³ How long shall the wicked, O Lord,
How long shall the wicked exult?
⁴ They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly;
All who do wickedness vaunt themselves.
⁵ They crush Your people, O Lord,
And afflict Your heritage.
⁶ They slay the widow and the stranger
And murder the orphans.
⁷ They have said, “The Lord does not see,
Nor does the God of Jacob pay heed.”

⁸ Pay heed, you senseless among the people;
And when will you understand, stupid ones?
⁹ He who planted the ear, does He not hear?
He who formed the eye, does He not see?
¹⁰ He who chastens the nations, will He not rebuke,
Even He who teaches man knowledge?
¹¹ The Lord knows the thoughts of man,
That they are a mere breath.

Psalm 94:3-11

Dear God, I don’t know why, but I’m just kind of down today. I was yesterday too. Maybe it’s a residual of being around the difficult family dynamics over the weekend. Maybe it’s having some of my own sorrow stirred up. Yeah. Maybe that’s it. Right now, I just kind of want to curl up and recede for a little while. But I don’t have that choice. There is work to be done. I have responsibilities that must be met. What I need is you. What I need is your healing.

Frankly, I don’t know that any of this has to do with the psalm above. In the psalm, the psalmist is looking for retribution for the wicked. And I am all for some level of justice for those who are really wicked (human traffickers, people who commit violent crimes, people who steal from the vulnerable, etc.), but at some point the wicked line reaches me because I am certainly somewhere on the wicked scale. At what point am I asking for your retribution against me? Should I ask you to allow just a little evil so that I will be spared?

Father, I’m just in a funk right now. Help me to find my solace in you. My comfort in you. Help me to connect my branch to your vine so that I might feel held by you. Draw me into yourself as I make myself completely yours. Oh, how I want to be completely yours. Holy Spirit, walk with me and fill me. Jesus, teach me.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen