Psalm 137

DO NOT LEAVE UNFINISHED    THE WORK OF YOUR HANDS!

Psalm 137

The Lord will accomplish his purpose for me. Your true love, O Lord, endures for ever; leave not your work unfinished.

I find those words most consoling for me at this moment, Lord. “The Lord will accomplish his purpose for me.” I know you that you have a purpose for me, I know that you have begun your work in me, and I know that you bring to completion what you begin. In that thought I rest, I am in good hands. The work is on. It will not stop midway. You are sure to complete it. Thank you, Lord.

You yourself spoke with condemnation of the man who begins and does not end. Of the ploughman who looks back at the middle of the furrow, of the builder who stops building at the middle of the tower. That means that you are not like that. Lord, you drive the furrow till the end, you finish the tower, you complete your work. And I am your work, Your hands have made me, and your grace has brought me where I am. Don’t disclaim responsibility, Lord. Don’t leave me in the lurch. Don’t disown your work. Your own reputation is at stake. Let not people, when they see me, say of you: “He began to build and did not finish the work.” Bring to a happy ending what you have begun in me, Lord.

You have given me the desire; give me now the execution of those desires. You have invited me to take vows; give me now the strength to keep them. You have inspired me to start on my way to you; give me now the determination to arrive. Why did you call me, if you were not going to follow up your first call with consequent graces to ensure continuance and success? If you were going to drop me along the way, why did you in the first instance hold my hand?

I am in the midst of my way, and I feel the difficulty, the doubt, the fatigue. That is why today it is a great consolation to me to think of your seriousness, your commitment, you promise. “The Lord will accomplish his purpose for me” That gives me hope when my strength fails, and courage when my faith begins to falter. I may fail, but you will not. You have committed yourself in me. And you will carry out your commitment to the end.

Allow me now to express my faith in a prayer, my firm conviction as a humble request in words you have given me and I love to pronounce:

Lord! Do not leave unfinished the work of your hands!