Amazing In Our Eyes--June 30, 2010

I. Readings
Psalms 65, 147:1-11, 125, 91
Numbers 22:41-23:12
Romans 7:13-25
Matthew 21:33-46

II. Selections
Psalm 65:7
You silence the roaring of the seas,
      the roaring of their waves,
      the tumult of the peoples.

Numbers 23:8
“…How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced? …” [Balaam’s oracle, pronounced to King Balak of Moab]

Romans 7:21
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.

Matthew 21:42
Jesus said to [the chief priests and elders], “Have you never read in the scriptures:
      ‘The stone that the builders rejected
            has become the cornerstone;
      this was the Lord’s doing,
            and it is amazing in our eyes’?
…”

III. Meditation

Though I want to do good,
evil lies close at hand;
and my soul is full of tumult,
like waves of the roaring sea.

Pray, calm the waves;
quiet the tumult of my soul;
let me recall in the scriptures,
what is amazing in our eyes.

Remind me: the rejected stone
has become the cornerstone,
that the people accursed
may receive a blessing.