we persist. By the power of the presence of God in our lives, we are able to pick ourselves up and move on to the next challenge, willing to risk out of the abundance of the love of God at work in our lives. “I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD because he has dealt bountifully with me.” ¶May 31, 2022 ¶LCM