17th June. 2020. Daily Devotion.

3 Send me your light and your faithful care,
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.

Psalm 43:3-5

More and more people are indicating that they are missing the fellowship of both the church and the community. For some, the raising of the twelve-week shielding will offer some welcome freedom to go out for a while. There is no doubt though, that the lockdown is an endurance that is becoming tedious. Today’s thought is about endurance, especially endurance in faith.

Go the Distance

“Those people who keep their faith until the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:13

Jesus doesn’t say if you succeed you will be saved. Or if you come out on top you will be saved. He says if you endure. An accurate rendering would be, “If you hang in there until the end … if you go the distance.”

The Brazilians have a great phrase for this. In Portuguese, a person who can hang in and not give up has garra. Garra means “claws.” What imagery! A person with garra has claws that burrow into the side of the cliff and keep him from falling.

So do the saved. They may get close to the edge; they may even stumble and slide. But they will dig their nails into the rock of God and hang on. Jesus gives you this assurance. Hang on. He’ll make sure you get home. From And the Angels Were Silent

Patience and endurance are expressions of faith in God who assures us that in Jesus Christ all is well. Whatever the eternal purpose of this trial, it will have its value. If we use it to learn patience, tolerance, forbearance, kindness, and compassion then it will have been worth it.

Prayers

Prayer for Enthusiasm

Holy God, I have spent many hours trying to do Your will, but sometimes I do not feel the excitement and freshness I once felt in my prayers, in my charitable work, in my giving, in my Bible study—in all the ways I try to serve and please you in my life. Let me not become weary in doing Your work. I pray for Your Holy Spirit to grant me a sense of enthusiasm, lest I be led astray and into sin by boredom and unconcern. “Thy will be done” in all things and in every way. Amen.

Pray for guidance for the Churches in the process of easing the lockdown.

The doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked. (John 20.19)

Ever present God,
be with us in our isolation,
be close to us in our distancing,
be healing in our sickness,
be joy in our sadness,
be light in our darkness,
be wisdom in our confusion,
be all that is familiar when all is unfamiliar,
that when the doors reopen
we may with the zeal of Pentecost
inhabit our communities
and speak of your goodness
to an emerging world.
For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

Prayer from Southwark Cathedral