God of Life, not Death--June 22, 2016

Gracious God, I understand that you have the right

to do what you choose with what belongs to you,

but, forgive me, I cannot believe you executed

fifteen thousand of your people--including

mothers and babies--because men dared

question Moses' right to lead them.

I know you as God who gives life

 to the dead, not death to the living;

who calls into existence the things that

do not exist; who gives us room in our distress.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 15; 147:1-11; 48; 4

Num. 16:36-50

Rom. 4:13-25

Matt. 20:1-16

       

Selected Verses

Ps. 4:1

Answer me when I call, O God of my right!
          You gave me room when I was in distress.
          Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.

Num. 16:48-49

[Aaron] stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stopped.  Those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the affair of Korah. 

Rom. 4:17b

…in the presence of the God in whom [Abraham] believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 

Matt. 20:15

"…'Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?'…" [The landowner to his slave in Jesus' parable of the vineyard laborers]