Salutation
... in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen. Through the prayers of our
holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen. Glory
to You, our God, Glory to You.
O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy
Ghost
O
Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill
all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and
cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs; God,
to whom vengeance belongs, show Yourself.
Lift up Yourself, judge of the earth. Render a reward to the proud.
Lord, how long shall the wicked; how long shall the wicked triumph? [How
long] shall they utter [and]
speak hard things? [How long shall] all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? They break in pieces Your people, Lord, and afflict Your heritage. They
slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. Yet they say, “The Lord shall not see. Nor shall the
God of Jacob regard.”
Understand, you brutish among the people. Fools, when will you be wise? He Who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He Who formed the eye, shall He not see? He Who chastises the heathen, shall He not correct? He Who teaches man knowledge.... The Lord knows the
thoughts of man, that they [are]
vanity.
Blessed [is] the man whom You punish, Lord, and teach
him from Your law: so that You may give him rest from the days of adversity,
until the pit be dug for the wicked: for the Lord will not
cast off His people. Nor will He forsake
His inheritance. But judgment shall
return to righteousness. All the upright
in heart shall follow it.
Who will rise up for me against the
evildoers? Who will stand up for me
against the workers of iniquity? Unless
the Lord [had been] my help, my
soul had almost dwelled in silence. When
I said, “My foot slips.” Your mercy, Lord, held me up. In the abundance
of my thoughts within me, Your comforts delight my soul.
Shall the throne of iniquity have
fellowship with You; they frame mischief by law? They gather themselves together against the
soul of the righteous, and condemn innocent blood. But the Lord is my defense.
My God [is] the rock of my refuge. And
He shall bring on them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own
wickedness. The Lord our God shall cut them off.
________
If you have been
blessed or helped by any of these meditations in Psalms, please repost or share
all of them.
[1] Many
consider this to be a Psalm of the Incarnation.
The prayer, “show Yourself,” is a cry for Epiphany. God judges the earth solely in the Christ
event. Jesus “knows the thoughts of man.” We see also that the way of victory is the
way of the cross: each of us must bear our cross, and “this present light
affliction” is in reality a blessing (See Hebrews 12:1-21). This path, which Christ has established for
us, flows from His Incarnation. “God
became man, so that man could become god.”
Christ turns the curse of the law into the gift of life by His perfect
obedience. The Psalmist notes that in
the Incarnation, the King has returned to the battlefield to fight for His
people, “trampling down death by death.”
As David faced Goliath; so now, Jesus faces the cross. As Goliath spells certain defeat for David,
so the cross means defeat for Jesus. Surprise
of all surprises, “death is swallowed up in victory.” The Incarnate One is raised. “Death is overthrown.” The wicked are cut off by the cross. The Incarnate One has confronted the wicked
with “their own wickedness.” “On that
very day their plans perish.”
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