But me! I will keep watch for the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.
Reflection
When I first looked at my scripture, I thought I would be writing a much different devotion – one in which I was thrilled that God listens to our needs and sees those that are oppressed and how we as fellow humans are trying to help make this a better world for everyone.
For the past week, though, I have been in a bit of a tailspin. I have been very angry, very sad, incredulous, disappointed, questioning so many things, even questioning God. I am not questioning my faith, but my impression of what I saw as signs that things could be different. Instead, I (and maybe you) am faced with lots of questions. What do we need to do? Who can we help? Where do we turn for not even solace, but maybe just a little sanity?
I know something that helped this weekend was spending time with our daughter’s family and our oldest granddaughter wanting to spend the weekend with us. At one point she was trying to whistle, and it was not going great, but the noises she was making were just cracking her up and then were cracking me up. When I laugh hard, tears just start flowing. It is better to cry from laughter than from sadness – and I have done both this past week.
I googled Micah to see that he lived from 740-670 BC. One of the descriptions of the book of Micah says it is a book of judgment against God’s people, mixed with words of hope that promise the possibility of renewal even after disaster comes. According to chapter 1 of Micah, he proclaims that the Lord is coming and will make things right. The beginning of chapter 7 talks about the faithful being swept from the land and not one upright person remains, that evil is everywhere, and the powerful conspire to get what they desire, and nobody can be trusted.
Micah says in chapter 5 that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, and he was apparently waiting for that time. As our text states, Micah was waiting for the God of salvation, and he knew that God was paying attention and listening to his pleas, but we know that Micah never saw his prayer come to fruition for him. Just like in any election, I know that people who did not vote as I did also prayed. Where does that leave me? Feeling like God choose a side? We can’t say that because we don’t really know and we can’t see what the future will bring.
After all, people have been struggling since the beginning of time. Is it egotistical of us to think we can change it right now? Do we need to keep doing what we do to try to help – just doing the work in the world – giving what we can, helping where we can, doing our jobs well? As my neighbor said, we just need to keep doing our good work, that is all we can do. I had dinner with a Jewish friend, who told me she works at the food bank on Wednesdays and even though last Wednesday didn’t feel great for her, there she and her fellow congregants were – helping at the food bank – doing their mitzvah – their good deed.
Whether this spurs us to be more vocal for things we feel passionate about, we need to see those small things we can do to help, and to take in those small things that might bring us joy – laughing with a child or enjoying the world God has given us. But me, I will keep watch for the Lord in the everyday things of life! I will start there and build on that. That really is our cornerstone – those everyday joys!
PS – Here is a reason for joy today – it is Kate’s birthday! Have a happy day, Kate!
by Janet Waryck
For Pondering and Prayer
As a community of faith, we know that God listens to us and to our pleas, but we also know we do not always get the answers we want or think we and those around us deserve. Do we sometimes fall into cursing what is happening around us? What can we do to lift ourselves a bit, so we don’t fall into that cycle of despair?
Prayer: God who hears us, help us to turn to you, to talk to you, to seek you as we work in this world to do good works and seek those small joys until we see you. Amen.
