# Groaning Day 4 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *Lord, I was ever greedy of life, my attention always straining toward the parts of it that had not yet come…toward what was about to be, or might be, or hopefully would be, and especially toward those things that, by Your mercy, might turn out not to be after all.* *I panted with longing to suck each segment of life dry of its pleasures. I plotted, with myself but despite myself, about tomorrow…about the “later” that was constantly morphing into now. You know how I worked, Lord, recklessly but prayerfully, to set time’s courses and, in Your name, to sculpt them to my intention, to my definition of good.* *But I am old now, Lord, and my prayers grown old as well. So it is that daily I am drawn, as here, to pray, “Deliver me, My Lord, from this my great sin, and take me, free of doubt and other longings, into Your good plan.” (Prayer by Phyllis Tickle, Weavings, Volume XXV, Number 4)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 31 #### Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit #### To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. *31 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;let me never be put to shame;in your righteousness deliver me!* *2 Incline your ear to me;rescue me speedily!Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!3 For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;4 you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge.5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.6 I hate[a] those who pay regard to worthless idols,but I trust in the Lord.7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,because you have seen my affliction;you have known the distress of my soul,8 and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;you have set my feet in a broad place.9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief my soul and my body also.10 For my life is spent with sorrow,and my years with sighing;my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.* *11 Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach,especially to my neighbors,and an object of dread to my acquaintances;those who see me in the street flee from me.12 I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.13 For I hear the whispering of many—terror on every side!—as they scheme together against me,as they plot to take my life.* *14 But I trust in you, O Lord;I say, “You are my God.”15 My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!16 Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!17 O Lord, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon you;let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol.18 Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt.* *19 Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear youand worked for those who take refuge in you,in the sight of the children of mankind!20 In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men;you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.* *21 Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to mewhen I was in a besieged city.22 I had said in my alarm,[b]“I am cut off from your sight.”But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.* *23 Love the Lord, all you his saints!The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,* *all you who wait for the Lord!* #### Scripture for the Day: Hebrews 2:5-18 #### The Founder of Salvation *5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,“What is man, that you are mindful of him,or the son of man, that you care for him?7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels;you have crowned him with glory and honor,[a]8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”* *Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.* *10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.[b] That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,[c] 12 saying,* *“I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”13 And again,“I will put my trust in him.”And again,“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.* #### Reading for Reflection: *At the end of my trip to Canada, the United States, and England, about which I wrote in this journal, I met a young man who told me about his own spiritual journey in a way that helped me to think about this second loneliness. He said, “First I was traveling on a highway with many other people. I felt lonely in my car, but at least I was not alone. Then Jesus told me to take an exit and follow a winding country road which was pleasant and beautiful. People who passed by greeted me, smiled, and waved to me; I felt loved. But then, quite unexpectedly, Jesus asked me to take a dirt road, leave the car, and walk with him. As we were walking we did not see anyone anymore; although I knew that I was walking with Jesus, I felt very lonely and often in despair. I was tired and felt forgotten by my friends. Now it looked as if I was getting more lonely as I was getting closer to Jesus. And nobody seemed to understand.”* *My life at Daybreak became increasingly an invitation to enter into this second loneliness. It is such a painful experience that I hesitate to write about it. It is a loneliness of which I know no special friend can free me, even though I keep clinging desperately to such a friend. It is a loneliness that asks of me to throw myself completely into the arms of a God whose presence can no longer be felt and to risk every part of my being to what seems like nothingness. It is the loneliness of Jesus, who cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (The Road to Daybreak by Henri J. M. Nouwen)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: O Heart Bereaved and Lonely *O heart bereaved and lonely,* *Whose brightest dreams have fled* *Whose hopes like summer roses,* *Are withered crushed and dead* *Though link by link be broken,* *And tears unseen may fall* *Look up amid thy sorrow,* *To Him who knows it all* *O cling to thy Redeemer,* *Thy Savior, Brother, Friend* *Believe and trust His promise,* *To keep you till the end* *O watch and wait with patience,* *And question all you will* *His arms of love and mercy,* *Are round about thee still* *Look up, the clouds are breaking,* *The storm will soon be o'er* *And thou shall reach the haven,* *Where sorrows are no more* *Look up, be not discouraged;* *Trust on, whate'er befall* *Remember, O remember,* *Thy Savior knows it all* ### Closing Prayer *Loving God, the earth moans, in need of your healing. Help me be a peacemaker today—one who carries your vision and takes the small actions that contribute to healing for the world. Amen. (The Uncluttered Heart by Beth A. Richardson)*