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.

September 12, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 97, 112, 135
1 Kings 21:1-16
1 Corinthians 1:1-19
Matthew 4:1-11

II. Selections
Ps. 97:6
Whatever the LORD pleases he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all deeps.

1 Kings 21:7
[ King Ahab's] wife Jezebel said to him, "Do you now govern Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

1 Cor. 1:9
God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Matt. 4:7
Jesus said to [ the devil], "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

III. Meditation: Power and arrogance
Queen Jezebel persuaded King Ahab of his power to murder the owner of a vineyard that the king coveted. We know that arrogance of power is wrong, but what human who has achieved power is not tempted to arrogance? And you? The psalmist writes that whatever you please, you do, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. Forgive the thought; we have no right to put you to the test; anyway, it is a question that you answered for all time when you called us into the fellowship of your Son. There was no arrogance of power in his submission to the cross, or in you when you permitted it to happen. You are faithful in your power, not arrogant.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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