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.

Tossed in the Roar of the Storm--Sept. 9, 2020

 

We make plans that come to nothing,

all of them completely frustrated.

 

We feel lifted up by the wind,

riding on it, tossed about

in the roar of the storm.

 

But at last you come to us,

and you open a door of faith,

making us glad that it happened.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 89:1-18; 147:1-11; 1; 33

Job 29:1, 30:1-2, 16-31

Acts 14:19-28

John 11:1-16

 

Selected Verses

The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
          he frustrates the plans of the peoples.

 

Job 30:22

“…You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.”  …”  [Job, to God]

 

Acts 14:27

When [Paul and Barnabas] arrived [in Antioch], they called the church together and related all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles.

 

John 11:14-15

Then Jesus told [his disciples] plainly, “Lazarus is dead.  For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.  But let us go to him.”


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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