Spiritual Exile, September 18 and 19, 2012

Today's reading is Psalm 44, 74, 79, 80, 85, 89, 102, 106, 123 and 137.  These Psalms tell of the disgrace and shame the Israelites feel from their exile.  There were those who were righteous and who were punished with the nation.  In this way, they are likened to Job who suffered extreme loss, though sinless.  For most, however, the punishment was well deserved.  They still cried out about their innocence and the injustice of their punishment.

In Psalm 44 they complained:
"All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant.  Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path. . . .  If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god. . . ."