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.

God Knows--Sept. 18, 2021

[From Sept. 17, 2009 archive;

adapted from Sept. 22, 2001 journal]

 

You know how we have tossed and turned;

you have counted the tears we have shed.

 

You know our sin, how we are concerned

with others’ opinions of us, not with yours.

 

We know that we cannot stay where we are;

we must press on—but where shall we go?

 

Forgive us; free us from our self-absorption

that we may travel by your righteous path.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 56, 149, 118, 111

2 Kings 2:1-18

1 Cor. 4:1-7

Matt. 5:17-20

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 56:8

You have kept count of my tossings;

            put my tears in your bottle.

            Are they not in your record?

 

2 Kings 2:2

Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.”  But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”  So they went down to Bethel.

 

1 Cor. 4:3a

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.

 

Matt. 5:20

“…For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  [Jesus to the crowds on the mountain]


Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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