Matt Mings on 
Brian Niece on Waiting for the Ashes
Today is Ash Wednesday, and I can think of no better way to meditate and think upon this day then by doing so through Scripture. So what follows is Psalm 102:1-12 and then a few wonderings.
Psalm 102:1-12
God, listen! Listen to my prayer, listen to the pain in my cries.
Don’t turn your back on me
just when I need you so desperately.
Pay attention! This is a cry for help!
And hurry—this can’t wait!
I’m wasting away to nothing,
I’m burning up with fever.
I’m a ghost of my former self,
half-consumed already by terminal illness.
My jaws ache from gritting my teeth;
I’m nothing but skin and bones.
I’m like a buzzard in the desert,
a crow perched on the rubble.
Insomniac, I twitter away,
mournful as a sparrow in the gutter.
All day long my enemies taunt me,
while others just curse.
They bring in meals—casseroles of ashes!
I draw drink from a barrel of my tears.
And all because of your furious anger;
you swept me up and threw me out.
There’s nothing left of me—
a withered weed, swept clean from the path.
Yet you, God, are sovereign still,
always and ever sovereign.
You’ll get up from your throne and help Zion—
it’s time for compassionate help.
Oh, how your servants love this city’s rubble
and weep with compassion over its dust!
The godless nations will sit up and take notice
—see your glory, worship your name—
When God rebuilds Zion,
when he shows up in all his glory,
When he attends to the prayer of the wretched.
He won’t dismiss their prayer.
I wonder what it is like to think of all good things you receive as “ash.” I wonder who might be twittering away today. I wonder what it is like to feel like God’s furious anger is directed squarely at you. I wonder what it feels like to be a withered weed. I wonder what God will do with me when I have the sign of the cross in ashes on my forehead tonight. I wonder what it will be like to say to each person tonight, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. Turn from your sins and be faithful to Christ.” I wonder how God will help me turn from my own sins.
SO TELL ME SOMETHING:
What are you wondering about today?
——
Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.
Related Posts:
Category: Christianity, Prayer, Sacramental Living, Scripture Comment »