Lent Meditation: Day 15 - March 4, 2026

📖 Scripture Verse

My soul languishes for your salvation;

I hope in your word.

My eyes fail with watching for your promise;

I ask, “When will you comfort me?”

For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke,

yet I have not forgotten your statues

Psalm 119:81-83

🕯️Meditation

Psalm 119 is famously the longest psalm in the Bible.  It consists of twenty-two sections, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  The subject across the entire poem is the Torah, which is referred to repeatedly using many different synonyms, like “law”, “ordinance”, and “statute.”  The poem is often repetitive, but the goal is to show that the ordinances of God are life-giving from A to Z.  Oftentimes, proverbial wisdom says that if you follow God’s statues, everything will go well for you.  Good things happen for those who follow the commandments.  While this may be sometimes true, Psalm 119 wisely notes that it is not always true.  Here the psalmist prays that he is “languishing”, his “eyes fail from watching for your promise.”  The striking metaphor in this selection is that the psalmist has become “like a wineskin in the smoke”—a leather bag dried up and cracked because it has been hung up and forgotten in a smokey house.

And yet, as the psalm unfolds, the experience of feeling forgotten in the midst of troubles gives way to hopefulness and faith—with the thread running through all of life, its good and bad, being the psalmists adherence to God’s precepts.  The encouragement here is to let the faithful promises of God be a through-line in life, from A to Z, through all that we may face, experience, and undergo both good and bad.  As we with the psalmist may call to God to remember us when we feel in trouble, let us nit forget him when we are feeling strong and good.

🙏 Prayer

Loving God, I know you remember me even when I feel forgotten and in trouble.  When I struggle, come to help me.  When I am strong, do not let me forget you and your saving word. Amen.

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