Even When It Hurts: March 9, 2021

Even When It Hurts -- Lent 2021 Devotional Book

Read: Psalm 54

Arrogant foes are attacking me; ruthless people are trying to kill me—people without regard for God.
-Psalm 54:3

I have a strong hunch that if you had quoted the third verse of this psalm to the people who stormed the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 6 you would have received an affirming, “Right on!” along with a token militia badge. Behind the outward political grievances connected with a national election the previous November, the animus propelling this event, and others like it across the country, seemed fired up by the Old Testament zeal against the wicked hosts who are hell-bent on our destruction. In fact, my greatest fear for the soul of our country is that the emotions of our better angels — compassion, empathy, love — no longer give us the same sense of being alive and human as the feelings of sheer outrage. In such times, as the psalm suggests, the Lord is indeed the one who sustains me.

Lord, you have truly delivered me from all my troubles. It is therefore only fitting that my “freewill offering” to you be the arrogance that I ascribe to my enemies but fail to decry in myself. Amen.
-Michael Boss