LENT 2020: Day 36

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• Tuesday, April 7, 2020: Tuesday of Holy Week
  Isaiah 49.1-7; Psalm 71.1-14; 1 Cor. 1.18-31; John 12.20-36

     The LORD called me forth from the womb,
          from my mother’s belly he invoked my name.

The prophet’s words provide reassurance to an exiled people, for surely such an intimate God would not abandon them.

And yet just a few verses later the prophet tells of a different experience:

     Yet Zion says, “The LORD has forsaken me,
          and the master has forgotten me.”

These words are poignant, for Jesus will experience this exact same feeling before the week is out.

And so the Psalmist cries out:
    In you, O LORD, I shelter.
          Let me never be shamed.
    Through your bounty save me and free me.
          Incline your ear to me and rescue me.
    Be for me a fortress-dwelling
          to come into always.
    You ordained to rescue me,
          for you are my rock and my bastion.
    For you are my hope, master,
          O LORD, my refuge since youth.
    Upon you I relied since birth.
          From my mother’s womb you brought me out.
              To you is my praise always.
    Do not fling me away in old age,
          as my strength fails, do not forsake me.
    God, do not keep far from me.
          My God, hasten to my help!
    As for me, I shall always hope
          and add to all your praise.