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.

Who Am I to Argue with God?--Mar. 23, 2015

[From March 18, 2013 archive]

O God, who am I, a human being, to argue with you?
Where will my help come from, if not from you?

Open my eyes, that I may see you in Christ.

Give me a heart to know you as my Maker,
and that with my whole heart I must return to you.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 119:73-80; 145; 121; 6
Jer. 24:1-10
Rom. 9:19-33
John 9:1-17

Selected Verses
Ps. 121:1
I lift up my eyes to the hills--
            from where will my help come?

Jer. 24:7
I will give [the exiles from Judah] a heart to know that I am the LORD; and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

Rom. 9:20
But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God?  Will what is molded say to the one who molds it, "Why have you made me like this?"

John 9:17
So [the Pharisees] said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him?  It was your eyes he opened."  He said, "He is a prophet."
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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