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.

Things I Cannot Understand, O God--July 25, 2014


God, you have searched me, and you know me.
You know there are some things about
you that I do not understand.

How can I ever comprehend
how you would make the sun stand
still, and the moon stand still; and harder

yet to understand, why would you want
to make them stand still in the
pursuit of vengeance?

As difficult as these are
to wrap my mind around, O God,
why would religious authorities plot to

bring about the death of Jesus?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 130; 148; 32; 139
Josh. 9:22-10:15
Rom. 15:14-24
Matt. 27:1-10

Selected Verses
Ps. 139:1
O LORD, you have searched me and known me.

Josh. 10:12
And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Rom. 15:21
…but as it is written, "Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand."

Matt. 27:1-2
When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death.  They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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