"Mercifully hear our prayers, O Lord, and spare all those who confess their sins to you; that those whose consciences are accused by sin may by your merciful pardon be absolved; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."
Psalm 7:6-11, Jeremiah 11:18-20, and John 7:37-52
The Psalm for today is all about calling down God's righteous anger, and how many times have we all wanted to do just this while stuck in traffic on Airport or McGregor or somewhere else when we're just trying to get home? As I read this psalm it seems like a bit of a selfish prayer, and we're all guilty of sometimes looking out for ourselves in our prayers. Here the psalmist wants for God to judge him based on his righteousness and to end the malice of the wicked, who happen to be his enemies.
One of the reasons that I enjoy the psalms so much is that they are so human. These psalms are written from the depths of human emotion to God, and we have passed them on for ages because they work and because they capture how we may feel at a given moment in time. When you're stuck without words for a prayer, the psalms can help you enter into a place in history, praying the same words to God that many folks have prayed before you. In those moments we see that we're not the only ones who have (attempted to) call down God's wrath, and we're not the only ones who wonder where God is. We also can see that generations before us have also celebrated and marveled at God's presence in their lives, and we can, too.
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