I’m thinking I need to tune out the political nastiness for a while because it’s becoming a source of sickness of soul. Instead, I will cleanse my mind, fill it with God thoughts, and try to salvage what good will that usually dwells there, bringing a smile to my countenance, a grateful spirit to my life, and a knowledge that God is in full control,t I will live by His precepts, and reject our system’s joy in creating chaos and spewing hatred and negativity. Anyone else feel this way too?
My Psalm 186 Political Poison
Why, O Lord God, am I in distress?
Why, Heavenly Father, can I see only grey today?
Why, Lord Jesus, Master and King, do I lack
The peace You lived to bring?
Why, Holy Spirit, do I lack the filling of soul
I’ve had before in my life?
Am I one of those in John’s letter:
Lukewarm? Am I to be spat out of Your mouth?
Where is the zeal I’ve always felt, the mountaintop vigor
For Your Word, for my mission to spread Your love
To others in this sin-sick world?
Where is the joy of my salvation?
I so need Your indwelling this night.
Like the Psalmist of old, I need Your reminding
Of the victories, of times of leading, of Your protection
And guidance, and the hearing of Your still, small voice.
Attune my heart to Yours, O Lord, and grant me
Moments, yeah days, yeah years of knowing Your strength
As I have so often before.
Cast out the negatives,
Bind the hateful rhetoric
The tearing down, the innuendos, the disparagement
Which tries to deafen me to Your Kingdom coming
As You would have it to be.
Discipline me to reject shouts of doom and gloom
Which assail my being each day
Because I ingest rumors of war which are all too real,
And people’s evil lies and arrogant attitudes.
Instead, let Your Words of eternal significance
Be all I hear, all I remember, all I indeed can hear
In these times of war and rumors of war
The negative assaults, the arrows of despair.
Renew and refresh my soul, O Lord
That I may know victory
And see the world as You wish it to be.
Let me once again know the Godincidences
Which bring joy and purpose for living.
Shower me with insight into Your Word
That it may again speak to me in bold terms
And eternal perspectives.
Give me the vision to see Your Plan
And the ability to hear Your shouts to my soul
And once again Your still, small voice.
When all I see around me is chaos
And I face concern, angst, and anxiety
Center me once again to know
Without doubt that You are sovereign
And that You alone can speak to the troubles
Of this world and the future.
Give me the insight to see
The good, the working out of Your will
And my place in making this mortal life
A living sacrifice to You and Your Kingdom.
Use me, broken as I am
To bring comfort to Your people,
To exude the faithfulness that I’ve always had
In Your promises, in Your message, In You.
Grant, I beseech You, that even today
You will bless me with showers of blessings
Or even a word of encouragement
That I will know Your Presence
Your strength, Your love, and Your peace,
For I know that only in You do I have my being and purpose,
And only when You give me grace and mercy
In full measure, am I able to follow You fully.
I will praise Your Name forever,
I will shout Your Name to all who can hear,
I will show forth Your victory yet again
I will acknowledge You as the Source of my strength,
And the Lover of my soul.
In the Precious Name of Jesus,
And through Your empowering Spirit,
Abba, Father, be in me every moment of my life
So that I may serve Your kingdom
And run my race with vigor in such a time as this. Amen.
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