Introduction: For hundreds of years many Christian traditions have read passages of scripture using a tool called a lectionary. During this ordinary season, our devotional team decided to resource you with selections from the Revised Common Lectionary.
Source: the Revised Common Lectionary Year A
(Note. If you desire to read these passages in a different version of the Bible, this link will provide all the readings for week 1 in ESV in Bible Gateway where you may also choose other versions of these passages.)
Jeremiah 20:7-13
20:7 O LORD, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.20:8 For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.
20:9 If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
20:10 For I hear many whispering: “Terror is all around! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” All my close friends are watching for me to stumble. “Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him, and take our revenge on him.”
20:11 But the LORD is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.
20:12 O LORD of hosts, you test the righteous, you see the heart and the mind; let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.
20:13 Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers
Reflection question: What do you see in verse 11 & 13 that encourages you when you are in difficult circumstances?
Prayer:
Redeeming Sustainer, visit your people
and pour out your strength and courage upon us,
that we may hurry to make you welcome
not only in our concern for others,
but by serving them generously
and faithfully in your name. Amen
Psalm 69:7-10, 11-15, 16-18
69:7 It is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that shame has covered my face.
69:8 I have become a stranger to my kindred, an alien to my mother’s children.
69:9 It is zeal for your house that has consumed me; the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.
69:10 When I humbled my soul with fasting, they insulted me for doing so.
69:11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
69:12 I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.
69:13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me. With your faithful help
69:14 rescue me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
69:15 Do not let the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the Pit close its mouth over me.
69:16 Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
69:17 Do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress–make haste to answer me.
69:18 Draw near to me, redeem me, set me free because of my enemies.
Look at this picture by Homer Winslow. Think of how Jesus is your lifeline.
Thank Him for specific ways He has rescued you in your past.
