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.

August 23, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 56, 111, 118
Job 3:1-26
Acts 9:10-19a
John 6:41-51

II. Selections
Psalm 118:13
I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the LORD helped me.

Job 3:26
" ...I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest; but trouble comes."
[ Job to his three friends]

Acts 9:16
" ...I myself will show [ Saul] how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.." [ The Lord speaking to Ananias in a vision]

John 6:41
Then the Jews began to complain about [ Jesus] because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."

III. Meditation: When trouble comes

Lord Jesus, you know what it is like to be pushed hard
to the point of falling: when trouble comes to have no rest
or ease or even quiet; to endure complaints and threats.

Saul learned that he had to suffer for the sake of your name.
As you helped him remain true to you in spite of suffering,
so help us be faithful even when we have the sense of falling.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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