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.

Tie Up the Strong Man--August 01, 2010


I. Readings
Psalms 108, 150, 66, 23
Judges 6:1-24
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Mark 3:20-30

II. Selections
Psalms 23:1
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Judges 6:13a
Gideon answered [the angel], “But sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us…?”

2 Corinthians 9:10
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

Mark 3:27
But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

III. Meditation

O God, you are my shepherd; I shall not want.
Let me not fret when misfortune comes or ask
why you let this thing happen to me.

Save me from yearning for wonders of bye-gone days.
Grant me assurance that you will supply what I need,
and that you will increase the harvest of righteousness.

Enter into the strong man’s house and tie him up,
that I may be free to do your will.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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