I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD. I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul, and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place. Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also. For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away. Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me. I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel. For I hear the whispering of many-- terror on every side!-- as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.

Lord, we heard a very sad tale last night, one of loss of a home and a serious doubting of Your benevolence. Are they blaming You because they misread Your will for them? Was there an overriding covetousness for a house that masked Your leading? Or is this stripping of all assets Your way of bringing them closer to You?

But, Lord, how do we show Your love and mercy to them without standing between them and Your plan for them?

 Voices Together is also available in a weekly formats suitable for distribution within prisons and for insertion into church bulletins at this location.