Prayer: Our God, you who hear us when we pray and plead with you, we praise you and thank you that you do not turn away from us in our distress. As your redeemed people, we are comforted with the knowledge that you are always ready and able to help us in our time of need. The wicked seem to get away with much, Lord! Yet we are told that you have set us apart for yourself and that you protect and defend your people. We confess that we sometimes grow weary and anxious at the actions of wicked people. They gossip and slander; they lie and scheme; plot and devise wicked things to harm your church. They sometimes make us afraid. Yet, you have told us to trust you. For you alone hold their lives in your hands. Those that would seek to harm your people are here today and gone tomorrow. They appear and then vanish, but your people remain. Their actions will come to nothing. Therefore, we can rest confident in your sustaining grace to persevere. Please help us, Father, to withstand the efforts of the Evil One through the actions of evil people. Please use those times to sanctify us, completely conforming us more into the image of your Son in whose name we pray. Amen.
Scripture Meditation: Ps. 4
