Lent Meditation: Day 13 - March 2, 2026
📖 Scripture Verse
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
until the destroying storms pass by.
I cry to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me….
God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness.
—Psalm 57:1-2,3b
🕯️Meditation
Psalm 57 is attributed to David when he fled from Saul and hid in a cave. (see 1 Samuel 24). The great king David, so often in the psalms, is not presented as a royal master of life, but as an ordinary person at prayer, praying the kinds of things anyone might long to pray in time of trouble. In his real fear for his life, David pleads for mercy from God. He uses the image of a terrible destroying storm. We know the devastating effects that storms can have on humanity and nature itself. The image continues to unfold—David calls for God to shelter him as a mothering bird might shelter her chicks under her wings during fierce weather. David names the wings of God that wrap around him: steadfast love and faithfulness.
We may from time to time find ourselves in the destroying storms: illness, the falling apart of relationships, loss of jobs, economic uncertainty, societal oppression based on political climate, the death of loved ones. Envisioning God with the strong wings of love and faithfulness wrapped around us can be a great source of strength and comfort.
When we are seriously doing the hard spiritual work of Lent, our self-examination can be its own kind of destroying storm too. The honest work of self-awareness may reveal to us that we have been cruel, we have been deceitful, we have been callous, we have caused pain to others in our lives. The Litany of Penitence from Ash Wednesday (BCP p. 267ff) can be a tool for honest evaluation. We may come to realize that we have been a destroying storm in someone else’s life. That insight can bring with it such guilt and shame that many are unwilling to truly do the work of self-examination. However, the wings of steadfast love and faithfulness are for the penitent too. When we confess to God the things that we have come to see in ourselves which have damaged our love for him and our love for our fellows, we can flee into the mercy of the divine wings—the storm will pass and we can begin fresh in that newness of life to which we have been called.
🙏 Prayer
Most Merciful God, when I am in trouble, shelter me in your wings. When I have brought trouble to others, show me the path of life, show me how to make amends, and shelter me in your wings. Amen.
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