I am an emeritus professor from Cornell University and was a Commissioned Lay Preacher in the Presbyterian Church (USA). For many years I have followed the Daily Lectionary as printed in the Mission Yearbook of my church. For each day of a two-year cycle, the lectionary lists four psalms and three other scriptural passages--usually one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. My practice is to copy down a verse or two from one of the psalms and from each of the other three passages. After I have written out all four selections, I reflect upon them, rearrange their order, and incorporate them into a meditation. Sometimes I retain much of the original wording; sometimes all that remains of a selection is an idea that was stimulated when I read the original words. All selections are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. For the Daily Lectionary, see the link below.

Why Weren't You there, God?--Sept. 12, 2014


How many the complaints
we pour out before you, O God;
how abundant the troubles we tell you.

We are quick to blame you for them all,
"Why weren't you there to protect
us when we needed you?"

Teach us to keep silence
as we listen to learn about
all your signs and wonders.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 51; 148; 142; 65
Job 29:1, 31:24-40
Acts 15:12-21
John 11:30-44

Selected Verses
Ps. 142:2
I pour out my complaint before [the LORD];
          I tell my trouble before him. 

Job 31:35a
"…Oh, that I had one to hear me!  …"  [Job]

Acts 15:12
The whole assembly kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.

John 11:32
When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." 
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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