Living in the Spirit
November 12, 2014

Scripture Reading: Psalm 123

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
   for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than its fill
   of the scorn of those who are at ease,
   of the contempt of the proud. — Psalm 123:3-4

When we implore God for mercy, we are recognizing that there is something that needs correction or even forgiveness within ourselves. We are asking God to go beyond meeting us halfway and filling in a gap we cannot. Our scripture today, however, is asking God to show mercy on us because we are having difficulty dealing with the contempt and scorn that others are foisting on us.

I am a basketball fan (Thunder Up!) and have learned from watching many games that the one who is often called for a foul is the one who is responding to a sneaky foul the officials did not see. The barriers to success in life are often the small things that distract us from our tasks like a those sneaky fouls. Whether we like it or not, sometimes addressing those distractions may be key to fulfilling our calling. The need for mercy arises at this point because the ways of avoiding those distractions are not always easy.

I learned at a very early stage in my career that I had to pick my fights as a female trying to work in a male dominated world and that generally meant not sweating the small stuff. Thus, I chose to ignore the off colored comments and stories, neither joining in the laughter nor complaining nor taking them to heart. I found that most of the perpetrators lost interest when they could not get a response from me. They found, when it came to a matter of importance that impacted our work that I could be a formidable foe when I needed to be.

While things certainly are not perfect today for women in the workplace, particularly related to salary equity, the world has changed a great deal since I began working in the 1960’s though I still rely on that mercy prayer to get me through the rough places. For there certainly are times when I need to ask for mercy for things I have done, I still need that prayer for God to fill in the gap when my plea for mercy is related to how I respond to others.

Prayer: Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.