Where Do We Find Safety?--Aug. 18, 2021

[From Aug. 23, 2017 archive]

 

Merciful God, where do we find safety, 

safety for ourselves or for those we love? 

We look to soldiers and weaponry, to seats

of authority and the power to give commands, 

but ultimately they do not provide us safety.

Is not this the reason we are wrong, that

we know neither the scriptures nor 

your power to save? You alone

make us lie down and sleep

in peace and safety.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 15; 147:1-11; 48; 4

2 Sam. 18:19-33

Acts 23:23-35

Mark 12:13-27

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 4:8

I will both lie down and sleep in peace; 
          for you alone, O LORD, make me lie down in safety.

 

2 Sam. 18:33

The king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!  Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

 

Acts 23:23-24

Then [the tribune] summoned two of the centurions and said, “Get ready to leave by nine o’clock tonight for Caesarea with two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen.  Also provide mounts for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Felix the governor.”

 

Mark 12:24

Jesus said to [the Sadducees], “Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?  …”