A very difficult Psalm was appointed for Morning Prayer this morning: Psalm 35, which begins,

"Fight those who fight me, O Lord;
"attack those who are attacking me...

"Let those who seek after my life be shamed and humbled;
"let those who plot my ruin fall back and be dismayed."

And the Psalm goes on from there in that vein!

The violence of this Psalm has struck me particularly because of how the grieving Lancaster County (PA) Amish families are mourning their daughters who were murdered this past week in their school room. They are reaching out to the killer's family in a way that exactly contradicts this morning's appointed Paalm. They are reaching out with forgiveness! According to one report in last night's PBS "Newshour," one grieving family invited the killer's wife and children to their daughter's funeral -- and to the family gathering that followed, so that there could be an offering of God's grace to the murderer's family in their own severe suffering. (I don't know if the killer's wife accepted the invitation. It would be awfully hard be open enough to receive such profound forgiveness.)

What a witness, though, to Jesus' teachings on forgiveness! That is why the Amish families are reaching out in this way: they explain, simply, that Jesus teaches us to live in this way.

So, what about Psalm 35? How can I make it my own prayer? One way is to read it not literally, but figuratively.

"Fight those who fight me, O Lord;
"attack those who are attacking me."

That first verse of the Psalm becomes my prayer when I say,
"Fight the sarcoidosis that is fighting me, O Lord!
"Attack the sarcoidosis that is attacking my lungs!"

I do want God's healing to be that powerful, that aggressive!

And, again:
"Let those impulses within me, that cause me to be self-centered, be shamed and humbled;
"let those impulses, which would turn me inward and cause me to be depressed, fall back and be dismayed."

I do want God's life-giving grace to be that active within me!

It is good to turn Psalm 35 into my own prayer in this way. Today is not a good day. I don't feel as good today as I did yesterday. I am needing to rest more today than I did yesterday. It is going to be a long haul back to full energy and health, beginning with only a couple of hours of productive activity each day. I will be relying heavily on God's sustaining grace and love, which will be given to me through Scripture, through prayer, and through other people.