Monday– July 6
I Am Baptized
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Gal. 3:27 ESV)
Make the sign of the cross as
you say, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.”
I Believe …
I believe in God, the Father
Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only
Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the
virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He
descended into hell. The third
day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of
God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge
the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the
forgiveness of sins, the
resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Bible Reading – Psalm
10
Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
let them be caught in the schemes that they have
devised.
3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one greedy for
gain curses and renounces the Lord.
4 In the pride of his face the wicked does
not seek him;
all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
5 His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, out of his sight;
as for all his foes, he puffs at them.
6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I shall not meet
adversity.”
7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit
and oppression;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
8 He sits in ambush in the villages;
in hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9 he lurks in ambush like a
lion in his thicket;
he lurks that he may seize the poor;
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.
10 The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, he will never see
it.”
12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your
hand;
forget not the afflicted.
13 Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to
account”?
14 But you do see, for you note mischief and
vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
call his wickedness to account till you find none.
16 The Lord is king forever and ever;
the nations perish from his land.
17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline
your ear
18 to do justice to the fatherless and the
oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror
no more.[1]
The old proverb says, “Out of sight, out of mind,” and that thought is at the core of this Psalm. Because the wicked do not see God – his Word, his works, his judgement – they do not have him in mind, and because they do not have him in mind, their behavior is not curbed by fear of him. Instead the wicked person’s thoughts fixate on the “desires of his soul.”
That is a good place for us to pause and reflect on our own thoughts and desires. How often do we care more about those desires of our souls than we care about God’s truth, grace, beauty, mercy, and justice? How often do we care more about what we want than what God wants. There is always a pull in our hearts to put ourselves in God’s place – to break the First Commandment – and to become the gods of our own lives.
It’s not always crass and obvious, sometimes we simply refuse to recognize a behavior as sinful. Sometimes we find ourselves so comfortable we cannot be bothered to act on behalf of those who are mistreated. Yet again, perhaps we just forget God and go through life as though this is all there is – no judgement day, no accountability, and no redemption.
This is why Jesus teaches us to pray about God’s name, his kingdom, and his will in the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. He is showing us that, as God’s people, our loving heavenly Father does not want to be forgotten and he invites us to call out to him. Jesus is showing us that in knowing God we are both recipients of God’s blessings and reminders to proclaim all God has done.
This is, also, what we are doing here and now. We are reminding our
hearts and minds that God is real. His justice is true. He has made himself
known to us in Jesus who suffered and died on the cross to atone for our sins –
a testimony of God’s wrath against sin and also his deep and abiding love for
us sinner! He has given us a new life – one that is not intended for our
self-worship, but for the experience and expression of God’s goodness.
Questions for Meditation
What does this reading teach you
about Jesus, what He said and did, or what He wants His followers to believe?
What does it teach you about God’s love and forgiveness?
What does this reading lead you
to be thankful for?
What behavior, thought, or
attitude does this reading challenge? What sin does it lead you to confess?
How might you pray for God to have a richer impact on your life through this reading?
Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer
The
Second Petition: “Thy kingdom come”
O God, everlasting Father, Your
kingdom comes even without our prayer, but, please, let it come to us, too!
Please give us Your Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we may believe Your Word,
and live godly lives here in time and there in eternity. Amen.
Pray
for God to help you to understand and believe His Word.
Pray for increased faith, hope, and love.
Benediction
Now to him who is able to do far
more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work
within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all
generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph. 3:20-21 ESV)
[1] English
Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good
News Publishers.
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