393. Saturday after Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity.
Psalm 102, 1-14. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call, answer me speedily. For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as a hearth. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin. I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop. Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me. For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass. But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever, and thy remembrance unto all generations. Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favor her, yea, the set time, is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof.
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In temptations it seems to the believer that God has entirely deserted him, and is deaf to his prayer. He never before stood in such need of God as now; and never had God seemed to be so far away. The cry of his soul dies away without having reached the ear of God. He must have help, and at once: “Make haste to help me, Lord; fear is on every hand, I sink in the deep mire”; — but there is no reply! “Alas, was this to be my lot? I had thought that my life was to be bright and full, that my strength was to increase, my heart to remain young in the Lord; but my days have fled, and I am become old, they are consumed like smoke; my bones are brittle, and my heart, my heart is smitten, and withered like grass.” — In the bright seasons of our life of faith we feel love’s fellowship with God and the brethren; but in temptations we are cut off and alone. We are left to be mocked by the venomous spirits of evil, and are not sensible of the delightful bond of brotherly union with the children of God. “How happy was I when in the company of God’s saints! Then I was in Bethany and on Zion; nay I was lifted up to heaven by the mercy of the Lord; I was blessed, and I was a blessing to others. But I kept not the grace which I had, nor made I the right use of it; I exalted myself, and thus I lost my place in the beautiful family circle of God’s children. Formerly I was with the Lord when I fell asleep, and when I awoke; now I lie at night trembling with fear. I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert.” You, dear brother, may perhaps fear that this sorrow in you is nothing but that “sorrow of the world.’’ If it were, you would not lament in this way; you would not thus pour out your complaint before the Lord. You do not belong to the devil; you belong to our Lord Jesus. There are two things which you shall do: In the first place you shall confess that you have neglected to be faithful and vigilant; and you shall humble yourself, and say: “I will bear the Lord’s anger; for I have sinned against him.” The Spirit of God shall help you herein; he has indeed done it already. In the second place, you shall continue to pray for mercy, and cling to the promises of God. This also the Spirit of God works in you. The Lord hears you, even if you do not perceive that he answers. The whole word of God declares that he delights in mercy. When we ask mercy of him this is, therefore, a prayer according to his will; and we know that we then “have the petitions that we desired of him” (1 John 5, 14. 15). “He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. This shall be written for the generation to come; and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.” (Psalm 102, 17-20). You shall, then, receive strength to wait and suffer, and in the midst of the darkness to have hope; and God shall shame the devil, but give you double your former glory; to declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem. — Have mercy, Lord; save us, pardon us, and heal us; and when we shall sit in darkness, be thou our light. Help us against hope to believe in hope, and never to grow faint. Amen.*
In the weary hours of sickness,
In the times of grief and pain,
When we feel our mortal weakness,
When all human help is vain,
By thy mercy, O deliver us, good Lord!
In the solemn hour of dying,
In the awful judgment day,
May our souls, on thee relying,
Find thee still our rock and stay;
By thy mercy, O deliver us, good Lord!
[Common Service Book 80; listen here]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.