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.

I Want What Pleases Me--August 12, 2010


I. Readings
Psalms 97, 147:12-20, 16, 62
Judges 14:1-19
Acts 6:15-7:16
John 4:27-42

II. Selections
Psalm 16:7
I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
      in the night also my heart instructs me.

Judges 14:3
But his father and mother said to [Samson], “Is there not a woman among your kin, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she pleases me.”

Acts 7:1
Then the high priest asked [Stephen], “Are these things so?”

John 4:38
“…I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” [Jesus to his disciples]

III. Meditation

You give me counsel, even in the middle of the night.
Like Samson, I know what I want; I ignore your counsel.

You give me counsel; but I am cynical, like the high priest.
“Are these things so?” I ask, but I keep my own opinion.

You instruct me that others have labored for my benefit,
and—wanting what pleases me—I ignore what you want.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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