Author: fmpastor

Read Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16.

This reading gives us helpful advice for those times when we are feeling overwhelming fear, anxiety, or despair. We can counter those feelings with images of God’s protective love. We can picture ourselves nestled in the warmth and safety of God’s wings. We can see God’s faithfulness serving as a shield from whatever life throws at us. Rather than trying to save ourselves, this psalm reminds us to call on God in times of desperation. It tells us we don’t have to go through the storms of life alone.

Are there any situations right now that feel overwhelming to you? Do you feel trapped in a particular mindset, or do you feel like life keeps shooting arrows your way?

Offer these situations to God and as you breathe steadily and slowly, picture yourself finding shelter and refuge under the wing of God’s protective, steadfast love.

Read Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15.

As Jeremiah is hunkered down in the center of the besieged Jerusalem, he is instructed to buy land. It seems a strange time to be buying land. There is no knowing if they will even survive this siege, let alone put the land to any good use. Obedient to the word of God, though, Jeremiah buys the land in the presence of many witnesses and places the deed in an earthenware jar for safekeeping. This is a tangible act of faith that, amid the destruction, there is yet a hopeful future. Often, when things seem out of control in our lives or in our world, we turn inwardly in self-protection. We fail to step out in faith or trust that better days are ahead.

What signs have you seen that God is planning a hope-filled future for your life or for the world? How, in your own life, have you served as a witness to that promise? In what ways might God be calling you to take a chance on a future relationship, ministry, job, etc.?

In prayer, ask God for the courage to step out boldly in faith.

Read Luke 16:1-13.

This one is a head scratcher! At the surface, it sounds as if Jesus is commending someone for cheating their boss. But I wonder if Jesus also wants us to consider the impact of the manager’s actions on those whose debts he reduces. Despite Jewish law that forbade this practice, it was common for managers at that time to charge exorbitant interest rates, keeping some off the top for themselves. If the manager was knocking the interest off the loan, it would have been an incredible benefit to the borrowers and would have brought him in line with God’s intentions. In offering forgiveness for others’ debt, maybe he was recognizing his own need for forgiveness from the people he’d harmed. Maybe that’s part of the shrewd management that Jesus commended – management of his relationships with people he’d harmed. Nonetheless, this parable invites us to consider our relationship with wealth and how we use it.

Consider your finances. What percentage of it do you use to benefit yourself only? What percentage benefits your family? How much goes to benefiting others? To what degree does your relationship with money affect your spiritual health? Are there steps you could take to create a better balance?

In prayer, offer a prayer of thanksgiving for the resources that have been entrusted to you. Commit yourself to using them wisely and as a benefit to others.

Read 1 Timothy 2:1-7.

Here, Paul is advising the community of faith to pray for their leaders. Notice that he doesn’t say to pray only for the leaders they like. He doesn’t suggest that prayers should include the downfall of those with whom they disagree. Instead, he says, “…prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings [should] be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” This is very relevant for our day, where quiet, peace, godliness, and dignity seem to be in short supply. Imagine the impact it would have if we made a regular practice of praying for all our leaders!

How easy is it for you to pray for those leaders whose positions you oppose? How might you pray for them in a way that does not elevate your position over theirs?

Commit yourself to doing that during your prayer time this week.

Read Psalm 79:1-9.

In this reading, the psalmist is speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem and lamenting the continuing struggle for Israel. They understand the spiritual and political problems of Israel to be a prolonged punishment, enacted by God, for the sins of their ancestors. Essentially, they are asking, “How long will we have to pay for the mistakes of past generations?”

How has your life been affected – for the better or for worse – by the choices and actions of previous generations? Can you think of specific examples? Have you expressed thanks to an older relative for the positive impact their life has had on yours? Is there a situation in your life where you feel you are still paying for the choices someone else made?

If so, offer this situation to God. Pray for the Spirit to heal and soothe any wounds you may have.

Read Jeremiah 8:18-9:1.

Jeremiah is often referred to as the “weeping prophet”. This reading gives us a taste of that. He has spoken the words that God has placed within his heart. He has reminded the people of Israel of the faithfulness of God, who has redeemed and brought them to freedom over and over again. The one thing it seems God cannot or will not save them from is themselves. Jeremiah warns them that the direction they are headed as a people is a sure path to destruction. If only they would turn back to God, walk in God’s ways, turn outwardly and tend to the wellbeing of others, then surely God would protect them from the encroaching Babylonian empire. Instead of heeding his cry, the people reject and threaten him. And it breaks his heart to see the people he loves on the brink of self-imposed disaster.

Like the ancient Israelites, we often reject others when they call us to examine our attitudes and behaviors. We become defensive when someone suggests our words or actions have caused harm. We would rather head down our own path of destruction than acknowledge and repent of our sin.

Can you think of a situation where someone made a decision that harmed them despite your advice? Were you able to provide some sort of healing balm for them or did you leave them to the consequences of their decision? How can we strike a balance between the two?

In prayer, lift up a person or group for whom you especially feel heartbroken.

Read Luke 15:1-10.

In these two parables, we read of the foolish, reckless lengths one would go to find something that was lost. First, there is the shepherd who leaves the rest of the flock unattended while he searches for the one who has wandered away from the fold. Then there is the woman who turns her house upside down looking for a lost coin, only to spend much more than it is worth in celebrating its recovery.

We usually hear this as Jesus affirming the value of those the Pharisees and scribes are grumbling about. I think that’s a fair understanding. But I wonder if Jesus is also speaking to the religious leaders who don’t even realize they are lost. Their self-righteousness and judgment of others has led them away from the love, welcome, and hospitality that Jesus embodies and calls his followers to. Sometimes, we hear Jesus’ words as applying to “them” and fail to realize their relevance for ourselves.

Can you think of a time when you wandered from God’s will or God’s way or from the family of Christ? How were you restored? Through whom or what circumstances did God seek you?

Today, consider where, in your life, you might be lost or wandering. Listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd, softly and tenderly calling you to come home.

Read 1 Timothy 1:12-17.

One of my favorite hymns is, “Immortal, Invisible, God only wise.” In these verses, it is almost as if Paul is saying that as bad as he was, it was only God who saw him as worthy of redemption through the grace of Jesus. Only the wisdom of God would look at a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence and see a vessel for the gospel.

Have you ever been surprised that God would use someone like you? Have you ever felt unworthy of the grace of Jesus Christ? When do you think you have tested Jesus’ patience? Can you think of a time when the transformation that Jesus has worked in your life might have sparked someone’s desire to either enter into or deepen their own relationship with Christ? What is one tangible difference Jesus makes in your life?

In prayer, thank God for the grace available through Jesus and commit yourself to a life of praise and gratitude for that gift.

Read Psalm 14.

The readings thus far this week do not paint a very flattering picture of humankind. In this psalm, we read of foolishness, corruption, and evil. The psalmist pictures God searching for someone who is a wise seeker of God, only to be disappointed. “There is no one who does good, no not one.” While it’s tempting to think that the psalmist is just having a bad day and feeling frustrated, there is a nugget of truth in their words. Each of has, at times, been foolish. Each of us has gone astray or made things more difficult for someone.

Can you think of a time when God corrected your foolishness? Did it happen through some sort of enlightenment or did it come through suffering negative consequences? Despite its tone of doom and gloom, I hear two reasons for hope in this psalm. First, God has not abandoned us to our waywardness, but searches us for goodness. Secondly, in the last verse, the psalmist doesn’t say, “If the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,” but instead says, “When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people…” Even when we lose hope for ourselves, God does not. Out of steadfast love and faithfulness, God will continue to work to restore us, as individuals and collectively, to our God-created, best selves.

Offer a prayer of thanksgiving for the good that God has inspired and continues to bring out of God’s children.

Read Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28.

In these chapters, the prophet shares his vision of disaster upon disaster. Everything, both natural and manmade, is laid waste. Throughout, his listeners are told that this is their own doing. They have been foolish; they are “skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to good”; they have worshiped idols and hardened their hearts towards God.

Think about the landscape of our culture. What areas are desolate and scorched? Where can you see life and new growth? Which tends to get more of your attention? What, if any, steps are you taking towards bringing beauty from the ashes? In what ways are you partnering with God to restore balance both in nature and in your community, relationships, and health (physical, mental, spiritual)?

Offer a prayer of confession for the ways you have been foolish, taken God’s goodness for granted, or been hard-hearted towards God. Find assurance in the promise found in the next chapter: “Even in those days, I will not make a full end of you” (Jeremiah 5:18).