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.

To Approach the Throne of Grace--April 20, 2019


You died all alone, Lord Jesus,
without a friend to have pity on you.
When I think of how you suffered,
my spirit faints within me;
I am appalled. 

Yet to set the mind on the flesh is death;
to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
Therefore, I will approach your throne of grace
with boldness, so that I may receive mercy
and find grace to help in time of need.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 43; 149; 31; 143
Job 19:21-27a
Heb. 4:1-16
Rom. 8:1-11

Selected Verses
Ps. 143:4
 Therefore my spirit faints within me;
          my heart within me is appalled.

Job 19:21
Have pity on me, have pity on me,
          O you my friends,
          for the hand of God has touched me! 

Heb. 4:16
Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Rom. 8:6
To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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