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.
A Voice I Have Not Known--Aug. 25, 2016

O God, you know when I speak on my own
it is my own glory I seek, not yours,
and the words of my mouth
are only a great wind.
Instead, help me listen
for a voice I have not known,
saying what you have given others
to say to me.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 143; 147:12-20; 81; 116
Job 8:1-10, 20-22
Acts 10:17-33
John 7:14-36
           
Selected Verses
Ps. 81:5b
I hear a voice I had not known… 

Job 8:1-2
Then Bildad the Shuhite answered [Job]:  "How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind?  …"

Acts 10:33b
"…So now all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say."  [Cornelius to Peter]

John 7:18
"…Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.  …"  [Jesus, speaking in the Temple]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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