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.

Tie up the Strong Man--Aug. 5, 2018

[From Aug. 5, 2012 archive] 

God, you are our shepherd; 
because you are, we shall not want. 
Let me not fret when misfortune comes, 
asking why you let it happen to me. 

Save me from yearning for bye-gone days, 
and grant me the assurance that you will supply 
what I really need, and you will increase 
the harvest of righteousness. 

Enter the strong man's house and tie him up, 
that I may be free to do your will. 

Lectionary Readings 
Ps. 108; 150; 66; 23 
Judges 6:1-24 
2 Cor. 9:6-15 
Mark 3:20-30 

Selected Verses 
Ps. 23:1 
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. 

Judges 6:13a,b 
Gideon answered [the angel of the LORD], "But sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us?  And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us…" 

2 Cor. 9:10 
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 

Mark 3:27 
"…But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.  …"  [Jesus to the crowd and the scribes who accused him of having Beelzebul] 
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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