Come to my aid, Gentle Healer, for my prayer is to You. In your perfect timing, Beloved, in the abundance of your Love, answer my cry.
A Lectio Divina meditation on Psalm 69 from Nan Merrill’s book Psalms for Praying
Experience stillness and in the quiet hear what God is offering from these rich and hope-filled words
Come to my aid, O Beloved!
For my fears threaten to drown me.
I sink in the mire of confusion,
where there is no foothold;
I have entered deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
I am exhausted from weeping;
I thirst as in a desert.
I no longer see the path while
waiting for you return.
More in number than the hairs
of my head
are the fears that I carry;
So mighty are they, the walls that
I built
can no longer withstand them.
What must I do, O Merciful One,
to be at peace once again?
O, Life of my Life, You know my pretences,
the wrongs I have done are not
hidden from You.
Let those who search for You
not use me as a guide,
O Heart of all hearts;
Let those who seek to do your Will
abandon themselves into your
Keeping, O Loving Counsellor.
For in turning from You have I borne
the consequences, so
that doubt and loneliness now
companion me.
I have become as a stranger in my
own home,
an alien to my inner being.
O, that zeal for your Truth might
consume me,
that persecutions assailing me
might be for your sake.
Let me humble my soul with mind-
fasting;
O Beloved, create within me a
clean heart!
Let me live simply, sharing what I have
with those in need,
that the abundance of your creation
might be reflected!
Let me speak out of the Silence,
that through the words given,
others will learn of You!
Come to my aid, Gentle Healer, for
my prayer is to You.
In your perfect timing, Beloved,
in the abundance of your Love,
answer my cry.
With your strength, O Rock, lift me up,
Let me not sink into the mire;
Let me be delivered from my fears
as from deep waters.
Let now the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up, or
the abyss overwhelm me.