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.

Guarded Like the Apple of Your Eye--June 9, 2021

[From June 12, 2013 archive]

 

You have sustained your people

in a desert land, a howling wilderness;

shielded them, cared for and guarded them. 

I am not the slave who invested wisely,

am not a David or a Paul, who both 

endured enormous hardships.

 

In no way could I be called

the apple of your eye--

but in your mercy,

Lord, sustain

me too.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 96; 147:1-11; 132; 134

Deut. 31:30-32:14

2 Cor. 11:21b-33

Luke 19:11-27

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 132:1

O LORD, remember in David’s favor 
          all the hardships he endured…

 

Deut. 32:10

[The LORD] sustained [Jacob] in a desert land, in a howling wilderness waste; he shielded him, cared for him, guarded him as the apple of his eye.

 

2 Cor. 11:23

Are [those who boast] ministers of Christ?  I am talking like a madman--I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death.

 

Luke 19:11-27

"…The [nobleman] said to [the slave who had earned ten pounds], 'Well done, good slave!  Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities.'  …"  [Jesus to his disciples]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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