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.

Greater Fools Than Balaam--June 29, 2010


I. Readings
Psalms 54, 146, 28, 99
Numbers 22:21-38
Romans 7:1-12
Matthew 21:23-32

II. Selections

Psalm 28:8
The LORD is the strength of his people;
      he is the saving refuge of his anointed.

Numbers 22:29
Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!”

Romans 7:11
For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

Matthew 21:24-26
Jesus said to [the chief priests and elders], “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.”

III. Meditation

O God, You are the strength of your people.
Without you we are weak—greater fools than Balaam, or his donkey.

Without you we waste our time debating how to achieve our own ends
instead of seeking your will and yielding to your authority.

O God, without you to help, when we want to do what is good,
sin deceives us and kills what is good in us. Be our saving refuge.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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