His Time - Scripture Studies: Psalm 38, Commemoration of Silas, Job 6

1. Meditation on the Day’s Psalm

Rev. Jonathan Fisk gives a meditation on the Psalm of the Day, Psalm 38

Psalm 38:1-3, 6, 9-11, 21-22

Do Not Forsake Me, O Lord

A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.

38 O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath!
²For your arrows have sunk into me,
and your hand has come down on me.

³There is no soundness in my flesh
    because of your indignation;
there is no health in my bones
    because of my sin.
⁶I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;
    all the day I go about mourning.

⁹O Lord, all my longing is before you;
    my sighing is not hidden from you.
¹⁰My heart throbs; my strength fails me,
    and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.
¹¹My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague,
    and my nearest kin stand far off.

²¹Do not forsake me, O Lord!
O my God, be not far from me!
²²Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!

2. Meditation on the Saint Day: Silas

Rev. Jonathan Fisk gives a meditation on the saint commemorated today, Silas.

3. Meditation on the Old Testament Reading

Rev. Jonathan Fisk gives a meditation on the Old Testament Reading, Job 6:14-30.

Job 6:14-30

¹⁴“He who withholds^[a] kindness from a friend
    forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
¹⁵My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed,
    as torrential streams that pass away,
¹⁶which are dark with ice,
    and where the snow hides itself.
¹⁷When they melt, they disappear;
    when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
¹⁸The caravans turn aside from their course;
    they go up into the waste and perish.
¹⁹The caravans of Tema look,
    the travelers of Sheba hope.
²⁰They are ashamed because they were confident;
    they come there and are disappointed.
²¹For you have now become nothing;
    you see my calamity and are afraid.
²²Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?
    Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?
²³Or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand’?
    Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless’?

²⁴“Teach me, and I will be silent;
    make me understand how I have gone astray.
²⁵How forceful are upright words!
    But what does reproof from you reprove?
²⁶Do you think that you can reprove words,
    when the speech of a despairing man is wind?
²⁷You would even cast lots over the fatherless,
    and bargain over your friend.

²⁸“But now, be pleased to look at me,
    for I will not lie to your face.
²⁹Please turn; let no injustice be done.
    Turn now; my vindication is at stake.
³⁰Is there any injustice on my tongue?
    Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?