Selected verses of Psalm 56 served as the Entrance Psalm on Sunday.

 When I am afraid,
I will put my trust in you.
In God, I praise his word.
In God, I put my trust.
I will not be afraid.
What can flesh do to me?

 You number my wanderings.
You put my tears into your bottle.
Aren’t they in your book?

I know this, that God is for me.
In God, I will praise his word.
In Yahweh, I will praise his word.
I have put my trust in God.
I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
 Your vows are on me, God.
I will give thank offerings to you.
For you have delivered my soul from death,
and prevented my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God in the light of the living.

(Excerpts from “Christ in the Psalms” by Patrick Henry Reardon)  The psalm is the prayer of a believer sorely tried but still trusting in God.  It is the prayer of Christ, and the prayer of the Church, and the prayer of any disciple of Christ within the Church…Our trust in God is open-ended.  It is not just a matter of trusting Him in our present trials, but of confiding to His care all that lies ahead, the future still unknown to us but for which God has already made provision.

We believers already know the final blessing of our destiny…”Finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, victim for our sins, you trusted in your Father’s protection.  Give us that same confidence, that we may gladly suffer with you and for you, offering the Father sacrifice of praise and walking before him in your light.