Living, Loving God,
Our souls cry out in thirst for your Spirit. Your Church is downcast and disturbed by the circumstances we are living through, yet we put our hope in you. It seems the waves and breakers of this era have rolled over us, yet we put our hope in you. It can seem You have forgotten your people and we are oppressed by our enemy, yet we put our hope in you. The world may seems to say, “Where is your God?,” yet we put our hope in you. Jesus, you are the Hope for our world. You are the One in whom we trust. Help us to remember that when the forces of anger, bitterness, fear, division, hatred, and destruction seem to be trained on your Church and your people, that you are bigger, stronger, and more present than any of those things. In the name of Jesus we pray against these evil spirits – we bind them and send them to the foot of the Cross for you to deal with. We instead speak, “Peace!” to this storm. We pray you will pour out love, joy, peace, mercy, and unity upon your Church and your people. We claim these and other gifts of grace and look forward to the coming day of Christ’s return. Help us to be on guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous and strong, and to do everything in love. We praise you, our Savior and our God. In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen!
Psalm 42
1
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4
These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
5
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
6
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7
Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
8
By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9
I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”
10
My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.