Context No. 3721 of 4322 · Sirach

Sirach 51:1-16: in context

1I will give thanks to you, O Lord, O King, and will praise you, O God my Savior. I give thanks to your name, 2for you have been my protector and helper, and delivered my body out of destruction, and out of the snare of a slanderous tongue, from lips that fabricate lies. You were my helper before those who stood by, 3and delivered me, according to the abundance of your mercy and of your name, from the gnashings of teeth ready to devour, out of the hand of those seeking my life, out of the many afflictions I endured, 4from the choking of a fire on every side, and out of the midst of fire that I hadn’t kindled, 5out of the depth of the belly of Hades, from an unclean tongue, and from lying words— 6the slander of an unrighteous tongue to the king. My soul drew near to death. My life was near to Hades. 7They surrounded me on every side. There was no one to help me. I was looking for human help, and there was none. 8Then I remembered your mercy, O Lord, and your working which has been from everlasting, how you deliver those who wait for you, and save them out of the hand of their enemies. 9I lifted up my prayer from the earth, and prayed for deliverance from death. 10I called upon the Lord, the Father of my Lord, that he would not forsake me in the days of affliction, in the time when there was no help against the proud. 11I will praise your name continually. I will sing praise with thanksgiving. My prayer was heard. 12You saved me from destruction and delivered me from the evil time. Therefore I will give thanks and praise to you, and bless the name of the Lord. 13When I was yet young, before I went abroad, I sought wisdom openly in my prayer. 14Before the temple I asked for her. I will seek her out even to the end. 15From the first flower to the ripening grape my heart delighted in her. My foot walked in uprightness. From my youth I followed her steps. 16I inclined my ear a little, and received her, and found for myself much instruction.

Sirach closes his book with a prayer of thanksgiving for deliverance. He recalls a time of great danger, slander, threats, near death, when there was no human help at all, and how he remembered God's mercy, cried out to him, and was heard and saved.

When I was surrounded on every side and there was no one to help, he says, I remembered your mercy, O Lord, and your kindness from of old, how you deliver those who wait for you. There is a pattern of faith here for our own crises: when human help fails, remember God's mercy, cry out to him, and trust the God who has always delivered those who wait for him. And Sirach adds a testimony to a lifelong pursuit: from his youth he sought wisdom, prayed for her, and followed her. A life of seeking God's wisdom from youth, and of turning to his mercy in every crisis, is what Sirach commends to us by his own example.

When human help fails me, do I remember God's mercy and cry out to him as Sirach did, and have I made the lifelong pursuit of God's wisdom my own?

Sources

Sirach 51:8: "Then I remembered your mercy, O Lord... how you deliver those who wait for you, and save them out of the hand of their enemies."
Sirach 51:10: "I called upon the Lord... that he would not forsake me in the days of affliction."
Sirach 51:13: "When I was yet young, before I went abroad, I sought wisdom openly in my prayer."