The Readings
Isaiah 58:9b–14:
If you remove the
yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide
you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins
shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
If you refrain from
trampling the sabbath,
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call the sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;
then you shall take delight in the Lord,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with
the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Psalm 86:1–11:
Bow down your ear, O
Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and in misery.
Keep watch over my
life, for I am faithful;
save your servant who puts his trust in you.
Be merciful to me, O
Lord, for you are my God;
I call upon you all the day long.
Gladden the soul of
your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For you, O Lord, are
good and forgiving,
and great is your love toward all who call upon you.
Give ear, O Lord, to
my prayer,
and attend to the voice of my supplications.
In the time of my
trouble I will call upon you,
for you will answer me.
Among the gods there
is none like you, O Lord,
nor anything like your works.
All nations you have
made will come and worship you, O Lord,
and glorify your Name.
For you are great;
you do wondrous things;
and you alone are God.
Teach me your way, O
Lord,
and I will walk in your truth;
knit my heart to you that I may fear your Name.
Reflection by Jane Emrick
I don’t know about you, but I’m TIRED.
Bone-tired. Sometimes, can’t-wash-my-hair-today tired. Not-another-zoom-meeting tired.
It has been a long, exhausting season. We’re holed up, isolated. We have had to give up so, so much of our travel, activities, get-togethers. And that can be really exhausting.
The Psalmist knew this kind of tired: “Bow down your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and in misery.”
Can you relate?
Sometimes it feels like we don’t have as much energy to do even daily routines we used to do. Seems that everything takes a bit longer to do, too. I have to plan differently for this quiet quarantine time.
Can you relate?
And here comes Lent. Lent is ordinarily a time to hunker down and hibernate, to dig deeply into our faith’s roots, to quiet our minds and spirits and hearts in preparation for our Easter-people festivities.
But hey, I’ve already been doing that! Yikes! If I get any quieter I might disappear. I’m just tired of it all.
But in that dig-down-deep place--that “most tired” place--that is where God IS, my friend. That is what His Good News is all about.
The Prophet Isaiah had a good handle on that when he writes, “The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places…”
I am parched, Lord.
Isaiah knew his God. He knew what it was like to be tired. But...but...he also knew where strength could be found: “... you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.” Isaiah says that God promises all this and more, if only we will continue to honor Him. If we will call His name despite our weariness. I don’t know about you, but I need that kind of promise, especially now. A promise that doesn’t look at the news of the world, but in the timeless, solid promise of our God. His promises never fail!
Today’s Psalm echoes that Great Promise: “In the time of my trouble I will call upon you, for you will answer me.” Now there’s a Force that will cut through my “bone-tired.” I need only lean in hard on He Who will never stop holding me. His strength cuts through my own lack of strength. It gives me more than Strength. It gives me Hope.
Can you relate?
-Jane Emrick