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.

Things Hard to Resist--Sept. 13, 2016


No one can resist a monster like Leviathan,
or the urgent invitation of a woman like Lydia,
or the world when it has gone after Jesus.
But most overwhelming, O God,
is when you hide your face.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 123; 146; 30; 86
Job 40:1, 41:1-11
Acts 16:6-15
John 12:9-19
           
Selected Verses
Ps. 30:7
By your favor, O LORD,
          you had established me as a strong mountain;
you hid your face;
          I was dismayed. 

Job 41:9-10
Any hope of capturing [Leviathan] will be disappointed; were not even the gods overwhelmed at the sight of it?  No one is so fierce as to dare to stir it up.  Who can stand before it?  [The LORD to Job]

Acts 16:15
When [Lydia] and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.

John 12:19
The Pharisees then said to one another, "You see, you can do nothing.  Look, the world has gone after [Jesus]!"

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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