9th. July. 2020. Daily Devotion
The virtue of a quiet life.
Here is some biblical advice that I have not really noticed before:
1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.
10 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,
11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: you should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,
12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
Live quietly, mind your own affairs, work with your hands. I suppose one could fill a book with a discussion of any of these. “Live quietly” is easily understood, if difficult for some people to do, and it goes hand-in-hand with “mind your own affairs.” And work with your hands means to work to be independent if you can. This surely recalls Christ’s advice, to pull the log out of our own eye before we turn your attention to the splinter in someone else’s eye. We also are called not to interfere with others and to be independent, perhaps so that we may contribute to the wellbeing of those who cannot or are in need. Paul indicates that this is the best kind of Christian witness.
We cannot go through life strong and fresh on constant express trains with ten minutes for lunch: we must have quiet hours, secret places of the Most High, times of waiting upon the Lord, when we renew our strength and learn to mount up on wings as eagles, and then come back to run and not be weary, and to walk and not faint.
The best thing about this stillness is that it gives God a chance to work.
Here is a prayer written in 1860
O Thou whose bounty fills my cup with every blessing meet! I give Thee thanks for every drop, the bitter and the sweet.
I praise Thee for the desert road, and for the riverside; for all Thy goodness hath bestowed, and all Thy grace denied.
I thank Thee for both smile and frown, and for the gain and loss; I praise Thee for the future crown and for the present cross.
I thank Thee for both wings of love which stirred my worldly nest; and for the stormy clouds which drove me, trembling, to Thy breast.
I bless Thee for the glad increase, and for the waning joy; and for this strange, this settled peace which nothing can destroy. Amen. Jane Crewdson
For Faith
Most High, Glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my mind. Give me a right faith, a firm hope and a perfect charity, so that I may always and in all things act according to Your Holy Will. Amen. ~ Francis of Assisi (1214)
For Peace
Lead me to your still streams O Lord where I can kneel in the waters of life, lay down my anxious thoughts and cast all my cares on You.
Here I will wait a while; wait a while and bathe in the life-giving waters.
Bathe my mind in Your Spirit, O God.
Come fill my being with Your peace.
Bathe my heart with Your love, O God.
Come still my being with Your peace, bathe my spirit with Your freedom, O God.
Come saturate this life with Your peace.
Amen.
For the Pandemic
Lord God, we entrust to you the families and communities affected by Coronavirus, wherever they may be.
We pray especially for health care workers, that you may guide and protect them.
We pray that your Spirit will inspire those researching new medicines and treatments.
And in the middle of this, keep us strong in faith, hope and love. Grant us the courage and perseverance to be good neighbours.
May the words of your Son Jesus Christ in the Lord’s Prayer be our prayer as we entrust ourselves and all who are affected to your infinite power and love.
Amen.
