Daily Lesson for May 9, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 119 verse 103:

“How sweet are your words to my taste! 

they are sweeter than honey to my mouth.”

There is nothing more satisfying than God’s word on our tongue. It is a word of comfort. It is a word of direction and guidance. It is a word of bold exhortation. 

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16). Scripture is given unto us for our upbuilding and training in Godliness. 

And when just the right word of God leaps forth from our tongue at just the right moment it is indeed sweeter than honey. 

But before it can leap forth from our tongue it must first be taken in by the ear and by the eye and buried within the heart. For the word given must first be received and treasured and kept until such a time as it is summoned. 

Daily Lesson for May 8, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Timothy chapter 2 verses 1 through 5a:

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for everyone, 2for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, 4who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For

there is one God . . .”

Last week on the National Day of Prayer I spent a long time praying for our city, state, and national leaders. Some were easier to pray for than others. I wrote my prayers and mailed them to the various elected leaders. It was a good thing to do because doing so disciplined my words. It made me pray respectfully and with genuine hope of well being. It allowed me to pray with both grace and truth. 

The grace is this: that God loves and desires the best every politician and person in high office regardless of what I think about them or their policies. The truth is this: that there remains a day of accountability when the one who sits upon the throne of heaven will judge the private lives and public policies of all nations and leaders.

My prayers gave thanks for some, made intercession for others, and begged serious supplication from a few.  I don’t know if those prayers will be answered. But what I do know is that it was good for them to be prayed; and it was good for me to pray them. 

Daily Lesson for May 7, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Joshua chapter 1 verses 6 through 9:

6Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. 8This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. 9I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lordyour God is with you wherever you go.’

“Be strong and courageous.”

Three times Joshua tells this to his people.

Moses has departed. Now they must go one without him. They must cross over the Jordan and go on towards the Promised Land. They will need strength and courage for the days ahead.

Every generation comes to this moment. Our Moses’ depart. Our heroes and parents and parents’ friends grow old and pass away. Suddenly we are the generation now left to wear the mantle. Suddenly it is our task to lead the people towards the Promised Land. 

“Be strong and courageous.”  The words echo down to us through the millennia. We are not to shrink from the days ahead. We are not to shudder or collapse for fear of the world and its evil. We are to take heart and not be afraid. For though Moses may no longer be with us, Moses’ God is. 

Alpha and Omega, “I Am,” is with us. 

So we shall be strong and courageous and not fear for the LORD is with us and our generation also. 

Daily Lesson for May 4, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Leviticus chapter 23 verse 3:

“For six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work: it is a sabbath to the Lord throughout your settlements.”

There is an old story about a Westerner who hired an African guide to take him to Kilimanjaro. After walking for several days, the guide refused to come out of the lean-to the next morning. The Westerner was frustrated and asked why they were not up and moving. “Because,” the guide said, “I have to give time for my soul to catch up with my body.”

We are very busy bodies. For most of us it’s go, go, go and run, run, run. But with all that going, our souls get left behind. 

God gave us Sabbath in order for our souls to catch up with our bodies. Sabbath is not only a good idea; it’s a command. It’s a commandment. We have to take time to rest, to rejuvenate, to breathe, and pray, and play.  We have to take time to be still and know that God is God and we are not. Sabbath is God’s gift to us, given to remind us that God is at work even when we are not and God’s kingdom is growing even while we are at rest.

Will we ever get to Kilimanjaro? Who knows. But this is for sure: it would be no good for our bodies to reach the mountain and only then discover we left our souls somewhere on the path behind. 

Daily Lesson for May 3, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson is a prayer for our country on this National Day of Prayer:

Loving God of all nations and peoples,

On this National Day of prayer we thank you for your manifold gifts to us, including the gift of a nation which knows the value of the gifts of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all persons everywhere. We are grateful for this country, and we remember its Founders —both known and unknown, male and female, free and slave — and recall the stony road we’ve trod to arrive at where we are today. 

Yet we know we haven’t arrived quite yet. We haven’t reached our Promised Land. We know our own sins and the sins of our fathers and mothers have kept us as a nation from being what we ought to have been. We were meant to be as a light on a hill, but our light hasn’t shown as clearly or brightly as it ought. It has been diminished by our lack of love for neighbor, participation in machinations of evil, and exploitation of the earth and its people.  Help us to see our own wicked ways, O LORD, and learn to turn and repent of them.

Rekindle the flame that is within us, dear LORD.  May your lamplight lead us on our way, as we continue on the journey towards the making of a more perfect union.  Guide our feet and guard our path and protect us from all evil — foreign and domestic, from outside of and also and within ourselves. 

Help us to reach forth towards that original vision of being a City set upon a hill — a City whose foundations cannot be shaken. Let justice prevail in our courts and upon our streets. Let temperance guide our interactions with all people. Let prudence show us the right judgments. And let courage rise up to the level of our noblest convictions. Help us to remember, dear LORD, that if as a nation we wish to be great we must first be good. We know what is required of us in order to be judged good — so let us do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you on the ways ahead. 

As for our leaders, may vice wane and virtue wax, and may the decisions they make be worthy of a government that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people.

We the people, called by your Name and sealed by the crest of your Spirit, seek now to humble ourselves, pray, and plead your countenance. Be with us, dear LORD, and do not forsake us in our hours of need nor leave us to our own devices. We know we need your grace, your vision, your help, and your. Give us your heart, O LORD, for your people; and help us, gracious God, as we seek to live up out the meaning of our creed: one nation out of many — indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all.

So help us, God. 

Amen. 

Daily Lesson for May 2, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew 6 verses 19 through 24:

19 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 ‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; 23but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 ‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

My grandfather used to say a very simple prayer, characteristically terse and right on point, even at the expense of grammatical formality:

“LORD, fix my Wanter.”

My Wanter always needs fixing. It needs somebody to remind it money can’t buy happiness. It needs somebody to tell it the truth — 10 percent more income ain’t gonna solve everything. My Wanter needs somebody to teach it the blessedness of giving. It needs somebody to show it the human and ecological cost of more and more cheap stuff. It needs somebody to tell it enough really is enough. And, my Wanter needs somebody to warn it again and again that in the end it’s all sand.

I know the LORD really is somebody who could fix me up. LORD, fix my Wanter — or else I’ll have to. 

Daily Lesson for May 1, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew 6:11:

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

Today God’s portion will be enough. It will not be too little or too much. It will be enough for today; and we shall receive it in its own due measure. We trust God shall send it at just the right time.

We don’t have now all that we will need later today. We don’t have all the bread or water, grace, or love, or courage that we’re going to need. But what we do have now is enough. What we will need later God will give us at God’s appointed time — just in time. This is how we live by faith. It keeps us humble. It keeps us grateful. It keeps us reliant upon God and not upon ourselves. 

There’s an old saying: “God is seldom early, but never late.”  A farmer appreciates the early rains. They are what makes the seed take root. But the late rains are really what make the crop mature. And those the farmer has to wait on. 

Wait and pray.