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.

Not Out of Your Hand, Jesus--Feb. 20, 2020


Even if our fathers and mothers forsake us,
you will take us up, Lord Jesus.
No one can snatch us out of your hand;
you are the Good Shepherd.

Even if we desert you, and we run away,
we need not send you presents
to appease you; you will accept us  
and welcome our return.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 36; 147:12-20; 80; 27
Gen. 32:3-21
1 John 2:18-29
John 10:19-30

Selected Verses
Ps. 27:10
 If my father and mother forsake me,
          the LORD will take me up.

Gen. 32:20b
For [Jacob] thought, “I may appease [Esau] with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”

1 John 2:19
They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us.  But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us.

John 10:27-28
“…My sheep hear my voice.  I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.  No one will snatch them out of my hand.  …”  [Jesus, to his detractors]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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