21st.October. 2021. Daily Devotion.
97 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. 98 Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. 100 I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. 101 I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. 102 I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. 103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Psalm 119:97-104
God’s words are open to everyone to understand because they are not just deep thoughts but the source of all we need to live. To know God’s wisdom is not just to memorize it but also to live the way God wants us to live. Apparently there were teachers and elders in the psalmist’s community who did not meditate faithfully on God’s Word and did not obey it.
Studying God’s Word can be as sweet as honey to our tastebuds; life is that good when we are living the way God has called us to live.
Living God’s way is like having a flashlight so that we can walk safely on a path that would otherwise be dark and dangerous. We don’t need to fear taking wrong turns or making wrong choices when we walk in the light of God’s wisdom.
Peter once asked Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Words of eternal life are the sweetest words of all. T, Leunk.
Jesus, may every word we speak and learn be sweeter than honey because they are your words of eternal life. In your name we pray. Amen.
Give to us, Lord, the peace of those who have learnt to serve you, the joy of those who are glad to obey you and the delight of those who rejoice in your praise, through Christ our Lord. Amen. Aidan of Lindisfarne (d.651)
Morning Prayer
Lord, I come before you today and I thank You for all the blessings that You have given me. Many times my life is so full of busy work that I neglect my relationship with You: for that I am truly sorry. I know that You never neglect me, for if You did my very life would cease to be.
Continue to pull me to Yourself, guide me in my journey, and hold me close in Your bosom until the day I come home to be with You forever. Be with me, and with those who pray with me, for although we are in different places around the world, we gather spiritually in Your name. May we feel your presence among us. In Jesus’ precious name I pray. Amen.
A Lamentation
Let us lament with all those who are touched by gun violence
Let us lament the shooter’s choice for violence
Let us lament laws that allow violent men easy access to guns
Let us lament our politicians’ unwillingness to work for change
Let us lament with the hearts broken by loss today
Let us lament all the lives cut short today
Let us lament, O God, and then let us rise from our knees to work for change
In the name of Christ, the prince of peace. Amen.
