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.


Only You, Only from You--Jan. 6, 2012



O God, only you know how much
my life has been a labor in vain.

And you know how often I wrangle
over nothing and needlessly cry aloud.

Teach me what it means that you are God,
and that you are the only object of true worship,

and that my reward comes
only from you.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 72; 148; 100; 67
Isa. 49:1-7
Rev. 21:22-27
Matt. 12:14-21

Selected Verses
Ps. 100:3
Know that the LORD is God.
      It is he that made us, and we are his;
      we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Isa. 49:4
But I said, "I have labored in vain,
      I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
Yet surely my cause is with the LORD,
      and my reward with my God."

Rev. 21:22
I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.

Matt. 12:19
"…He will not wrangle or cry aloud,
      nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. …" [What was spoken by the prophet Isaiah]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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