Is it ever a cop out to "leave it all in God's hands"?

Scripture:

Psalm 119:105-109

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
to observe your righteous ordinances.
107 I am severely afflicted;
give me life, O Lord, according to your word.
108 Accept my offerings of praise, O Lord,
and teach me your ordinances.
109 I hold my life in my hand continually,
but I do not forget your law.

Observation:

Thanks to a popular worship song, verse 105 is the best known verse in this passage; but, it is verse 109 that demands my attention today.

It brings to mind the phrase, "taking matters into one's own hands". As such it seems to indicate a tension alive in the experience of the psalmist. On the one hand, the viability of possible actions and choices are illumined by the word and law of God. On the other hand, there is a tendency to want to "take matters into one's own hands" thus exercising will and control over the situation.

There is a simplistic interpretation to be had here about, "letting go and letting God." It wants to squash the tension in the interest of a straight forward, once-for-all answer. I do not find it very compelling, perhaps neither does the psalmist.

What if verse 109 is less a confession of failing to "let go and let God" and more a resolute statement of faith on the part of one who is determined to practise the agency that is the birthright of a free will? "I will and must decide where to place my next step, Oh Lord. In doing so, I shall not forget your law."

Application:

One of the benefits of this discipline (daily bible devotions) is that my memory is constantly challenged and refreshed with respect to God's law and will. As a result, the 1000's of decisions - small and large - that I must make each day are far more likely to be made "in the light" of a conscious effort to hear a word from the LORD and do something by way of responding to that word.

Today, I am learning that it is God's will, and an amazing privilege, to hold my life in my hand. Today I am learning to grip my life a little more loosely exercising less control and more guardianship over all God has seen fit to bless me with.

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, You have called me to repent and believe. I repent of actions and choices that can only be made out of a willful ignorance of your law. I believe you have freed us to be free and to take our lives into our own hands not in order to squander them, nor to horde them, but to share them in ways that wage peace and increase justice even as we thrive upon love. Thank you for illuminating my path and for walking always with me. Amen.

The company is great, and the conversation is divine!

Scripture

Ezekiel 34:15-17
15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. 
17 As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats: ...

Observation

The connection between this passage in Ezekiel and Matthew 25 is what grabs me today.

Matthew 25:31-46
The Judgment of the Nations
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ...

Lately I have been marvelling at the many interconnections within scripture. It is amazing to me that these similarities arise in books written across hundreds of years and in widely different social situations.

I don't take this to be miraculous, nor am I satisfied by any explanation that amounts to God speaking through different people in different times and places as puppets with no brains or voices of their own.

I see these similarities as the product of faithful attendance by people like you and I to the living and ever-reforming Word of God and to the weight of testimony of our ancestors in faith. This is what I am marvelling at: when I study and dialogue with scripture I am diving deep into a process that has been ongoing for several millennia now! Not only that, but it is a process that the heroes of our faith have themselves been engaged in. So, when we do these devotions we come to hear a word from the Lord our God, and we do, and that is amazing. But, to top-it-all off, if we listen carefully, we can also hear the likes of Isaiah, and Ezekiel, and Calvin, and Luther, and Augustine, and ... Wow!

Application:

Maybe you have been previously asked to imagine you had the opportunity to sit down for a conversation with any person from history and then to decide who you would choose? I have always thought that was a cool scenario to imagine. Today's devotion helps me to see that the simple discipline - which the tempter would have me believe is boring and mundane - of entering daily into scripture can be just such an opportunity.

Prayer:

Thanks God! You are such a great host! You convene these amazing parties, where all are invited, and everyone gets to be in on the conversation. You have so much to say and so much to teach me, and yet, You patiently listen too. Help me to follow your lead, and join the unending conversation (and hymn). Amen.

Turn Back!

Scripture:

Ezekiel 33:11
"Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?"

Observation:

This little gem is hidden in the midst of the bigger passage, Ezekiel 32:17-33:20. The amazing thing is, the first section of that passage is a taunt song aimed at some of the enemies of Israel. 

The main take away today is that, although God does bring judgement and punishment at times, these are never God's first action not are they God's final word. For God, judgement is not meant primarily to achieve justice through the doling out of just deserts. Rather, God's righteous acts of judgement and punishment are always and only tools of last resort through which to guide us into repentance and re-entrance into the reign of God. 

Application:

It is too easy to come to snap judgements over people. It is too easy to write people off. 
Today I hear God asking me to see my "enemies" as God does. 

Prayer:

Give us this day our daily bread; and, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. 

Lord grant me the grace to love those who are hard to love and to be bolder about sharing my faith with those you raise up to me as Persons of Peace.

Putting the U in Christ

Scripture:

1Peter 2:9

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people,[c] in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Observation:

My study bible uses this verse as a jumping off point to talk about "the priesthood of all believers." Here's what it has to say:

"This is a key concept for Martin Luther and other reformers, who insist that all Christians are priests or God's messengers. Proclaiming God's mighty acts is not a job reserved for only a few people. God calls all believers - no matter what their vocation or standing - to share the gospel and serve their neighbours so that others come to know Christ."

(Lutheran Study Bible, Augsburg Fortress, 2008.)

One of the main themes of 1 Peter is that the faithful are "living stones" meant to be fitted together to form a "spiritual house".

Together these two ideas beg the questions:

1) "How am I responding to the call to be a priest (one with access

to God who works to help others access God too) ?"

and,

2) "How sturdy will this house be, if a bunch of us stones fail to

perform the task we have been laid in place for?"

Application:

Surely there are loads of ways I can lean further into the privilege of being a part of the priesthood of all believers. That said progress doesn't usually come from a desire to to better or more in general. Today, it has been placed before me that I can do a better job of asking people to pray for me and asking them if I might pray for them in some specific way.

Prayer:

Lord, thanks for guiding me back to the life-giving disciplines of abiding in You! Continue the work you have begun in me and bring it to completion in the fulness of your time. Grant that all along the way I might become bolder, and bolder still to share this faith you have given me through word and action. Amen.