Psalm 88

I Cry Out Day and Night Before You

A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

O Lord, God of my salvation;
I cry out day and night before you.

Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!

For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol.

I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am a man who has no strength,

like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.

You have put me in the depths of the pit,
in the regions dark and deep.

Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves.

Selah

You have caused my companions to shun me;
you have made me a horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;

my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O Lord;
I spread out my hands to you.

Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the departed rise up to praise you?

Selah

Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?

Are your wonders known in the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

But I, O Lord, cry to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.

O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?
Why do you hide your face from me?

Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.

Your wrath has swept over me;
your dreadful assaults destroy me.

They surround me like a flood all day long;
they close in on me together.

You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness.

Personal Update: Ironies of life, or wasting your slavery.

My life is "outside" of everyone else's life. 

I see other people reaching toward meaning and accomplishment in this life but I am not invited to participate. So I got to thinking about all the ironies of my existence; here it goes: 

Taught to read at an early age, but inhibited in writing by emotional damage. 

Taught to highly value education and academia, but denied a complete post-secondary education due to poverty and sin. 

Given the opportunity to gain an excellent wife, yet bringing her down with my lack of excellence and my foolishness. 

Given one son to transmit the Faith thereunto, yet succeeding in only teaching him rebellion. 

Expected to achieve greatness, yet consigned to mediocrity as a 'mere worker'. 

Expecting Christian love and acceptance from the brethren at church, yet finding only alienation. 

Wanting forgiveness, but knowing that judgment is coming and everyone will give an answer for their lives. 

Wanting fulfillment, but finding only slavery and meaningless labor. 

Wishing to be part of the Illusion, but in the end only serving as observer of the world's delusion. 

Wishing to be established in this world (hoping for the renewal of all things), but finding only that all of life is vapor, 

Expanding into entropic heat-death.

Rev. Joe Wright (from Kansas)'s Prayer

Heavenly Father,

We come before you today
To ask forgiveness and to seek you direction & guidance.
We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good,"
But that is exactly what we have done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of speech and expression.
We have ridiculed the time honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Amen.

Lenten Prayer

Almighty God, O Holy God, in the name of Jesus, we pray (Lord, hear our prayer):

As the Lenten season begins this Wednesday, give us grace to draw near to you and to seek your face. We thank you that we have been given access to you, Father God, as your Spirit prompted the writer of Hebrews:

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

And then Lord, as we draw near to you and your Spirit reminds us of our ongoing sin and as we remember the crucifixion of Jesus that comes at the end of Lent (in time almost 2000 years ago), we hear again from the word:

…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.


Lord Jesus give us grace to rededicate ourselves to the purpose of glorifying you and seeking to enjoy your presence as we identify with you in your journey to the cross. And as we ask this, we are again reminded from your word:

3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons… (from Hebrews ch.12)

And the scripture goes on to add:

12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.

O Lord God, we do ask for Your strength in our weaknesses and for Your grace to put aside ourselves and draw near to You.
For the church universal and for all of us now praying, we ask that you create in us a pure heart, O God, and that You renew a steadfast spirit within us. We ask that You not cast us away from your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from us, and Holy God, may you yet maintain in us the joy of your salvation. Lord grant us this Lent a willing spirit and sustain us with the bread of heaven. May your church experience revival and reformation and may our nation see and hear Your mighty works and come to repentance and salvation.
In the name of Jesus we pray.

Studying/Reading currently

I'm working my way through Maria Boulding's translation of St. Augustine's Confessions (ISBN-10: 1565480848) and I find it very readable. What a blessing Augustine's writing is to me; what he writes is so relevant to me. I hope to meet him some day in heaven (after we get off of our face before our God).

Lord willing, after I get done going through The Confessions I will try to work my way through The City of God.