The Upper Room Daily Reflections from Nashville, Tennessee, United States "Held by God" for Thursday, 2 June 2016

The Upper Room Daily Reflections from Nashville, Tennessee, United States "Held by God" for Thursday, 2 June 2016
Today’s Reflection:

THE PRACTICE OF SILENCE is, at its heart, a receptive practice, a practice of making us open and available to receive the presence and action of God within us. …
In silence we are present with God, who is the very heart of our heart, present with us, loving us from the inside out.
We can try to define what we do and what God does in the silence, and how it relates. But I prefer pictures. This morning my five-year-old daughter gave me a picture. I was praying, practicing silence, and she awakened earlier than usual. Almost silently she scooted on her bottom down the stairs and walked over to where I was sitting. I lifted her into my lap, where she curled up, putting her head against my chest. She didn’t ask for anything or say anything. She just laid her head on my chest where, I imagine, she could hear my heartbeat. I thought of the beloved disciple in John’s Gospel at the Last Supper, “leaning on Jesus’ bosom,” as the King James Version translates it (John 13:23).
That’s what we do in silence – lean against God’s breast, listening to the heartbeat of love for us that is closer to us than our own heartbeats and that outlasts our own heartbeats and that is steadier than our own heartbeats.[L. Roger Owens, What We Need Is Here]
From pages 57-58 of What We Need Is Here: Practicing the Heart of Christian Spirituality by L. Roger Owens. Copyright © 2015 by L. Roger Owens. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question:
Spend time in silence today and seek God’s presence.

Today’s Scripture:
The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.[Psalm 146:9, NRSV]
This Week: pray for those making difficult decisions.-------
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: Joan of Arc (May 30).

Joan of Arc
May 30
This young peasant girl is probably one of the most recognized saints in the world. Joan of Arc was born in January of 1412 on the border of France and Lorraine and lived just nineteen years. Her youth coincided with a French civil that war raged between the houses of Orleans and Burgundy; at the same time, France and England remained embroiled in the Hundred Years' War.
Joan heard voices of the Archangel Gabriel and other saints telling her God wanted her to save her country. Amazingly, she was able to convince the Dauphin (the future Charles VII) to give her leadership of French troops. Dressed as a soldier, Joan and her soldiers won the Battle of Orleans in 1429. She continued to win battles for France, but eventually, was captured by the British. A trial focused on her supposed witchcraft; when the corrupt court couldn't make those charges stick, they focused on the heresy of Joan's wearing men's clothing as a soldier, and the fact that she "heard voices." Joan was sentenced to death and on May 30, 1431, as she was burned at the stake, she called on Jesus and asked forgiveness for those who killed her.
If Joan of Arc had taken the Spiritual Types Test, she probably would have been a Mystic. Joan of Arc is remembered on May 30.

-------
Lectionary Readings
Sunday, 5 June 2016
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
1 Kings 17:8-16, (17-24)
Psalm 146
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17
-------
Scripture Text for 1 Kings 17:

8 Then this word of Adonai came to him: 9 “Get up; go to Tzarfat, a village in Tzidon; and live there. I have ordered a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he set out and went to Tzarfat. On reaching the gate of the city, he saw a widow there gathering sticks. He called out to her, “Please bring a little water in a container for me to drink.” 11 As she was going to get it, he called after her, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” 12 She answered, “As Adonai your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a pot and a little oil in the jug. Here I am, gathering a couple sticks of wood, so that I can go and cook it for myself and my son. After we have eaten that, we will die.” 13 Eliyahu said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go; and do what you said; but first, use a little of it to make me a small loaf of bread; and bring it out to me. After that, make food for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what Adonai the God of Isra’el, says: ‘The pot of meal will not get used up, nor will there fail to be oil in the jug, until the day Adonai sends rain down on the land.’” 15 She went and acted according to what Eliyahu had said; and she, he and her household had food to eat for a long time. 16 The pot of meal did not get used up, nor did there fail to be oil in the jug, in fulfillment of the word of Adonai spoken through Eliyahu.

17 A while later, the son of the woman whose house it was fell ill; his illness grew increasingly serious until his breathing stopped. 18 She said to Eliyahu, “What do you have against me, you man of God? Did you come to me just to remind me how sinful I am by killing my son?” 19 “Give me your son,” he said to her. Taking him from her lap, he carried him into the room upstairs where he was staying and laid him on his own bed. 20 Then he cried out to Adonai: “Adonai my God! Have you brought also this misery on the widow I’m staying with by killing her son?” 21 He stretched himself out on the child three times and cried out to Adonai: “Adonai my God, please! Let this child’s soul come back into him!” 22 Adonai heard Eliyahu’s cry, the child’s soul came back into him, and he revived. 23 Eliyahu took the child, brought him down from the upstairs room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Eliyahu said, “See? Your son is alive.” 24 The woman replied to Eliyahu, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of Adonai that you speak is the truth.”

Psalm 146:1

 Halleluyah!

Praise Adonai, my soul!

2 I will praise Adonai as long as I live.

I will sing praise to my God all my life.

3 Don’t put your trust in princes

or in mortals, who cannot help.

4 When they breathe their last, they return to dust;

on that very day all their plans are gone.

5 Happy is he whose help is Ya‘akov’s God,

whose hope is in Adonai his God.

6 He made heaven and earth,

the sea and everything in them;

he keeps faith forever.

7 He secures justice for the oppressed,

he gives food to the hungry.

Adonai sets prisoners free,

8 Adonai opens the eyes of the blind,

Adonai lifts up those who are bent over.

Adonai loves the righteous.

9 Adonai watches over strangers,

he sustains the fatherless and widows;

but the way of the wicked he twists.

10 Adonai will reign forever,

your God, Tziyon, through all generations.

Halleluyah!

Galatians 1:

11 Furthermore, let me make clear to you, brothers, that the Good News as I proclaim it is not a human product; 12 because neither did I receive it from someone else nor was I taught it — it came through a direct revelation from Yeshua the Messiah. 13 For you have heard about my former way of life in [traditional] Judaism — how I did my best to persecute God’s Messianic Community and destroy it; 14 and how, since I was more of a zealot for the traditions handed down by my forefathers than most Jews my age, I advanced in [traditional] Judaism more rapidly than they did.

15 But when God, who picked me out before I was born and called me by his grace, chose 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might announce him to the Gentiles, I did not consult anyone; 17 and I did not go up to Yerushalayim to see those who were emissaries before me. Instead, I immediately went off to Arabia and afterwards returned to Dammesek. 18 Not until three years later did I go up to Yerushalayim to make Kefa’s acquaintance, and I stayed with him for two weeks, 19 but I did not see any of the other emissaries except Ya‘akov the Lord’s brother. 20 (Concerning these matters I am writing you about, I declare before God that I am not lying!) 21 Next I went to Syria and Cilicia; 22 but in Y’hudah, the Messianic congregations didn’t even know what I looked like — 23 they were only hearing the report, “The one who used to persecute us now preaches the Good News of the faith he was formerly out to destroy”; 24 and they praised God for me.

Luke 7:11 The next day Yeshua, accompanied by his talmidim and a large crowd, went to a town called Na‘im. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead man was being carried out for burial. His mother was a widow, this had been her only son, and a sizeable crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her and said to her, “Don’t cry.” 14 Then he came close and touched the coffin, and the pallbearers halted. He said, “Young man, I say to you: get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Yeshua gave him to his mother.[Luke 7:15 1 Kings 17:23] 16 They were all filled with awe and gave glory to God, saying, “A great prophet has appeared among us,” and, “God has come to help his people.” 17 This report about him spread throughout all Y’hudah and the surrounding countryside.

-------

John Wesley's Notes-Commentary for 1 Kings 17:8-16, (17-24)

Verse 9

[9] Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

Zarephath — A city between Tyre and Sidon, called Sarepta by St. Luke 4:26, and others.

Zidon — To the jurisdiction of that city, which was inhabited by Gentiles. And God's providing for his prophet, first, by an unclean bird, and then by a Gentile, whom the Jews esteemed unclean, was a presage of the calling of the Gentiles, and rejection of the Jews. So Elijah was the first prophet of the Gentiles.

Commanded — Appointed or provided, for that she had as yet no revelation or command of God about it, appears from verse 12.

Verse 12

[12] And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

She said — Therefore though she was a Gentile, yet she owned the God of Israel as the true God.

Two sticks — A few sticks, that number being often used indefinitely for any small number.

And die — For having no more provision, we must needs perish with hunger. For though the famine was chiefly in the land of Israel, yet the effects of it were in Tyre and Sidon, which were fed by the corn of that land. But what a poor supporter was this likely to be? who had no fuel, but what she gathered in the streets, and nothing to live upon herself, but an handful of meal and a little oil! To her Elijah is sent, that he might live upon providence, as much as he had done when the ravens fed him.

Verse 13

[13] And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.

But make, … — This he requires as a trial of her faith, and obedience, which he knew God would plentifully reward; and so this would be a great example to encourage others to the practice of the same graces.

Verse 14

[14] For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.

The barrel, … — The meal of the barrel So the cruse of oil for the oil of the cruse.

Verse 15

[15] And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

Many days — A long time, even above two years, before the following event about her son happened. And surely the increase of her faith to such a degree, as to enable her thus to deny herself and trust the promise, was as great a miracle in the kingdom of grace, as the increase of her oil in the kingdom of providence. Happy are they who can thus against hope believe and obey in hope.

Verse 16

[16] And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.

Wasted not — See how the reward answered the service. She made one cake for the prophet and was repaid with many for herself and her son. What is laid out in charity is set out to the best interest, an upon the best securities.

Verse 17

[17] And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.

No breath — That is, he died. We must not think it strange, if we meet with sharp afflictions, even when we are in the way of eminent service to God.

Verse 18

[18] And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?

She said — Wherein have I injured thee? Or, why didst thou come to sojourn in my house, if this be the fruit of it? They are the words of a troubled mind.

Art thou come — Didst thou come for this end, that thou mightest severely observe my sins, and by thy prayers bring down God's just judgment upon me, as thou hast brought down this famine upon the nation? To call, etc. - To God's remembrance: for God is said in scripture, to remember sins, when he punisheth them; and to forget them, when he spares the sinner.

Verse 19

[19] And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.

Into a loft — A private place, where he might more freely pour out his soul to God, and use such gestures as he thought most proper.

Verse 20

[20] And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?

He cried — A prayer full of powerful arguments. Thou art the Lord, that canst revive the child: and my God; and therefore wilt not, deny me. She is a widow, add not affliction to the afflicted; deprive her not of the support and staff of her age: she hath given me kind entertainment: let her not fare the worse for her kindness to a prophet, whereby wicked men will take occasion to reproach both her, and religion.

Verse 21

[21] And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again.

Come into him — By which it is evident, that the soul was gone out of his body, this was a great request; but Elijah was encouraged to make it; by his zeal for God's honour, and by the experience which he had of his prevailing power with God in prayer.

Verse 22

[22] And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.

Into him again — This plainly supposes the existence of the soul in a state of separation, and consequently its immortality: probably God might design by this miracle to give an evidence hereof, for the encouragement of his suffering people.

Psalm 146

Verse 4

[4] His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

That day — As soon as ever he is dead.

Thoughts — All his designs and endeavours either for himself or for others.

Verse 6

[6] Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:

For ever — Both because he liveth for ever to fulfil his promises, and because he is eternally faithful.

Galatians 1:11-24

Verse 11

[11] But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.

But I certify you, brethren — He does not till now give them even this appellation. That the gospel which was preached by me among you is not according to man - Not from man, not by man, not suited to the taste of man.

Verse 12

[12] For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

For neither did I receive it — At once.

Nor was I taught it — Slowly and gradually, by any man.

But by the revelation of Jesus Christ — Our Lord revealed to him at first, his resurrection, ascension, and the calling of the gentiles, and his own apostleship; and told him then, there were other things for which he would appear to him.

Verse 13

[13] For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:

I Persecuted the church of God — That is, the believers in Christ.

Verse 14

[14] And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

Being zealous of the unwritten traditions - Over and above those written in the law.

Verse 15

[15] But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,

But when it pleased God — He ascribes nothing to his own merits, endeavours, or sincerity.

Who separated me from my mother's womb — Set me apart for an apostle, as he did Jeremiah for a prophet. Jeremiah 1:5. Such an unconditional predestination as this may consist, both with God's justice and mercy.

And called me by his grace — By his free and almighty love, to be both a Christian and an apostle.

Verse 16

[16] To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:

To reveal his Son in me — By the powerful operation of his Spirit, 2 Corinthians 4:6; as well as to me, by the heavenly vision.

That I might preach him to others — Which I should have been ill qualified to do, had I not first known him myself.

I did not confer with flesh and blood — Being fully satisfied of the divine will, and determined to obey, I took no counsel with any man, neither with my own reason or inclinations, which might have raised numberless objections.

Verse 17

[17] Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

Neither did I go up to Jerusalem — The residence of the apostles.

But I immediately went again into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus — He presupposes the journey to Damascus, in which he was converted, as being known to them all.

Verse 18

[18] Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.

Then after three years — Wherein I had given full proof of my apostleship.

I went to visit Peter — To converse with him.

Verse 19

[19] But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.

But other of the apostles I saw none, save James the brother (that is, the kinsman) of the Lord - Therefore when Barnabas is said to have "brought him into the apostles," Acts 9:27, only St. Peter and St James are meant.

Verse 24

[24] And they glorified God in me.

In me — That is, on my account.

Luke 7:11-17

-------
The Upper Room Ministries

PO Box 340004

Nashville, Tennessee 37203-0004, United States
---------------------