The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "No Darkness" for Wednesday, 21 February 2018Today’s Reflection:
WHERE THE LOVING eye of the soul is continually fixed upon God, there can be no darkness at all. (John Wesley, A Longing for Holiness)From page 42 of A Longing for Holiness
Selected Writings of John Wesley, edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright (c) 1997 by Upper Room Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission.” http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: Name the darkness in your life during your prayer time. Imagine the light of God shining on you.
Today’s Scripture: The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD. May your hearts live forever! (Psalm 22:26, NRSV)
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The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "People Who Extend Compassion" for Tuesday, 20 February 2018
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
PEOPLE WHO EXTEND COMPASSION to us are guardians of our soul. John Makransky calls them benefactors, emissaries of love in our lives. These are people who see us, understand us, value us, and celebrate our homecomings. They offer us the inestimable gift of revealing to us the truth of who we are – we are worthy of love even in our shame; we are held with love even when we forget it; our beauty is beheld even when we feel blemished; though our journeys leave us broken and burdened, we are and remain thoroughly beloved. (Frank Rogers Jr., Practicing Compassion)From page 44, Practicing Compassion by Frank Rogers Jr. Copyright (c) 2015 by Frank Rogers Jr. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Fresh Air Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: Who extends compassion to you? To whom do you extend compassion?
Today’s Scripture: You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! (Psalm 22:23, NRSV)
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The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "When You Feel Overwhelmed" for Monday, 19 February 2018
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
CENTERINGImagine that you are in a boat rocking wildly on the choppy waves of a rough ocean. Then the waves become calm, and the boat moves gently with the water. Feel the rhythm as the boat lifts and falls like a cradle being rocked. Allow yourself to relax.
PRAYING
Ever-present God, thank you for being here with me right now. In the chaos of my life, I often forget that you are always with me, always seeking to bring me peace.
People demand so much of me and my time. I face the requests of others, the needs of others, the expectations of others — always others.
I have so much to do and so many responsibilities resting on my shoulders.
I feel overwhelmed, as if the world around me is a heaving, crashing sea, and I am adrift in a small boat, unable to keep the waves from closing over me.
Only you can bring order out of this chaos. Say the word, All-Powerful God, and I know the seas will be calmed and that I will be safe. I know this — yet I’m afraid to let go of the tiller and trust you.
My mind skitters around my many concerns: What if something doesn’t get done? What if someone is angry with my actions? What if…?
Even as I say these words, I can hear how foolish they are. You, the God of my life, are also the God of order. Bring order to my life, and in doing so, take care of all those concerns that rise up around me like stormy waves. Calm the seas of my busyness; still the waters of my “doingness.” Let me drift on the gentle swells of your love and care. ….
Thank you, O God, that the same hand that stilled the waters holds my hand.
LISTENING
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
RETURNING
Throughout the day, imagine yourself on a calm ocean, quietly rocking in a small boat. (Quiet Spaces: Prayer Interludes for Women)
From pages 106-108 of Quiet Spaces: Prayer Interludes for Women by Patricia Wilson. Copyright © 2002 by Patricia F. Wilson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. Note: See MyQuietSpaces.org, the website for women that was inspired by this book. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: Practice today’s mediation and carry it with you throughout the day.
Today’s Scripture: When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” (Genesis 17:1-2, NRSV)
This Week: Pray for victims of gun violence.
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Did You Know?
In need of prayer? The Upper Room Living Prayer Center is a 7-day-a-week intercessory prayer ministry staffed by trained volunteers. Call 1-800-251-2468 or visit The Living Prayer Center website.
Did You Know?
In need of prayer? The Upper Room Living Prayer Center is a 7-day-a-week intercessory prayer ministry staffed by trained volunteers. Call 1-800-251-2468 or visit The Living Prayer Center website.
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This week we remember: Jacinta Marto, Francisco Marto, and Lucia dos Santos (February 20).
This week we remember: Jacinta Marto, Francisco Marto, and Lucia dos Santos (February 20).
Jacinta Marto, Francisco Marto, and Lucia dos SantosFebruary 20
Jacinta Marto (1910-1920), Francisco Marto (1908-1919) and Lucia dos Santos (1907-2005) were the three Portuguese children to whom Our Lady of Fatima appeared. Jacinta was six, her brother, Francisco, eight, and their cousin, Lucia was seven when they saw visions of an angel in 1916 who urged them to pray, do penance for their sins, and try to convert other people. The next year the three children received the first of six monthly visits from Our Lady of Fatima, who echoed the angel's requests. All three of the children were changed by these experiences. They had received Catholic catechism and practiced their faith before; after their mystical communion with Our Lady they committed themselves to piety and penance. Because many people did not believe their story, the children suffered public censure, beatings, and imprisonment.
Jacinta and Francisco fasted, refused water, and prayed for hours. They became weakened during an influenza epidemic. He died in April 1919. She developed other health problems, and was in and out of the hospital before she died on February 20, 1920. Lucia became a Carmelite nun and lived until 2005.
If Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia had taken the Spiritual types test, they probably would have been Mystics. They are remembered on February 20.
Image from Ilustração Portuguesa no. 610, 29 October 1917. Attributed to Joshua Benoliel (1873–1932).
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Lectionary Readings for Sunday, 25 February 2018
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:23-31
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:23-31
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38
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Scripture Texts: Genesis 17:1
When Avram was 99 years old Adonai appeared to Avram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai [God Almighty]. Walk in my presence and be pure-hearted. 2 I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will increase your numbers greatly.” 3 Avram fell on his face, and God continued speaking with him: 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations. 5 Your name will no longer be Avram [exalted father], but your name will be Avraham [father of many], because I have made you the father of many nations. 6 I will cause you to be very fruitful. I will make nations of you, kings will descend from you.
(vii) 7 “I am establishing my covenant between me and you, along with your descendants after you, generation after generation, as an everlasting covenant, to be God for you and for your descendants after you.
, 15 God said to Avraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are not to call her Sarai [mockery]; her name is to be Sarah [princess]. 16 I will bless her; moreover, I will give you a son by her. Truly I will bless her: she will be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
Psalm 22:23 (22) I will proclaim your name to my kinsmen;
right there in the assembly I will praise you:
24 (23) “You who fear Adonai, praise him!
All descendants of Ya‘akov, glorify him!
All descendants of Isra’el, stand in awe of him!
25 (24) For he has not despised or abhorred
the poverty of the poor;
he did not hide his face from him
but listened to his cry.”
26 (25) Because of you
I give praise in the great assembly;
I will fulfill my vows
in the sight of those who fear him.
27 (26) The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek Adonai will praise him;
Your hearts will enjoy life forever.
28 (27) All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to Adonai;
all the clans of the nations
will worship in your presence.
29 (28) For the kingdom belongs to Adonai,
and he rules the nations.
30 (29) All who prosper on the earth
will eat and worship;
all who go down to the dust
will kneel before him,
including him who can’t keep himself alive,
31 (30) A descendant will serve him;
the next generation will be told of Adonai.
32 (31) They will come and proclaim
his righteousness
to a people yet unborn,
that he is the one who did it.
Romans 4:13 For the promise to Avraham and his seed[Romans 4:13 Genesis 15:3, 5] that he would inherit the world did not come through legalism but through the righteousness that trust produces. 14 For if the heirs are produced by legalism, then trust is pointless and the promise worthless. 15 For what law brings is punishment. But where there is no law, there is also no violation.
16 The reason the promise is based on trusting is so that it may come as God’s free gift, a promise that can be relied on by all the seed, not only those who live within the framework of the Torah, but also those with the kind of trust Avraham had — Avraham avinu for all of us. 17 This accords with the Tanakh, where it says, “I have appointed you to be a father to many nations.”[Romans 4:17 Genesis 17:5] Avraham is our father in God’s sight because he trusted God as the one who gives life to the dead and calls nonexistent things into existence. 18 For he was past hope, yet in hope he trusted that he would indeed become a father to many nations, in keeping with what he had been told, “So many will your seed be.”[Romans 4:18 Genesis 15:5] 19 His trust did not waver when he considered his own body — which was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old — or when he considered that Sarah’s womb was dead too. 20 He did not by lack of trust decide against God’s promises. On the contrary, by trust he was given power as he gave glory to God, 21 for he was fully convinced that what God had promised he could also accomplish. 22 This is why it was credited to his account as righteousness.[Romans 4:22 Genesis 15:6]
23 But the words, “it was credited to his account . . . ,” were not written for him only. 24 They were written also for us, who will certainly have our account credited too, because we have trusted in him who raised Yeshua our Lord from the dead — 25 Yeshua, who was delivered over to death because of our offences and raised to life in order to make us righteous.
Mark 8:31 He began teaching them that the Son of Man had to endure much suffering and be rejected by the elders, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers; and that he had to be put to death; but that after three days, he had to rise again. 32 He spoke very plainly about it. Kefa took him aside and began rebuking him. 33 But, turning around and looking at his talmidim, he rebuked Kefa. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said, “For your thinking is from a human perspective, not from God’s perspective!”
34 Then Yeshua called the crowd and his talmidim to him and told them, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him say ‘No’ to himself, take up his execution-stake, and keep following me. 35 For whoever wants to save his own life will destroy it, but whoever destroys his life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will save it. 36 Indeed, what will it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? 37 What could a person give in exchange for his life? 38 For if someone is ashamed of me and of what I say in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.
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John Wesley's Explanatory Notes: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Verse 1
[1] And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
And when Abram was ninety nine years old — Full thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael. So long the promise of Isaac was deferred; 1. Perhaps to correct Abram's over-hasty marrying of Hagar. 2. That Abram and Sarai being so far striken in age, God's power in this matter might be the more magnified.
The Lord appeared unto Abram — In some visible display of God's immediate glorious presence with him.
And said, I am the Almighty God — By this name he chose to make himself known to Abram, rather than by his name Jehovah, Exodus 6:3. He used it to Jacob, Genesis 35:11. They called him by this name, Genesis 28:5; 43:14; 48:3. It is the name of God that is mostly used throughout the book of Job, at least 30 times in the discourses of that book, in which Jehovah is used but once. After Moses, Jehovah is more frequently used, and this very rarely. I am El-Shaddai. It speaks the almighty power of God, either 1. As an avenger, from wrv he destroyed, or laid waste; so some: and they think God took this title from the destruction of the old world: Or, 2. As a benefactor, v for rva who, and yr it sufficeth. Our old English translation reads it here, very significantly, I am God All-sufficient. The God with whom we have to do, is self-sufficient; he hath every thing, and he needs not any thing. And he is enough to us, if we be in covenant with him; we have all in him, and we have enough in him; enough to satisfy our most enlarged desires; enough to supply the defect of every thing else, and to secure us happiness for our immortal souls. But the covenant is mutual, walk before me, and be thou perfect - That is, upright and sincere. Observe, 1. That to walk before God, is to set God always before us, and to think, and speak, and act, in every thing as those that are always under his eye. It is to have a constant regard to his word, as our rule, and to his glory, as our end, in all our actions. It is to be inward with him in all the duties of religious worship, and to be entire for him in all holy conversation. 2. That upright walking with God is the condition of our interest in his all-sufficiency. If we neglect him, or dissemble with him, we forfeit the benefit of our relation to him. 3. A continual regard to God's all-sufficiency will have a great influence upon our upright walking with him.
Verse 3
[3] And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
And Abram fell on his face while God talked with him — Either, 1. As one overcome by the brightness of the Divine glory: Daniel and John did so likewise. Or. 2. As one ashamed of himself, and blushing to think of the honours done to one so unworthy. He looks upon himself with humility, and upon God with reverence, and, in token of both, falls on his face.
Verse 4
[4] As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
The promise is here introduced with solemnity: As for me, saith the Great God, Behold, behold and admire it, behold and be assured of it, my covenant is with thee.
And thou shalt be a father of many nations — This implies, 1. That his seed after the flesh should be very numerous, both in Isaac and in Ishmael, and in the sons of Keturah. And the event answered, for there have been, and are, more of the children of men descended from Abraham, than from any one man at equal distance with him from Noah, the common root. 2. That all believers, in every age, should be looked upon as his spiritual seed, as the father of the faithful. In this sense the apostle directs us to understand this promise, Romans 4:16,17. He is the father of those, in every nation, that, by faith, enter into covenant with God, and (as the Jewish writers express it) are gathered under the wings of the divine majesty.
Verse 5
[5] Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
In token of this, his name was changed from Abram, a high father, to Abraham, the father of a multitude. This was to confirm the faith of Abraham, while he was childless; perhaps even his own name was sometimes an occasion of grief to him; Why should he be called a high father, who was not a father at all? But now God had promised him a numerous issue, and had given him a name which signified so much; that name was his joy.
Verse 7
[7] And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
And I will establish my covenant — Not to be altered or revoked; not with thee only, then it would die with thee but with thy seed after thee; and it is not only thy seed after the flesh, but thy spiritual seed. It is everlasting in the evangelical meaning of it. The covenant of grace is everlasting; it is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it; and the external administration of it is transmitted, with the seal of it, to the seed of believers, and the internal administration of it by the Spirit to Christ's seed in every age. This is a covenant of exceeding great and precious promises. Here are two which indeed are all-sufficient, that God would be their God. All the privileges of the covenant, all its joys, and all its hopes, are summed up in this. A man needs desire no more than this to make him happy. What God is himself, that he will be to his people: wisdom to guide and counsel them, power to protect and support them, goodness to supply and comfort them; what faithful worshippers can expect from the God they serve, believers shall find in God as theirs. This is enough, yet not all.
Verse 1
[1] And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
And when Abram was ninety nine years old — Full thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael. So long the promise of Isaac was deferred; 1. Perhaps to correct Abram's over-hasty marrying of Hagar. 2. That Abram and Sarai being so far striken in age, God's power in this matter might be the more magnified.
The Lord appeared unto Abram — In some visible display of God's immediate glorious presence with him.
And said, I am the Almighty God — By this name he chose to make himself known to Abram, rather than by his name Jehovah, Exodus 6:3. He used it to Jacob, Genesis 35:11. They called him by this name, Genesis 28:5; 43:14; 48:3. It is the name of God that is mostly used throughout the book of Job, at least 30 times in the discourses of that book, in which Jehovah is used but once. After Moses, Jehovah is more frequently used, and this very rarely. I am El-Shaddai. It speaks the almighty power of God, either 1. As an avenger, from wrv he destroyed, or laid waste; so some: and they think God took this title from the destruction of the old world: Or, 2. As a benefactor, v for rva who, and yr it sufficeth. Our old English translation reads it here, very significantly, I am God All-sufficient. The God with whom we have to do, is self-sufficient; he hath every thing, and he needs not any thing. And he is enough to us, if we be in covenant with him; we have all in him, and we have enough in him; enough to satisfy our most enlarged desires; enough to supply the defect of every thing else, and to secure us happiness for our immortal souls. But the covenant is mutual, walk before me, and be thou perfect - That is, upright and sincere. Observe, 1. That to walk before God, is to set God always before us, and to think, and speak, and act, in every thing as those that are always under his eye. It is to have a constant regard to his word, as our rule, and to his glory, as our end, in all our actions. It is to be inward with him in all the duties of religious worship, and to be entire for him in all holy conversation. 2. That upright walking with God is the condition of our interest in his all-sufficiency. If we neglect him, or dissemble with him, we forfeit the benefit of our relation to him. 3. A continual regard to God's all-sufficiency will have a great influence upon our upright walking with him.
Verse 3
[3] And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
And Abram fell on his face while God talked with him — Either, 1. As one overcome by the brightness of the Divine glory: Daniel and John did so likewise. Or. 2. As one ashamed of himself, and blushing to think of the honours done to one so unworthy. He looks upon himself with humility, and upon God with reverence, and, in token of both, falls on his face.
Verse 4
[4] As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
The promise is here introduced with solemnity: As for me, saith the Great God, Behold, behold and admire it, behold and be assured of it, my covenant is with thee.
And thou shalt be a father of many nations — This implies, 1. That his seed after the flesh should be very numerous, both in Isaac and in Ishmael, and in the sons of Keturah. And the event answered, for there have been, and are, more of the children of men descended from Abraham, than from any one man at equal distance with him from Noah, the common root. 2. That all believers, in every age, should be looked upon as his spiritual seed, as the father of the faithful. In this sense the apostle directs us to understand this promise, Romans 4:16,17. He is the father of those, in every nation, that, by faith, enter into covenant with God, and (as the Jewish writers express it) are gathered under the wings of the divine majesty.
Verse 5
[5] Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
In token of this, his name was changed from Abram, a high father, to Abraham, the father of a multitude. This was to confirm the faith of Abraham, while he was childless; perhaps even his own name was sometimes an occasion of grief to him; Why should he be called a high father, who was not a father at all? But now God had promised him a numerous issue, and had given him a name which signified so much; that name was his joy.
Verse 7
[7] And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
And I will establish my covenant — Not to be altered or revoked; not with thee only, then it would die with thee but with thy seed after thee; and it is not only thy seed after the flesh, but thy spiritual seed. It is everlasting in the evangelical meaning of it. The covenant of grace is everlasting; it is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it; and the external administration of it is transmitted, with the seal of it, to the seed of believers, and the internal administration of it by the Spirit to Christ's seed in every age. This is a covenant of exceeding great and precious promises. Here are two which indeed are all-sufficient, that God would be their God. All the privileges of the covenant, all its joys, and all its hopes, are summed up in this. A man needs desire no more than this to make him happy. What God is himself, that he will be to his people: wisdom to guide and counsel them, power to protect and support them, goodness to supply and comfort them; what faithful worshippers can expect from the God they serve, believers shall find in God as theirs. This is enough, yet not all.
Verse 15
[15] And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
Sarah shall her name be — The same letter is added to her name that was to Abraham's. Sarai signifies my princess, as if her honour were confined to one family only: Sarah signifies a princess, viz. of multitudes.
Sarah shall her name be — The same letter is added to her name that was to Abraham's. Sarai signifies my princess, as if her honour were confined to one family only: Sarah signifies a princess, viz. of multitudes.
Psalm 22:23-31
Verse 24
[24] For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
Abhorred — He did not turn away his face from it, as men do from things which they abhor.
From him — For ever: tho' he did so for a time.
Verse 25
[25] My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
Great congregation — In the universal church, of Jews and Gentiles.
Verse 26
[26] The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
Satisfied — This is doubtless to be understood, of those spiritual blessings, that grace and peace, and comfort, which all believing souls have in the sense of God's love, the pardon of their sins, and the influences of God's spirit.
Seek him — That seek his favour.
Your heart — He speaks of the same persons still, though there be a change from the third to the second person, as is usual in these poetical books.
For ever — Your comfort shall not be short and transitory, as worldly comforts are, but everlasting.
Verse 27
[27] All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
The world — All nations from one end of the world to the other. So this is an evident prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles, and a clear proof, that this psalm immediately speaks of Christ; to whom alone, this and divers other passages of it, belong.
Remember — They shall remember their former wickedness with grief and shame, and fear; particularly in worshiping dead and impotent idols. They shall remember their great and manifold obligation to God, which they had quite forgotten, his patience in sparing them so long, in the midst of all their impieties, and in giving his son for them: they shall remember the gracious words and glorious works of Christ, what he did, and suffered for them; which possibly divers of them had been eye and ear-witnesses of.
The Lord — Into the only true God, and unto Jesus Christ, to whom this name of Jehovah is often ascribed in scripture.
Verse 28
[28] For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations.
For — This is added as a reason, why the Gentiles should be converted, because God is not only God and the Lord of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles, and of all nations.
Verse 29
[29] All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
Fat — Kings and princes, and the great men of the world.
Shall eat — Shall feed upon the bread of life, Christ and all his benefits.
Worship — This is added to shew what kind of eating he spoke of.
Go down — That is, all mankind, for none can escape death.
Verse 30
[30] A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
A seed — Christ shall not want a seed or posterity, for though the Jewish nation will generally reject him, the Gentiles shall come in their stead.
A generation — That believing seed shall be reputed both by God and men, The generation, or people of the Lord, as the Jews formerly were.
Verse 31
[31] They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
They — The seed last mentioned.
Come — From Judea and Jerusalem (from whence the gospel was first to go forth) to the Gentile world, to the several parts whereof the apostles went upon this errand.
His — God's righteousness: his wonderful grace and mercy unto mankind, in giving them Christ and the gospel; for righteousness is often put for mercy or kindness.
Unto — Unto succeeding generations. Whereby David gives us a key to understand this psalm, and teaches us that he speaks not here of himself, but of things which were to be done in after-ages, even of the spreading of the gospel among the Gentiles, in the time of the New Testament.
That he — They shall declare that this is the work of God, and not of man.
Verse 24
[24] For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
Abhorred — He did not turn away his face from it, as men do from things which they abhor.
From him — For ever: tho' he did so for a time.
Verse 25
[25] My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
Great congregation — In the universal church, of Jews and Gentiles.
Verse 26
[26] The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
Satisfied — This is doubtless to be understood, of those spiritual blessings, that grace and peace, and comfort, which all believing souls have in the sense of God's love, the pardon of their sins, and the influences of God's spirit.
Seek him — That seek his favour.
Your heart — He speaks of the same persons still, though there be a change from the third to the second person, as is usual in these poetical books.
For ever — Your comfort shall not be short and transitory, as worldly comforts are, but everlasting.
Verse 27
[27] All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
The world — All nations from one end of the world to the other. So this is an evident prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles, and a clear proof, that this psalm immediately speaks of Christ; to whom alone, this and divers other passages of it, belong.
Remember — They shall remember their former wickedness with grief and shame, and fear; particularly in worshiping dead and impotent idols. They shall remember their great and manifold obligation to God, which they had quite forgotten, his patience in sparing them so long, in the midst of all their impieties, and in giving his son for them: they shall remember the gracious words and glorious works of Christ, what he did, and suffered for them; which possibly divers of them had been eye and ear-witnesses of.
The Lord — Into the only true God, and unto Jesus Christ, to whom this name of Jehovah is often ascribed in scripture.
Verse 28
[28] For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations.
For — This is added as a reason, why the Gentiles should be converted, because God is not only God and the Lord of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles, and of all nations.
Verse 29
[29] All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
Fat — Kings and princes, and the great men of the world.
Shall eat — Shall feed upon the bread of life, Christ and all his benefits.
Worship — This is added to shew what kind of eating he spoke of.
Go down — That is, all mankind, for none can escape death.
Verse 30
[30] A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
A seed — Christ shall not want a seed or posterity, for though the Jewish nation will generally reject him, the Gentiles shall come in their stead.
A generation — That believing seed shall be reputed both by God and men, The generation, or people of the Lord, as the Jews formerly were.
Verse 31
[31] They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
They — The seed last mentioned.
Come — From Judea and Jerusalem (from whence the gospel was first to go forth) to the Gentile world, to the several parts whereof the apostles went upon this errand.
His — God's righteousness: his wonderful grace and mercy unto mankind, in giving them Christ and the gospel; for righteousness is often put for mercy or kindness.
Unto — Unto succeeding generations. Whereby David gives us a key to understand this psalm, and teaches us that he speaks not here of himself, but of things which were to be done in after-ages, even of the spreading of the gospel among the Gentiles, in the time of the New Testament.
That he — They shall declare that this is the work of God, and not of man.
Romans 4:13-25
Verse 13
[13] For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
The promise, that he should be the heir of the world — Is the same as that he should be "the father of all nations," namely, of those in all nations who receive the blessing. The whole world was promised to him and them conjointly. Christ is the heir of the world, and of all things; and so are all Abraham's seed, all that believe in him with the faith of Abraham
Verse 14
[14] For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
If they only who are of the law — Who have kept the whole law.
Are heirs, faith is made void — No blessing being to be obtained by it; and so the promise is of no effect.
Verse 15
[15] Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Because the law — Considered apart from that grace, which though it was in fact mingled with it, yet is no part of the legal dispensation, is so difficult, and we so weak and sinful, that, instead of bringing us a blessing, it only worketh wrath; it becomes to us an occasion of wrath, and exposes us to punishment as transgressors. Where there is no law in force, there can be no transgression of it.
Verse 16
[16] Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
Therefore it — The blessing.
Is of faith, that it might be of grace — That it might appear to flow from the free love of God, and that the promise might be firm, sure, and effectual, to all the spiritual seed of Abraham; not only Jews, but gentiles also, if they follow his faith.
Verse 17
[17] (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Before God — Though before men nothing of this appeared, those nations being then unborn.
As quickening the dead — The dead are not dead to him and even the things that are not, are before God.
And calling the things that are not — Summoning them to rise into being, and appear before him. The seed of Abraham did not then exist; yet God said, "So shall thy seed be." A man can say to his servant actually existing, Do this; and he doeth it: but God saith to the light, while it does not exist, Go forth; and it goeth. Genesis 17:5.
Verse 18-21
[18] Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. [19] And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: [20] He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; [21] And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
The Apostle shows the power and excellence of that faith to which he ascribes justification.
Who against hope — Against all probability, believed and hoped in the promise. The same thing is apprehended both by faith and hope; by faith, as a thing which God has spoken; by hope, as a good thing which God has promised to us.
So shall thy seed be — Both natural and spiritual, as the stars of heaven for multitude. Genesis 15:5.
Verse 23
[23] Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
On his account only — To do personal honour to him.
Verse 24
[24] But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
But on ours also — To establish us in seeking justification by faith, and not by works; and to afford a full answer to those who say that, " to be justified by works means only, by Judaism; to be justified by faith means, by embracing Christianity, that is, the system of doctrines so called." Sure it is that Abraham could not in this sense be justified either by faith or by works; and equally sure that David (taking the words thus) was justified by works, and not by faith.
Who raised up Jesus from the dead — As he did in a manner both Abraham and Sarah.
If we believe on him who raised up Jesus — God the Father therefore is the proper object of justifying faith. It is observable, that St. Paul here, in speaking both of our faith and of the faith of Abraham, puts a part for the whole. And he mentions that part, with regard to Abraham, which would naturally affect the Jews most.
Verse 25
[25] Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Who was delivered — To death.
For our offences — As an atonement for them.
And raised for our justification — To empower us to receive that atonement by faith.
Verse 13
[13] For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
The promise, that he should be the heir of the world — Is the same as that he should be "the father of all nations," namely, of those in all nations who receive the blessing. The whole world was promised to him and them conjointly. Christ is the heir of the world, and of all things; and so are all Abraham's seed, all that believe in him with the faith of Abraham
Verse 14
[14] For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
If they only who are of the law — Who have kept the whole law.
Are heirs, faith is made void — No blessing being to be obtained by it; and so the promise is of no effect.
Verse 15
[15] Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Because the law — Considered apart from that grace, which though it was in fact mingled with it, yet is no part of the legal dispensation, is so difficult, and we so weak and sinful, that, instead of bringing us a blessing, it only worketh wrath; it becomes to us an occasion of wrath, and exposes us to punishment as transgressors. Where there is no law in force, there can be no transgression of it.
Verse 16
[16] Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
Therefore it — The blessing.
Is of faith, that it might be of grace — That it might appear to flow from the free love of God, and that the promise might be firm, sure, and effectual, to all the spiritual seed of Abraham; not only Jews, but gentiles also, if they follow his faith.
Verse 17
[17] (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Before God — Though before men nothing of this appeared, those nations being then unborn.
As quickening the dead — The dead are not dead to him and even the things that are not, are before God.
And calling the things that are not — Summoning them to rise into being, and appear before him. The seed of Abraham did not then exist; yet God said, "So shall thy seed be." A man can say to his servant actually existing, Do this; and he doeth it: but God saith to the light, while it does not exist, Go forth; and it goeth. Genesis 17:5.
Verse 18-21
[18] Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. [19] And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: [20] He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; [21] And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
The Apostle shows the power and excellence of that faith to which he ascribes justification.
Who against hope — Against all probability, believed and hoped in the promise. The same thing is apprehended both by faith and hope; by faith, as a thing which God has spoken; by hope, as a good thing which God has promised to us.
So shall thy seed be — Both natural and spiritual, as the stars of heaven for multitude. Genesis 15:5.
Verse 23
[23] Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
On his account only — To do personal honour to him.
Verse 24
[24] But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
But on ours also — To establish us in seeking justification by faith, and not by works; and to afford a full answer to those who say that, " to be justified by works means only, by Judaism; to be justified by faith means, by embracing Christianity, that is, the system of doctrines so called." Sure it is that Abraham could not in this sense be justified either by faith or by works; and equally sure that David (taking the words thus) was justified by works, and not by faith.
Who raised up Jesus from the dead — As he did in a manner both Abraham and Sarah.
If we believe on him who raised up Jesus — God the Father therefore is the proper object of justifying faith. It is observable, that St. Paul here, in speaking both of our faith and of the faith of Abraham, puts a part for the whole. And he mentions that part, with regard to Abraham, which would naturally affect the Jews most.
Verse 25
[25] Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Who was delivered — To death.
For our offences — As an atonement for them.
And raised for our justification — To empower us to receive that atonement by faith.
Mark 8:31-38
Verse 31
[31] And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Matthew 16:21; Luke 9:22.
Verse 32
[32] And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
He spake that saying openly — Or in express terms. Till now he had only intimated it to them.
And Peter taking hold of him — Perhaps by the arms or clothes.
Verse 33
[33] But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
Looking on his disciples — That they might the more observe what he said to Peter.
Verse 34
[34] And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
And when he called the people — To hear a truth of the last importance, and one that equally concerned them all.
Let him deny himself — His own will, in all things small and great, however pleasing, and that continually: And take up his cross - Embrace the will of God, however painful, daily, hourly, continually. Thus only can he follow me in holiness to glory.
Verse 35
[35] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
Matthew 16:25; Luke 9:24; Luke 17:33; John 12:25.
Verse 38
[38] Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words — That is, avowing whatever I have said (particularly of self denial and the daily cross) both by word and action. Matthew 10:32; Luke 9:26; Luke 12:8.
Verse 31
[31] And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Matthew 16:21; Luke 9:22.
Verse 32
[32] And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
He spake that saying openly — Or in express terms. Till now he had only intimated it to them.
And Peter taking hold of him — Perhaps by the arms or clothes.
Verse 33
[33] But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
Looking on his disciples — That they might the more observe what he said to Peter.
Verse 34
[34] And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
And when he called the people — To hear a truth of the last importance, and one that equally concerned them all.
Let him deny himself — His own will, in all things small and great, however pleasing, and that continually: And take up his cross - Embrace the will of God, however painful, daily, hourly, continually. Thus only can he follow me in holiness to glory.
Verse 35
[35] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
Matthew 16:25; Luke 9:24; Luke 17:33; John 12:25.
Verse 38
[38] Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words — That is, avowing whatever I have said (particularly of self denial and the daily cross) both by word and action. Matthew 10:32; Luke 9:26; Luke 12:8.
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The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "A Love Story, Part 2" for Sunday, 18 February 2018
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
HARRY [SAID]: “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Now this is a classy place.’ So I say, ‘Well, okay, is there somewhere we could sit and have a glass of wine? You see, today’s our 40th wedding anniversary, and we’ve come to celebrate.’“And just about then, the owner of the restaurant walks by, overhears us, and says, ‘You two been married for 40 years?’
“‘ Sure have,’ I say.
“‘Get outta here, 40 years today?’
‘Yes sir, and ready to do 40 more.’
“‘Well, come on in,’ he says. He takes off our coats, and in we go.
“Man, you should have seen this place. It was like walking into paradise. All the tables had white cloths and crystal wine glasses and 4 or 5 forks and spoons lined up next the china. … They even had a sculpture of ice. I’m telling you, this place was classy. The owner, he takes us to this big round table by the window — the best seats in the house — helps us into our chairs, and says he’ll be right back. Well, me and the missus are still figuring out what all the forks are for when he comes back with the guy in the tuxedo, a bottle of champagne, and 4 glasses.
“‘This is on the house,’ the owner says. ‘We’re going to have a toast. Tonight, we celebrate 40 years of wedded bliss.’ Well, … one of the waiters walks by. ‘What’s going on?’ he asks. ‘We aren’t even open yet.’
“The owner says, ‘These two have been married for 40 years.’
“‘Get outta here,’ the waiter replies. ‘Really?’
“‘Yeah,’ the owner says, ‘go get yourself a glass.’ He runs off and a waitress walks by.
“‘What’s going on? We aren’t even open yet.”<“‘These two have been married for 40 years.”
“‘Get outta here, really?’
“‘Yeah, go get yourself a glass.’ Then a busboy comes, a few more waitresses, and more waiters too with more glasses and more champagne until there’s so much commotion going on, the cooks hear us way back in the kitchen. This guy with a chef’s hat leans out the door and hollers, ‘What’s going on out there? We’re not even open yet.’
“‘These two have been married for 40 years,’ everyone replies.
“‘Get outta here, really?’
“‘Yeah, go get yourself a glass. Get the other cooks. Get everyone who’s around. We’re celebrating 40 years of wedded bliss, and everybody’s part of the toast,’ the owner says.
“The next thing you know, there’s about 30 people standing around our table, some of them wearing tuxedos, some of them in jeans and aprons, all of them with a glass in the air as happy for us as if we were family. I tell you what, that was one classy place.”
In that moment of telling his story, Harry had come alive, radiant in this memory when strangers gathered around a table to celebrate love and marriage. All I could think to say was something pretty silly. “Gee, Harry, those are the moments that really warm your heart, aren’t they?”
He paused for a bit, still recalling the sacred waters of that toast. Then he looked up at me and said, “Warm your heart? No. Those are the moments that keep me alive.” Then after a few moments, he spoke again. “Tell me something,” he said. “You’re a seminary student. Do you think heaven will be like that?”
This time I knew just what to say. “Harry,” I said, “I think heaven is going to be exactly like that.” (Compassion in Practice)
From pages 56-58 of Compassion in Practice: The Way of Jesus by Frank Rogers Jr. Copyright © 2016 by Frank Rogers Jr. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: How would you describe heaven?
Today’s Scripture: And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11, NRSV)
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The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "A Love Story, Part 1" for Saturday, 17 February 2018
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
WHEN I WAS a student in spirituality, I met a man who knew how to ground himself in the sacred source of compassion. I was in need of spiritual replenishment, so I paid a visit to the local monastery at the edge of town. It was early when I drove through the gates. Instantly, I entered a world both still and mystical. I drove along the road and parked beside a ’64 Rambler. I found the chapel and entered through the front door. The altar was already set — candles lit, a draped plate of bread, a chalice filled with wine. Weekday Eucharist was about to commence. I stepped into the sanctuary, and that is where I first met Harry.Harry was an elderly gentleman sitting alone about halfway toward the front. His clothes looked like they had been bought at a thrift store — a tattered tweed jacket, a wrinkled white shirt, a clip-on tie inside a V-neck sweater. Most distinctive, though, was this stranger’s posture. He had turned around and was beaming in my direction. It was as if he knew me, as if he was waiting for me — like he was the host of this party, I was the guest of honor, and he was so glad I had finally arrived.
Having no idea who he was, I simply smiled back, sat on the chapel’s opposite side, and ignored him during Eucharist. When Mass was over, he grabbed my arm, and we chatted as we walked toward our cars. So began our daily ritual.
I learned his name, Harry, and that he was 83 years old and a retired telephone repairman. He and his wife raised two boys on a working-class salary. He was proud of them both — proud that they went to college and both became doctors. Harry lived alone. Some 15 years earlier, his wife had died after 47 years of marriage. …
One spring morning, I asked him a question. “Harry,” I began, “every day I come to Mass, you’re already here. What about the Eucharist is so meaningful that you make it the center of every day?”
Harry cocked his head, leaned forward on his cane, and stared into the distance. “I don’t know,” he mused after a spell. “I guess it just feels right somehow.” And then, almost as if he were changing the subject, he said, “Say, did I ever tell you about my 40th wedding anniversary? Man, was that something else. The missus and me, we’d been married 40 years, and we were busting to do something special. The boys were away at college, so it was just the two of us. We dug out our best clothes from the closet, got all dolled up, and drove an our all the way to the Jersey Shore, looking to find the best restaurant around. No Denny’s for us, no sir. We wanted something classy. And as it turned out, we found something even classier than we knew existed: a restaurant that’s only open for dinner. … Now that’s classy.
“But we didn’t know that at the time. we just drove up in front of this fancy-looking place on the ocean and walked in. There was this man all dressed up in a tuxedo by the door, and he asks if he can help us. I say, ‘Sure, we’ve come here for dinner. We’d like a table for two.’
“He says, ‘That’s fine, the only problem is, it’s a quarter to six, and we’re not open yet.’
“‘You’re kidding,’ I say. ‘You’re a restaurant, right?’
“‘That we are, sir,’ he says. ‘But here, we only serve dinner.’ (to be continued tomorrow) ( Frank Rogers Jr,, Compassion in Practice)
From pages 56-58 of Compassion in Practice: The Way of Jesus by Frank Rogers Jr. Copyright © 2016 by Frank Rogers Jr. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: How do you think the story will end?
Today’s Scripture: And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.” (Mark 1:10, NRSV)
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The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "Lenten Action" for Friday, 16 February 2018
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
GIVING UP SOMETHING for Lent is a familiar tradition for many, a variation on an old and rich tradition of self-denial known as fasting. … Maybe you know people who approach the season of Lent by giving up chocolate or coffee or another indulgence and then follow through with that intention until Easter. The idea of giving up something – usually a personally meaningful practice or custom – for Lent has become one way to fast during the season. The reasoning behind this ancient tradition focused on ways to develop openness to God.This Lenten season I invite you to break from the usual custom of fasting or other form of self-denial and, instead, to fast from apathy. That means you set aside all your noncaring attitudes and move closer to the caring love of God. Even in its mildest form, apathy is a spiritual illness. The cure for apathy is also a spiritual one. … We must move from prayer to action. (George Hovaness Donigian, A World Worth Saving)
From pages 17-18 and 23-24 of A World Worth Saving: Lenten Spiritual Practices for Action by George Hovaness Donigian. Copyright © 2013 by George Hovaness Donigian. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: What action would you consider taking up during Lent?
Today’s Scripture: For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, (1 Peter 3:18, NRSV)
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The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "A Lenten Garden" for Thursday, 15 February 2018
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
IF WE PICTURE all the obstructions between us and God as a wilderness, Lent presents us with time to clear and cultivate a part of that wilderness, to create an open space in it. In this newly opened space, we may live more freely and commune more closely with the divine. We can transform this wilderness and make it our home, our garden, a place that invites God in and asks God to stay. (Sarah Parsons, A Clearing Season: Reflections for Lent)From page 9 of A Clearing Season: Reflections for Lent by Sarah Parsons. Copyright © 2005 by Sarah Parsons. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: What would your Lenten garden look like?
Today’s Scripture: All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees. (Psalms 25:1, NRSV)
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The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "Lent" for Wednesday, 14 February 2018
Today’s Reflection
Today’s Reflection
LENT IS the forty days before Easter (excluding Sundays) during which we turn our attention to God and the things that keep us from God. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. continues through Holy Week, and ends at Easter.Lent is observed differently in different traditions, but it is generally a time of turning toward God and turning away from things that separate us from God. (“40 Days: A Guide to Lent”)
From “40 Days: A Guide to Lent,” page 37 in Alive Now, March/April 2011. Copyright © 2011 by The Upper Room. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn about the season of lent.
Today’s Question: Do you observe the season of Lent? What do you do to observe it?
Today’s Scripture: Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. (Psalms 51:1, NRSV)
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The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "Prayer from the Heart" for Tuesday, 13 February 2018
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
WE ENTER PRAYER with our whole being. When we talk to God we employ our thinking faculties. Good thinking may lead to good theology based on biblical study. As we listen to God, we give thought to what we hear. So, of course, we use our heads — and more. We love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, our whole being. We pray with head and heart, our whole selves in communion with our Maker.Simeon, called the New Theologian, was a prolific writer and teacher of prayer around the year 1000. He founded a monastery and also spent years in silent retreat. He warned against prayer that is only in the head. Instead, he said that the mind should be in the heart. We pray from the depths of the heart, enjoying the love of Christ. (J. David Muyskens, Forty Days to a Closer Walk with God)
From page 82 of Forty Days to a Closer Walk with God: The Practice of Centering Prayer by J. David Muyskens. Copyright © 2006 by J. David Muyskens. All Rights Reserved. Used with Permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: When you read “we pray from the depths of the heart,” how do you interpret that?
Today’s Scripture: To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. (Psalms 25:1, NRSV)
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The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "Extended Sabbath" for Monday, 12 February 2018
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
FOR ME, a retreat is a time set apart to be reminded of God’s presence in a deeper way. It is a time to remember again that God holds the world and me. It is a time to relax into God’s sovereignty and to remember God’s activity, not my own. It is a time that restores the rhythm for me between work and rest. As I think on it, for me retreat is extended Sabbath. (a mother, wife, Ben Campbell Johnson and Paul H. Lang, Time Away)From page 29 of Time Away: A Guide for Personal Retreat by Ben Campbell Johnson and Paul H. Lang. Copyright © 2010 by Ben Campbell Johnson and Paul H. Lang. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: Have you been on a spiritual retreat? Describe the experience?
Today’s Scripture: When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” (Genesis 9:16, NRSV)
This Week: Pray for a holy lent.
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Did You Know?
In need of prayer? The Upper Room Living Prayer Center is a 7-day-a-week intercessory prayer ministry staffed by trained volunteers. Call 1-800-251-2468 or visit The Living Prayer Center website.
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This week we remember: Valentine (February 14).
ValentineFebruary 14
There are at least fifty Christian martyrs named Valentinus (Valentine). The most likely candidate for the original saint was a priest named Valentine who helped other Christians who were being persecuted by Claudius II in third century Rome. Some say this Valentine was arrested because he refused to follow a royal decree not to perform weddings for soldiers. Whatever the actual reason Valentine was arrested, while he was imprisoned, he performed a miracle to restore sight to the jailer's daughter. The jailer converted to Christianity. Nevertheless, Valentine was beaten, and beheaded on February 14, 269 A.D. Legend has it that before his execution, Valentine wrote a note for the jailer's daughter signed, "from your Valentine." This note may have contributed to our current Valentine's Day customs.
Around 270, Pope Julius I built a Roman church in this Valentine's memory.
Valentine is the patron saint of lovers.
If Valentine had taken the Spiritual Types Test, he probably would have been a Lover. Valentine is remembered on February 14.
Image is painting by David Teniers III (1638–1685).
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Lectionary Readings for Sunday, 18 February 2018
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Genesis 9:8-17
Psalm 25:1-10
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:9-15
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Genesis 9:8-17
Psalm 25:1-10
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:9-15
***
Scripture Texts: Genesis 9:(v) 8 God spoke to Noach and his sons with him; he said, 9 “As for me — I am herewith establishing my covenant with you, with your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you — the birds, the livestock and every wild animal with you, all going out of the ark, every animal on earth. 11 I will establish my covenant with you that never again will all living beings be destroyed by the waters of a flood, and there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 God added, “Here is the sign of the covenant I am making between myself and you and every living creature with you, for all generations to come: 13 I am putting my rainbow in the cloud — it will be there as a sign of the covenant between myself and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth, and the rainbow is seen in the cloud; 15 I will remember my covenant which is between myself and you and every living creature of any kind; and the water will never again become a flood to destroy all living beings. 16 The rainbow will be in the cloud; so that when I look at it, I will remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of any kind on the earth.”
17 God said to Noach, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between myself and every living creature on the earth.”
Psalm 25:1 (0) By David:
(1) I lift my inner being to you, Adonai;
2 I trust you, my God.
Don’t let me be disgraced,
don’t let my enemies gloat over me.
3 No one waiting for you will be disgraced;
disgrace awaits those who break faith for no reason.
4 Make me know your ways, Adonai,
teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth, and teach me;
for you are the God who saves me,
my hope is in you all day long.
6 Remember your compassion and grace, Adonai;
for these are ages old.
7 Don’t remember my youthful sins or transgressions;
but remember me according to your grace
for the sake of your goodness, Adonai.
8 Adonai is good, and he is fair;
this is why he teaches sinners the way [to live],
9 leads the humble to do what is right
and teaches the humble [to live] his way.
10 All Adonai’s paths are grace and truth
to those who keep his covenant and instructions.
1 Peter 3:18 For the Messiah himself died for sins, once and for all, a righteous person on behalf of unrighteous people, so that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but brought to life by the Spirit; 19 and in this form he went and made a proclamation to the imprisoned spirits, 20 to those who were disobedient long ago, in the days of Noach, when God waited patiently during the building of the ark, in which a few people — to be specific, eight — were delivered by means of water. 21 This also prefigures what delivers us now, the water of immersion, which is not the removal of dirt from the body, but one’s pledge to keep a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah. 22 He has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God,[1 Peter 3:22 Psalm 110:1] with angels, authorities and powers subject to him.
Mark 1:9 Shortly thereafter, Yeshua came from Natzeret in the Galil and was immersed in the Yarden by Yochanan. 10 Immediately upon coming up out of the water, he saw heaven torn open and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; 11 then a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love; I am well pleased with you.”
12 Immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by the Adversary. He was with the wild animals, and the angels took care of him.
14 After Yochanan had been arrested, Yeshua came into the Galil proclaiming the Good News from God:
15 “The time has come,
God’s Kingdom is near!
Turn to God from your sins
and believe the Good News!”
***
John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes: Genesis 9:8-17
Verse 9
[9] And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
We have here the general establishment of God's covenant with this new world, and the extent of that covenant.
Verse 11
[11] And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
There shall not any more be a flood — God had drowned the world once, and still it is as provoking as ever; yet he will never drown it any more, for he deals not with us according to our sins. This promise of God keeps the sea and clouds in their decreed place, and sets them gates and bars, Hitherto they shall come, Job 38:10,11. If the sea should flow but for a few days, as it doth twice every day for a few hours, what desolations would it make? So would the clouds, if such showers as we have sometimes seen, were continued long. But God by flowing seas, and sweeping rains, shews what he could do in wrath; and yet by preserving the earth from being deluged between both, shews what he can do in mercy, and will do in truth.
Verse 13
[13] I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
I set my bow in the clouds — The rainbow, 'tis likely was seen in the clouds before, but was never a seal of the covenant 'till now. Now, concerning this seal of the covenant, observe, (1.) This seal is affixed with repeated assurances of the truth of that promise, which it was designed to be the ratification of; I do set my bow in the cloud, Genesis 9:13. It shall be seen in the cloud, Genesis 9:14. and it shall be a token of the covenant, Genesis 9:12,13. And I will remember my covenant, that the waters shall no more become a flood, Genesis 9:15. Nay, as if the eternal Mind needed a memorandum, I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting covenant, Genesis 9:16. (2.) The rainbow appears when the clouds are most disposed to wet; when we have most reason to fear the rain prevailing, God shews this seal of the promise that it shall not prevail. (3.) The rainbow appears when one part of the sky is clear, which imitates mercy remembered in the midst of wrath, and the clouds are hemmed as it were with the rainbow, that it may not overspread the heavens, for the bow is coloured rain, or the edges of a cloud gilded. As God looks upon the bow that he may remember the covenant, so should we, that we also may be ever mindful of the covenant with faith and thankfulness.
Verse 9
[9] And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
We have here the general establishment of God's covenant with this new world, and the extent of that covenant.
Verse 11
[11] And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
There shall not any more be a flood — God had drowned the world once, and still it is as provoking as ever; yet he will never drown it any more, for he deals not with us according to our sins. This promise of God keeps the sea and clouds in their decreed place, and sets them gates and bars, Hitherto they shall come, Job 38:10,11. If the sea should flow but for a few days, as it doth twice every day for a few hours, what desolations would it make? So would the clouds, if such showers as we have sometimes seen, were continued long. But God by flowing seas, and sweeping rains, shews what he could do in wrath; and yet by preserving the earth from being deluged between both, shews what he can do in mercy, and will do in truth.
Verse 13
[13] I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
I set my bow in the clouds — The rainbow, 'tis likely was seen in the clouds before, but was never a seal of the covenant 'till now. Now, concerning this seal of the covenant, observe, (1.) This seal is affixed with repeated assurances of the truth of that promise, which it was designed to be the ratification of; I do set my bow in the cloud, Genesis 9:13. It shall be seen in the cloud, Genesis 9:14. and it shall be a token of the covenant, Genesis 9:12,13. And I will remember my covenant, that the waters shall no more become a flood, Genesis 9:15. Nay, as if the eternal Mind needed a memorandum, I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting covenant, Genesis 9:16. (2.) The rainbow appears when the clouds are most disposed to wet; when we have most reason to fear the rain prevailing, God shews this seal of the promise that it shall not prevail. (3.) The rainbow appears when one part of the sky is clear, which imitates mercy remembered in the midst of wrath, and the clouds are hemmed as it were with the rainbow, that it may not overspread the heavens, for the bow is coloured rain, or the edges of a cloud gilded. As God looks upon the bow that he may remember the covenant, so should we, that we also may be ever mindful of the covenant with faith and thankfulness.
Psalm 25:1-10
Verse 2
[2] O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.
Ashamed — Disappointed of my hope.
Verse 3
[3] Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
Cause — Without any provocation of mine.
Verse 4
[4] Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
Teach — Teach me my duty, and cause me to keep close to it, notwithstanding all temptations.
Verse 8
[8] Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
Upright — Holy and true, in all his declarations and offers of mercy to sinners.
Therefore — He will not be wanting to such poor sinners as I am, but will guide them into the way of life and peace.
Verse 9
[9] The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
The meek — Such as meekly submit themselves to God, and are desirous to be directed and governed by him.
Judgment — In the paths of judgment, in the right way.
Verse 10
[10] All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
Paths — All the dealings of God with them, yea even those that are afflictive, are done in kindness and faithfulness to them.
Verse 2
[2] O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.
Ashamed — Disappointed of my hope.
Verse 3
[3] Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
Cause — Without any provocation of mine.
Verse 4
[4] Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
Teach — Teach me my duty, and cause me to keep close to it, notwithstanding all temptations.
Verse 8
[8] Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
Upright — Holy and true, in all his declarations and offers of mercy to sinners.
Therefore — He will not be wanting to such poor sinners as I am, but will guide them into the way of life and peace.
Verse 9
[9] The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
The meek — Such as meekly submit themselves to God, and are desirous to be directed and governed by him.
Judgment — In the paths of judgment, in the right way.
Verse 10
[10] All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
Paths — All the dealings of God with them, yea even those that are afflictive, are done in kindness and faithfulness to them.
1 Peter 3:18-22
Verse 18
[18] For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
For — This is undoubtedly best, whereby we are most conformed to Christ. Now Christ suffered once - To suffer no more.
For sins — Not his own, but ours.
The just for the unjust — The word signifies, not only them who have wronged their neighbours, but those who have transgressed any of the commands of God; as the preceding word, just, denotes a person who has fulfilled, not barely social duties, but all kind of righteousness.
That he might bring us to God — Now to his gracious favour, hereafter to his blissful presence, by the same steps of suffering and of glory.
Being put to death in the flesh — As man.
But raised to life by the Spirit — Both by his own divine power, and by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Verse 19
[19] By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
By which Spirit he preached - Through the ministry of Noah.
To the spirits in prison — The unholy men before the flood, who were then reserved by the justice of God, as in a prison, till he executed the sentence upon them all; and are now also reserved to the judgment of the great day.
Verse 20
[20] Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
When the longsuffering of God waited — For an hundred and twenty years; all the time the ark was preparing: during which Noah warned them all to flee from the wrath to come.
Verse 21
[21] The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
The antitype whereof — The thing typified by the ark, even baptism, now saveth us - That is, through the water of baptism we are saved from the sin which overwhelms the world as a flood: not, indeed, the bare outward sign, but the inward grace; a divine consciousness that both our persons and our actions are accepted through him who died and rose again for us.
Verse 22
[22] Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
Angels and authorities and powers — That is, all orders both of angels and men
Verse 18
[18] For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
For — This is undoubtedly best, whereby we are most conformed to Christ. Now Christ suffered once - To suffer no more.
For sins — Not his own, but ours.
The just for the unjust — The word signifies, not only them who have wronged their neighbours, but those who have transgressed any of the commands of God; as the preceding word, just, denotes a person who has fulfilled, not barely social duties, but all kind of righteousness.
That he might bring us to God — Now to his gracious favour, hereafter to his blissful presence, by the same steps of suffering and of glory.
Being put to death in the flesh — As man.
But raised to life by the Spirit — Both by his own divine power, and by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Verse 19
[19] By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
By which Spirit he preached - Through the ministry of Noah.
To the spirits in prison — The unholy men before the flood, who were then reserved by the justice of God, as in a prison, till he executed the sentence upon them all; and are now also reserved to the judgment of the great day.
Verse 20
[20] Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
When the longsuffering of God waited — For an hundred and twenty years; all the time the ark was preparing: during which Noah warned them all to flee from the wrath to come.
Verse 21
[21] The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
The antitype whereof — The thing typified by the ark, even baptism, now saveth us - That is, through the water of baptism we are saved from the sin which overwhelms the world as a flood: not, indeed, the bare outward sign, but the inward grace; a divine consciousness that both our persons and our actions are accepted through him who died and rose again for us.
Verse 22
[22] Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
Angels and authorities and powers — That is, all orders both of angels and men
Mark 1:9-15
Verse 9
[9] And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
Matthew 3:13; Luke 3:21.
Verse 12
[12] And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.
And immediately the Spirit thrusteth him out into the wilderness — So in all the children of God, extraordinary manifestations of his favour are wont to be followed by extraordinary temptations. Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:1.
Verse 13
[13] And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.
And he was there forty days, tempted by Satan — Invisibly. After this followed the temptation by him in a visible shape, related by St. Matthew.
And he was with the wild beasts — Though they had no power to hurt him. St. Mark not only gives us a compendium of St. Matthew's Gospel, but likewise several valuable particulars, which the other evangelists have omitted.
Verse 14
[14] Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
Matthew 4:12.
Verse 15
[15] And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
The time is fulfilled — The time of my kingdom, foretold by Daniel, expected by you, is fully come.
Verse 9
[9] And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
Matthew 3:13; Luke 3:21.
Verse 12
[12] And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.
And immediately the Spirit thrusteth him out into the wilderness — So in all the children of God, extraordinary manifestations of his favour are wont to be followed by extraordinary temptations. Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:1.
Verse 13
[13] And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.
And he was there forty days, tempted by Satan — Invisibly. After this followed the temptation by him in a visible shape, related by St. Matthew.
And he was with the wild beasts — Though they had no power to hurt him. St. Mark not only gives us a compendium of St. Matthew's Gospel, but likewise several valuable particulars, which the other evangelists have omitted.
Verse 14
[14] Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
Matthew 4:12.
Verse 15
[15] And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
The time is fulfilled — The time of my kingdom, foretold by Daniel, expected by you, is fully come.
***
The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "God, Collect Our Tears" for Sunday, 11 February 2018
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
GOD,Collect our tears
Tears of sadness
tears of joy
Tears of anxiety
nervous tears
Tears that don’t know why they run like rivers down the face
Gracious God,
collect our tears in your bottle
And pour them back on us as life-giving water! Amen. (Safiyah Fosua, The Africana Worship Book: Year B)
From page 178 of The Africana Worship Book: Year B, edited by Valerie Bridgeman Davis and Safiyah Fosua. Copyright © 2007 by Discipleship Resources. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: Pray today’s prayer GOD,
Collect our tears
Tears of sadness
tears of joy
Tears of anxiety
nervous tears
Tears that don’t know why they run like rivers down the face
Gracious God,
collect our tears in your bottle
And pour them back on us as life-giving water! Amen.
Today’s Scripture: Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” (Mark 9:7, NRSV)
***
The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "What Has Your Attention?" for Saturday, 10 February 2018
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
WHAT HAS YOUR ATTENTION at this very moment? This reading? Perhaps, but we all know that we can give modest attention to several things at once. We eat, read, and listen for the phone all at the same time. When our search for something consumes all our energy and all our faculties, everything else fades away and disappears. Even a ringing phone goes unanswered when we are seeking to give answer to another call deep within. What are you searching for that consumes all your energy and attention? The quest for God is a search worthy of such all-consuming passion and energy. (Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job, A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God)Rueben P. Job, page 375 of A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God by Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job. Copyright © 2003 by Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: What has your attention at this very moment?
Today’s Scripture: Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. (Mark 9:2-3, NRSV)
***
The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "Alone with God" for Friday, 9 February 2018
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
GRANT ME the ability to be alone;may it be my custom to go
outdoors each day
among trees and grass—
among all growing things—
and there may I be alone,
and enter into prayer,
to talk with the One
to whom I belong.
(Rabbit Nachman of Breslov, devozine, July/Aug. 2017)
From the back cover of devozine, July-August 2017, the devotional lifestyle magazine for teens. Copyright © 2017 by The Upper Room. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: Do you pray regularly with others?
Today’s Scripture: For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6, NRSV)
***
The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "Praying Together" for Thursday, 8 February 2018
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
WHY DO SO MANY praying Christians feel as if their prayers “die at the ceiling” or echo in the dark? Perhaps something crucial is missing.I suggest that what’s missing is the sense and the experience of deep connection and real community: of spiritual intimacy not only with God but with other praying believers. Believing and praying others, members of our spiritual family who gather with us around Word, Table, Bath, [baptism] and Hours, are a gift of God to absorb the echo of isolated orisons. Believing, praying others help us hoist before God the concerns that are too heavy for any one of us alone to lift “past the ceiling.”
I believe God has placed it in our hearts to pray together: to meet in some place and time, to give ourselves to some form or fashion, to pray both with and for one another. When we don’t pray like that, or do so only rarely, we sense the loss even if we cannot articulate it—as when we hunger for something we cannot name. (Thomas R. Steaglad, A House of Prayer)
From page 16 of A House of Prayer: The Power of Praying in Community by Thomas R. Steagald. Copyright © 2014 by Thomas R. Steaglad. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: Do you pray regularly with others?
Today’s Scripture: For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. (2 Corinthians 4:5, NRSV)
The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "Love Is the Meaning" for Wednesday, 7 February 2018
Today’s Reflection
Today’s Reflection
FROM THE TIME that it was revealed, I often desired to know what our Lord’s meaning was. After more than 15 years, I was answered in spiritual understanding, “What? Would you know your Lord’s meaning in this thing? Know it well: love was the meaning. Who showed it to you? Love. What did God show you? Love. Why did God show it? For love. Hold on to that, and you will understand more of the same. But apart from that, you will never understand anything. (Julian of Norwich & Keith Beasley-Topliffe, Writings of Julian of Norwich)From page 65 of Writings of Julian of Norwich, edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 1998 by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books.
http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: How would you describe “our Lord’s meaning?”
Today’s Scripture: The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah (Psalm 50:6, NRSV)
***
The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States "Wisdom from Elders" for Tuesday, 6 February 2018
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
MY LIFE IS A LIBRARY filled with books that no one reads anymore –books of adventure and romance, advice and how-tos.
The books gather dust because no one wants to learn from them.
O Lord, once they were popular volumes, tattered from wear,
but now no one cares about my life lessons.
As I’ve grown older, people have less interest in what I have to say or what I think.
I have stumbled along my journey,
but I can look back across the years with wise eyes.
If they were willing, younger folks could learn from my mistakes,
my follies, my successes.
I have gained knowledge with every experience –
knowledge of broken hearts and unfulfilled dreams,
knowledge of surviving financial woes and raising rebellious teens,
knowledge of eternal truths and the lies of the world.
If only they would ask, I would tell them. (Missy Buchanan, Voices of Aging)
“From page 25 of Voices of Aging: Adult Children and Adult Parents Talk with God by Missy Buchanan. Copyright © 2015 by Missy Buchanan. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
” http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: What older person might you learn lessons from? Spend time with an elderly person today. Call them, or see if you can visit in person. Listen as they share their stories. You might gain some wisdom.
Today’s Scripture: Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. (Psalm 50:2, NRSV)
***
The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville Tennessee United States for Monday, 5 February 2018 "Sending Forth Prayer"
Today’s Reflection:
Today’s Reflection:
Send us forth, O God, withevery breath a thanksgiving,
every thought wrapped in compassion,
every word filled with kindness, and
every deed a channel of Love.
Through your grace may our lives become a prayer.
Amen. (Linda Douty, Praying in the Messiness of Life)
From page 104 of Praying in the Messiness of Life: 7 Ways to Renew Your Relationship with God by Linda Douty. Copyright © 2011 by Linda Douty. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: Pray today’s prayer. Send us forth, O God, with
every breath a thanksgiving,
every thought wrapped in compassion,
every word filled with kindness, and
every deed a channel of Love.
Through your grace may our lives become a prayer.
Amen.
Today’s Scripture: Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. (2 Kings 2:12, NRSV)
This Week: Pray for those single mothers and fathers.
***
Did You Know?
In need of prayer? The Upper Room Living Prayer Center is a 7-day-a-week intercessory prayer ministry staffed by trained volunteers. Call 1-800-251-2468 or visit The Living Prayer Center website.
***
This week we remember: Margaret Gaffney Haughery (February 9).
Margaret Gaffney HaugheryFebruary 09
Margaret Gaffney Haughery (1813-1882) was born in Ireland and came with her parents to Baltimore in 1818. When she was nine, Margaret's parents died of yellow fever; she was taken in by neighbors. After work as a domestic, Margaret married Charles Haughery and moved to New Orleans. A year later, Charles and their infant died.
Margaret, who had received no formal education, took a job as a laundress at an orphanage. She used her own earnings to provide food for the children and was soon involved in all aspects of the orphanage. Under her leadership the financial condition of the orphanage improved. She established a prosperous dairy and later, a bakery, continuing her hands-on approach. Margaret delivered milk and bakery goods herself to paying customers and street children. As Margaret's earnings grew she invested the money back into the orphanage and in 1840 another orphanage was built. During the Civil War she continued to take food to the needy even when it called for standing up to Union soldiers.
When she died on February 9, 1882 Margaret left a half-million dollars to charity. A statue of "the mother of orphans" can be found today in New Orleans' Margaret Place.
If Margaret Gaffney Haughery had taken the Spiritual Types Test she probably would have been a Prophet. Margaret Gaffney Haughery is remembered on February 9.
Image is portrait of Margaret with Two Orphans. Painting by Jacques Amans, New Orleans, c. 1842.
***Lectionary Readings for Sunday, 11 February 2018
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
2 Kings 2:1-12
Psalm 50:1-6
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Mark 9:2-9
Scripture Texts: 2 Kings 2:1 The time came for Adonai to take Eliyahu up into heaven in a whirlwind. Eliyahu and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal, 2 when Eliyahu said to Elisha, “Please wait here, because Adonai has sent me all the way to Beit-El.” But Elisha said, “As Adonai lives, and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Beit-El. 3 The guild prophets of Beit-El came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that Adonai is taking your master away from you today?” “Yes, I know,” he answered; “say no more.”
2 Kings 2:1-12
Psalm 50:1-6
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Mark 9:2-9
Scripture Texts: 2 Kings 2:1 The time came for Adonai to take Eliyahu up into heaven in a whirlwind. Eliyahu and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal, 2 when Eliyahu said to Elisha, “Please wait here, because Adonai has sent me all the way to Beit-El.” But Elisha said, “As Adonai lives, and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Beit-El. 3 The guild prophets of Beit-El came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that Adonai is taking your master away from you today?” “Yes, I know,” he answered; “say no more.”
4 Eliyahu said to him, “Elisha, please wait here, because Adonai has sent me to Yericho.” He replied, “As Adonai lives, and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Yericho. 5 The guild prophets of Yericho approached Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that Adonai is taking your master away from you today?” “Yes, I know,” he answered; “say no more.”
6 Eliyahu said to him, “Please wait here, because Adonai has sent me to the Yarden.” He replied, “As Adonai lives, and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. 7 Fifty of the guild prophets went and stood watching them from a distance, while they stood by the Yarden. 8 Then Eliyahu took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it; and the water divided itself to the left and to the right; so that they crossed on dry ground. 9 After they had crossed, Eliyahu said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away from you.” Elisha said, “Please! Let a double share of your spirit be on me!” 10 He replied, “You have requested a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, you will get what you asked for; but if not, you won’t.”
11 Suddenly, as they were walking on and talking, there appeared a fiery chariot with horses of fire; and as it separated the two of them from each other, Eliyahu went up into heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Isra’el!” Then he lost sight of him. Seizing his clothes, he tore them in half.
Psalm 50:1 (0) A psalm of Asaf:
(1) The Mighty One, God, Adonai, is speaking,
summoning the world from east to west.
2 Out of Tziyon, the perfection of beauty,
God is shining forth.
3 Our God is coming and not staying silent.
With a fire devouring ahead of him
and a great storm raging around him,
4 he calls to the heavens above and to earth,
in order to judge his people.
5 “Gather to me my faithful,
those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for God himself is judge. (Selah)
2 Corinthians 4:3 So if indeed our Good News is veiled, it is veiled only to those in the process of being lost. 4 They do not come to trust because the god of the ‘olam hazeh has blinded their minds, in order to prevent them from seeing the light shining from the Good News about the glory of the Messiah, who is the image of God. 5 For what we are proclaiming is not ourselves, but the Messiah Yeshua as Lord, with ourselves as slaves for you because of Yeshua. 6 For it is the God who once said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has made his light shine in our hearts, the light of the knowledge of God’s glory shining in the face of the Messiah Yeshua.
Mark 9:2 Six days later, Yeshua took Kefa, Ya‘akov and Yochanan and led them up a high mountain privately. As they watched, he began to change form, 3 and his clothes became dazzlingly white, whiter than anyone in the world could possibly bleach them. 4 Then they saw Eliyahu and Moshe speaking with Yeshua. 5 Kefa said to Yeshua, “It’s good that we’re here, Rabbi! Let’s put up three shelters — one for you, one for Moshe and one for Eliyahu.” 6 (He didn’t know what to say, they were so frightened.) 7 Then a cloud enveloped them; and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” 8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Yeshua.
9 As they came down the mountain, he warned them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
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John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes: 2 Kings 2:1-12
Verse 1
[1] And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
About to take, … — It is supposed, (tho' not expressly revealed) that Elijah flourished about twenty years, before he was translated, body and soul, to heaven, only undergoing such a change, as was necessary to qualify him for being an inhabitant in that world of Spirits. By translating him, God gave in that dark and degenerate age, a very sensible proof of another life, together with a type of the ascension of Christ, and the opening of the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
Verse 2
[2] And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel.
Tarry here — This he desires, either, 1. That being left alone, he might better prepare himself for his great change. Or, 2. Out of indulgence to Elisha, that he might not be overwhelmed with grief at so sad a sight. Or, 3. That he might try his love, and whet his desire to accompany him; it being highly convenient for God's honour, that there should be witnesses of so glorious a translation.
To Beth-el — Which was truth, tho' not the whole truth: for he was to go a far longer journey. But he was first to go to Beth-el, as also to Jericho, to the schools of the prophets there, that he might comfort, and strengthen their hearts in God's work, and give them his dying counsels.
Verse 3
[3] And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.
And said — This was revealed to some of the sons of the prophets, and by them to the whole college. In the kingdom of Judah they had priest and Levites, and the temple service. The want of these in the kingdom of Israel, God graciously made up by these colleges, where men were trained up and employed, in the exercises of religion, and whither good people resorted, to solemnize the appointed feasts, with prayer and hearing, tho' they had not conveniencies for sacrifice.
From thy head — Heb. from above thy head: which phrase may respect, either, the manner of sitting in schools, where the scholar sat at his master's feet. Or, the manner of Elijah's translation, which was to be by a power sent from heaven, to take him up thither.
Hold you your peace — Do not aggravate my grief, nor divert me with any unseasonable discourses. He speaks as one that was himself, and would have them calm and sedate, and with awful silence waiting the event.
Verse 7
[7] And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan.
To view — To observe this great event, Elijah's translation to heaven, which they expected every moment: and whereof they desired to be spectators, not to satisfy their own curiosity, but that they might be witnesses of it to others.
Verse 8
[8] And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.
Smote the waters — These waters of old yielded to the ark, now to the prophet's mantle; which to those that wanted the ark, was an equivalent token of God's presence. When God will take his children to himself, death is the Jordan, which they must pass through. And they find a way thro' it, a safe and comfortable way. The death of Christ has divided those waters, that the ransomed of the Lord may pass over.
Verse 9
[9] And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
A double portion — Or, rather double to what the rest of the sons of the prophets receive at thy request. He alludes to the double portion of the first-born, Deuteronomy 21:17. But though Elisha desired no more, yet God gave him more than he desired or expected; and he seems to have had a greater portion of the gifts of God's Spirit, than even Elijah had.
Verse 10
[10] And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.
A hard thing — A rare and singular blessing, which I cannot promise thee, which only God can give; and he gives it only when, and to whom he pleaseth.
If thou seest — This sign he proposed, not without the direction of God's Spirit, that hereby he might engage him more earnestly to wait, and more fervently to pray for this mercy.
Verse 11
[11] And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
A chariot of fire — In this form the angels appeared. The souls of all the faithful, are carried by an invisible guard of angels, into the bosom of Abraham. But Elijah being to carry his body with him, this heavenly guard appeared visibly: Not in an human shape, tho' so they might have borne him in their arms, but in the form of a chariot and horses, that he may ride in state, may ride in triumph, like a prince, like a conqueror. See the readiness of the angels to do the will of God, even in the meanest services for the heirs of salvation! Thus he who had burned with holy zeal for God and his honour, was now conveyed in fire into his immediate presence.
Verse 12
[12] And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
My father — So he calls him for his fatherly affection to him, and for his fatherly authority which he had over him, in which respect the scholars of the prophets are called their sons. He saw his own condition like that of a fatherless child, and laments it accordingly.
The chariot, … — Who by thy example, and counsels, and prayers, and power with God, didst more for the defence and preservation of Israel than all their chariots and horses. The expression alludes to the form of chariots and horses which he had seen.
Verse 1
[1] And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
About to take, … — It is supposed, (tho' not expressly revealed) that Elijah flourished about twenty years, before he was translated, body and soul, to heaven, only undergoing such a change, as was necessary to qualify him for being an inhabitant in that world of Spirits. By translating him, God gave in that dark and degenerate age, a very sensible proof of another life, together with a type of the ascension of Christ, and the opening of the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
Verse 2
[2] And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel.
Tarry here — This he desires, either, 1. That being left alone, he might better prepare himself for his great change. Or, 2. Out of indulgence to Elisha, that he might not be overwhelmed with grief at so sad a sight. Or, 3. That he might try his love, and whet his desire to accompany him; it being highly convenient for God's honour, that there should be witnesses of so glorious a translation.
To Beth-el — Which was truth, tho' not the whole truth: for he was to go a far longer journey. But he was first to go to Beth-el, as also to Jericho, to the schools of the prophets there, that he might comfort, and strengthen their hearts in God's work, and give them his dying counsels.
Verse 3
[3] And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.
And said — This was revealed to some of the sons of the prophets, and by them to the whole college. In the kingdom of Judah they had priest and Levites, and the temple service. The want of these in the kingdom of Israel, God graciously made up by these colleges, where men were trained up and employed, in the exercises of religion, and whither good people resorted, to solemnize the appointed feasts, with prayer and hearing, tho' they had not conveniencies for sacrifice.
From thy head — Heb. from above thy head: which phrase may respect, either, the manner of sitting in schools, where the scholar sat at his master's feet. Or, the manner of Elijah's translation, which was to be by a power sent from heaven, to take him up thither.
Hold you your peace — Do not aggravate my grief, nor divert me with any unseasonable discourses. He speaks as one that was himself, and would have them calm and sedate, and with awful silence waiting the event.
Verse 7
[7] And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan.
To view — To observe this great event, Elijah's translation to heaven, which they expected every moment: and whereof they desired to be spectators, not to satisfy their own curiosity, but that they might be witnesses of it to others.
Verse 8
[8] And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.
Smote the waters — These waters of old yielded to the ark, now to the prophet's mantle; which to those that wanted the ark, was an equivalent token of God's presence. When God will take his children to himself, death is the Jordan, which they must pass through. And they find a way thro' it, a safe and comfortable way. The death of Christ has divided those waters, that the ransomed of the Lord may pass over.
Verse 9
[9] And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
A double portion — Or, rather double to what the rest of the sons of the prophets receive at thy request. He alludes to the double portion of the first-born, Deuteronomy 21:17. But though Elisha desired no more, yet God gave him more than he desired or expected; and he seems to have had a greater portion of the gifts of God's Spirit, than even Elijah had.
Verse 10
[10] And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.
A hard thing — A rare and singular blessing, which I cannot promise thee, which only God can give; and he gives it only when, and to whom he pleaseth.
If thou seest — This sign he proposed, not without the direction of God's Spirit, that hereby he might engage him more earnestly to wait, and more fervently to pray for this mercy.
Verse 11
[11] And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
A chariot of fire — In this form the angels appeared. The souls of all the faithful, are carried by an invisible guard of angels, into the bosom of Abraham. But Elijah being to carry his body with him, this heavenly guard appeared visibly: Not in an human shape, tho' so they might have borne him in their arms, but in the form of a chariot and horses, that he may ride in state, may ride in triumph, like a prince, like a conqueror. See the readiness of the angels to do the will of God, even in the meanest services for the heirs of salvation! Thus he who had burned with holy zeal for God and his honour, was now conveyed in fire into his immediate presence.
Verse 12
[12] And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
My father — So he calls him for his fatherly affection to him, and for his fatherly authority which he had over him, in which respect the scholars of the prophets are called their sons. He saw his own condition like that of a fatherless child, and laments it accordingly.
The chariot, … — Who by thy example, and counsels, and prayers, and power with God, didst more for the defence and preservation of Israel than all their chariots and horses. The expression alludes to the form of chariots and horses which he had seen.
Psalm 50:1-6
Verse 1
[1] The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
Called — All the inhabitants of the earth, from one end to the other: whom he here summons to be witnesses of his proceedings in this solemn judgment, between him and his people, which is here poetically represented. For here is a tribunal erected, the judge coming to it, the witnesses and delinquents summoned, and at last the sentence given.
Verse 2
[2] Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Zion — The place where he was supposed to reside, and where he would now sit in judgment.
The perfection — The most amiable place of the whole world, because, of the presence and worship, and blessing of God.
Shined — Hath manifested himself in a glorious manner.
Verse 3
[3] Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
Our God — The prophet speaks this in the persons of the worshippers of God. Though he be our God, yet he will come to execute judgment upon us.
Cease — Or delay to sit in judgment.
Tempestuous — This is a farther description of that terrible majesty, wherewith God would clothe himself when he came to his tribunal.
Verse 4
[4] He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
Call — To the inhabitants of them, all angels and men, whom he calls in for witnesses of the equity of his proceedings.
Verse 5
[5] Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
Gather — O ye angels, summon and fetch them to my tribunal. Which is poetically spoken, to continue the metaphor, and representation of the judgment.
My saints — The Israelites, whom God had chosen and separated them from all the nations of the earth, to be an holy and peculiar people to himself, and they also had solemnly devoted themselves to God; all which aggravated their apostacy.
Those — Who have entered into covenant with me, and have ratified that covenant by sacrifice. This seems to be added, to acquaint them with the proper nature, use and end of sacrifices, which were principally appointed to be signs and seals of the covenant made between God and his people; and consequently to convince them of their great mistake in trusting to their outward sacrifices, when they neglected the very life and soul of them, which was the keeping of their covenant with God.
Verse 6
[6] And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. /*Selah*/.
Declare — God will convince the people of his righteousness, and of their own wickedness, by thunders and lightnings, and storms, or other dreadful signs wrought by him in the heavens.
Himself — In his own person. God will not now reprove them, by his priests or prophets, but in an extraordinary manner from heaven.
Verse 1
[1] The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
Called — All the inhabitants of the earth, from one end to the other: whom he here summons to be witnesses of his proceedings in this solemn judgment, between him and his people, which is here poetically represented. For here is a tribunal erected, the judge coming to it, the witnesses and delinquents summoned, and at last the sentence given.
Verse 2
[2] Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Zion — The place where he was supposed to reside, and where he would now sit in judgment.
The perfection — The most amiable place of the whole world, because, of the presence and worship, and blessing of God.
Shined — Hath manifested himself in a glorious manner.
Verse 3
[3] Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
Our God — The prophet speaks this in the persons of the worshippers of God. Though he be our God, yet he will come to execute judgment upon us.
Cease — Or delay to sit in judgment.
Tempestuous — This is a farther description of that terrible majesty, wherewith God would clothe himself when he came to his tribunal.
Verse 4
[4] He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
Call — To the inhabitants of them, all angels and men, whom he calls in for witnesses of the equity of his proceedings.
Verse 5
[5] Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
Gather — O ye angels, summon and fetch them to my tribunal. Which is poetically spoken, to continue the metaphor, and representation of the judgment.
My saints — The Israelites, whom God had chosen and separated them from all the nations of the earth, to be an holy and peculiar people to himself, and they also had solemnly devoted themselves to God; all which aggravated their apostacy.
Those — Who have entered into covenant with me, and have ratified that covenant by sacrifice. This seems to be added, to acquaint them with the proper nature, use and end of sacrifices, which were principally appointed to be signs and seals of the covenant made between God and his people; and consequently to convince them of their great mistake in trusting to their outward sacrifices, when they neglected the very life and soul of them, which was the keeping of their covenant with God.
Verse 6
[6] And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. /*Selah*/.
Declare — God will convince the people of his righteousness, and of their own wickedness, by thunders and lightnings, and storms, or other dreadful signs wrought by him in the heavens.
Himself — In his own person. God will not now reprove them, by his priests or prophets, but in an extraordinary manner from heaven.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Verse 3
[3] But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
But if our gospel also — As well as the law of Moses.
Verse 4
[4] In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
The God of this world — What a sublime and horrible description of Satan! He is indeed the god of all that believe not, and works in them with inconceivable energy.
Hath blinded — Not only veiled, the eye of their understanding.
Illumination — Is properly the reflection or propagation of light, from those who are already enlightened, to others.
Who is the image of God — Hence also we may understand how great is the glory of Christ. He that sees the Son, sees the Father in the face of Christ. The Son exactly exhibits the Father to us.
Verse 5
[5] For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
For — The fault is not in us, neither in the doctrine they hear from us.
We preach not ourselves — As able either to enlighten, or pardon, or sanctify you.
But Jesus Christ — As your only wisdom, righteousness, sanctification.
And ourselves your servants — Ready to do the meanest offices.
For Jesus' sake — Not for honour, interest, or pleasure.
Verse 6
[6] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
For God hath shined in our hearts — The hearts of all those whom the god of this world no longer blinds. God who is himself our light; not only the author of light, but also the fountain of it.
To enlighten us with the knowledge of the glory of God — Of his glorious love, and of his glorious image.
In the face of Jesus Christ — Which reflects his glory in another manner than the face of Moses did.
Verse 3
[3] But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
But if our gospel also — As well as the law of Moses.
Verse 4
[4] In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
The God of this world — What a sublime and horrible description of Satan! He is indeed the god of all that believe not, and works in them with inconceivable energy.
Hath blinded — Not only veiled, the eye of their understanding.
Illumination — Is properly the reflection or propagation of light, from those who are already enlightened, to others.
Who is the image of God — Hence also we may understand how great is the glory of Christ. He that sees the Son, sees the Father in the face of Christ. The Son exactly exhibits the Father to us.
Verse 5
[5] For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
For — The fault is not in us, neither in the doctrine they hear from us.
We preach not ourselves — As able either to enlighten, or pardon, or sanctify you.
But Jesus Christ — As your only wisdom, righteousness, sanctification.
And ourselves your servants — Ready to do the meanest offices.
For Jesus' sake — Not for honour, interest, or pleasure.
Verse 6
[6] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
For God hath shined in our hearts — The hearts of all those whom the god of this world no longer blinds. God who is himself our light; not only the author of light, but also the fountain of it.
To enlighten us with the knowledge of the glory of God — Of his glorious love, and of his glorious image.
In the face of Jesus Christ — Which reflects his glory in another manner than the face of Moses did.
Mark 9:2-9
Verse 2
[2] And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
By themselves — That is, separate from the multitude: Apart - From the other apostles: and was transfigured - The Greek word seems to refer to the form of God, and the form of a servant, {mentioned by St. Paul, Philippians 2:6,7,} and may intimate, that the Divine rays, which the indwelling God let out on this occasion, made the glorious change from one of these forms into the other. Matthew 17:1; Luke 9:28.
Verse 3
[3] And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.
White as snow, such as no fuller can whiten — Such as could not be equalled either by nature or art.
Verse 4
[4] And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.
Elijah — Whom they expected: Moses, whom they did not.
Verse 7
[7] And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
There came a (bright, luminous) cloud, overshadowing them - This seems to have been such a cloud of glory as accompanied Israel in the wilderness, which, as the Jewish writers observe, departed at the death of Moses. But it now appeared again, in honour of our Lord, as the great Prophet of the Church, who was prefigured by Moses.
Hear ye him — Even preferably to Moses and Elijah.
Verse 2
[2] And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
By themselves — That is, separate from the multitude: Apart - From the other apostles: and was transfigured - The Greek word seems to refer to the form of God, and the form of a servant, {mentioned by St. Paul, Philippians 2:6,7,} and may intimate, that the Divine rays, which the indwelling God let out on this occasion, made the glorious change from one of these forms into the other. Matthew 17:1; Luke 9:28.
Verse 3
[3] And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.
White as snow, such as no fuller can whiten — Such as could not be equalled either by nature or art.
Verse 4
[4] And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.
Elijah — Whom they expected: Moses, whom they did not.
Verse 7
[7] And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
There came a (bright, luminous) cloud, overshadowing them - This seems to have been such a cloud of glory as accompanied Israel in the wilderness, which, as the Jewish writers observe, departed at the death of Moses. But it now appeared again, in honour of our Lord, as the great Prophet of the Church, who was prefigured by Moses.
Hear ye him — Even preferably to Moses and Elijah.
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