Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / October 27 - Psalm 88

Transcript

October 27 - Psalm 88 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:12
  Hello friends, it is Sean here. It is a happy Friday, well done
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  for making it to the end of the week I hope.
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  I hope that your week has been filled with opportunities and
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  good things and that the weekend ahead is looking like a, oh, a
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  time just to rest for a moment and to regroup at the end of
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  another big week. And although it doesn't feel
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  like it's that late in the year, I reckon there's probably some
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  shops already playing Christmas carols and we start to plow our
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  way toward the very busy end of the year as we enter the last
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  couple of months. But we are not quite there yet,
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  and we are going to, as is our way, read a Psalm together.
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  And this is one of the Psalms with quite a lengthy preamble,
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  so when they know exactly what's going on.
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  You ready? This is a Psalm for the choir
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  director, a Psalm of the Descendants of Korah.
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  A song to be sung to the tune The Suffering of Affliction.
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  A Psalm of Hemmam, the Ezrahite. Ah, yeah, that old tune, The
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  Suffering of Affliction. That was a catchy tune, wasn't
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  it really upbeat, right? Ah, the suffering of affliction.
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  This is a Psalm of lament, so that is an appropriate tune for
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  it to be sung to. I'm not going to sing to you
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  because that would be lots of suffering and affliction for
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  everyone. So I am going to read and we are
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  going to share together as the psalmist cries out in the midst
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  of their heartache and difficulty.
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  This is a prayer for help in the midst of despair.
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  This is Psalm 88. Oh Lord God of my salvation, I
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  cry out to you by day. I come to you at night.
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  Now hear my prayer. Listen to my cry, for my life is
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  full of troubles and death draws near.
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  I am as good as dead. Like a strong man with no
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  strength left. They have left me among the
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  dead, and I lie like a corpse in a grave.
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  I am forgotten. Cut off from your care.
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  You have thrown me into the lowest pit, into the darkest
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  depths. Your anger weighs me down.
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  With wave after wave. You have engulfed me.
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  You have driven my friends away by making me repulsive to them.
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  I am in a trap with no way of escape.
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  My eyes are blinded by my tears. Each day I beg for your help, O
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  Lord, I lift my hands to you for mercy.
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  Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead?
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  Do the dead rise up and praise you?
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  Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love?
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  Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of
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  destruction? Can the darkness speak of your
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  wonderful deeds? Can anyone in the land of
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  forgetfulness talk about your righteousness?
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  Oh Lord, I cry out to you. I will keep on pleading day by
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  day. Oh Lord, why do you reject me?
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  Why do you turn your face from me?
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  I have been sick and close to death since my youth.
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  I stand helpless and desperate before your terrors.
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  Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me.
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  Your terrors have paralyzed me. They swirl around me like
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  floodwaters All day long. They have engulfed me
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  completely. You have taken away my
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  companions and loved ones. Darkness is my closest friend,
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  Lord. You know only too well that
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  sometimes it can feel like wave after wave after wave hits us in
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  our lives, just as the psalmist laments.
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  And when it just seems like there's no hope, Lord, may we be
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  inspired by this psalmist to continue to cry out to you.
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  Because in our darkest hour, there you still are with us.
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  And when it feels like all hope is lost, there you are, our
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  greatest hope. And when it feels like darkness
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  is our only friend, there you are offering us your
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  companionship and consolation. Thank you for your unending
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  companionship and lordship over whatever challenges it is that
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  we face. We praise you, our sovereign
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  God, on the mountaintops and the hardest, lowest valleys, for you
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  are sovereign. It's in your name that we pray.
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  Amen.