Zeal for God's House

God's Creative Word
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Cleansing the Temple

Psalm 69:6-15

The Message

 ⁶ Don't let those who look to you in hope
   Be discouraged by what happens to me,
   Dear Lord! God of the armies!   Don't let those out looking for you
   Come to a dead end by following me—
   Please, dear God of Israel!

 ⁷ Because of you I look like an idiot,
   I walk around ashamed to show my face.

 ⁸ My brothers shun me like a bum off the street;
   My family treats me like an unwanted guest.

 ⁹ I love you more than I can say.
   Because I'm madly in love with you,
   They blame me for everything they dislike about you.

 ¹⁰ When I poured myself out in prayer and fasting,
   All it got me was more contempt.

 ¹¹ When I put on a sad face,
   They treated me like a clown.

 ¹² Now drunks and gluttons
   Make up drinking songs about me.

 ¹³ And me? I pray.
   God, it's time for a break!
   God, answer in love!
   Answer with your sure salvation!

 ¹⁴ Rescue me from the swamp,
   Don't let me go under for good,
   Pull me out of the clutch of the enemy;
   This whirlpool is sucking me down.

 ¹⁵ Don't let the swamp be my grave, the Black Hole
   Swallow me, its jaws clenched around me.

For Reflection

Many berate the dropout rate in our schools.  Having taught for about sixteen years, I have often wondered about the children we failed, those children who could not find sanctuary in school and whose only practical way to end failure was to quit.  These kids normally have not-so-great home lives, are socially rejected by the main stream, identify with others in similar situations and act (perhaps not so irrationally) to end the pain of the only part of their life they think they can control and drop out of school.

I know the Psalmist is not talking about godless people or those who find false sanctuary in gang membership or self-loathing, but I think the despair in these passages resulting from an allegiance to God is similar to the despair of children and adults too who drop out toward a spiritually unfulfilling life.  If we find ourselves outcast because of our discipleship and feel despair, just imagine those who do not have the support and sanctuary of Christ and Christian fellowship.  Without authentic God-centered unconditional sanctuary we all are vulnerable to the downward spiral of despair.

Pray

for all those who fall in despair.  Pray for those who seek sanctuary in false gods.  Pray for those who find themselves in the clutches of a death spiral.  Pray that they will find rescue from a swampy grave. Pray for God-centered paths that will interrupt the sucking action of Godless options.  Pray that those in despair find the courage to escape the whirlpools that are their lives.