Amazing in Our Eyes-July 4, 2018

[From June 30, 2010 archive]

Though I want to do good,

evil lies close at hand;

and my soul is full of tumult,

like waves of the roaring sea.

Pray, calm the waves;

quiet the tumult of my soul;

let me recall in the scriptures,

what is amazing in our eyes.

Remind me: the rejected stone

has become the cornerstone,

so that the people accursed

may receive a blessing.

Lectionary Readings 

Ps. 65; 147:1-11; 125, 91

Num. 22:41-23:12

Rom. 7:13-25

Matt. 21:33-46

Selected Verses 

Ps. 65:7 

You silence the roaring of the seas,

the roaring of their waves,

the tumult of the peoples.

Num. 23:8

“…How can I curse whom God has not cursed?  How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?  …  ” [Balaam’s oracle, pronounced to King Balak of Moab]

Rom. 7:21

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.

Matt. 21:42

Jesus said to [the chief priests and elders], “Have you never read in the scriptures: 

‘The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord’s doing,

and it is amazing in our eyes’?  …”