Susan LaffertyThe one who speaks truth finds himself walled in. Weighed down. Worn out.
No hope. Only the crooked path. And a deep pit. Face in the gravel.
Affliction. With no end in sight.
This. When he’s fearlessly made known God’s ways. And wept over the judgment of a disobedient people.
Jeremiah laments.
The psalmist cries out to the Lord. And God hears his cry, inclining His ear toward a desperate appeal. For mercy.
In the telling of his story, the psalmist goes back and forth.
Between relief and alarm. Death and rescue.
The way we often do.
In the context of crisis.
In days of distress and disgrace, a written message arrives. From the enemy.
Dire threats. Mocking words. Blasphemy.
And Hezekiah goes to the temple. Spreading out the letter of his adversary before the Lord.
This king’s response informs my praying. For the persecuted. Those suffering greatly today. In the face of opposition to the gospel.
