Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors; may he not leave us or abandon us, but incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our ancestors.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, November 2, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
We need God’s help to do God’s will. This little snippet from Solomon’s long dedication of the temple and blessing of the assembly contains this one little phrase that I find delightful, helpful, and reassuring. He is calling on God to be present with us no matter what, and says, “Instead of abandoning us—because, after all, we hardly deserve God’s favor—God please incline our hearts to you.” Teach us, God, to walk in your ways, live in the way you have called us, work the work you have ordained: to love you with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.” God, you need to incline our hearts to you because we can’t do it ourselves. No matter how much striving. No matter how many Bible studies or worship services or devotions or protests or how much prayer or meditation or community service. All of these things certainly help us by putting us in a place where we are more open to hear God’s call, by inviting God into our lives in myriad ways. But we don’t get to control the outcome.
I mean, let’s face it, I get wrapped up in my own ego plenty of times. I can do something that I think is one hundred percent altruistic, only to find out, upon reflection, I was hoping to gain something from it—usually approval and status. And I’m a champion at justifying my actions or, far more often, my inaction by falling back on a little bit of privilege-driven self-pity. It’s not my default by any means, but it show up when I least expect it.
I need God’s help to do God’s will. And that means I need to keep asking for God’s help and listening for God’s help, which means listening to all the people around me in my various communities (sometimes which, admittedly, I can struggle with). I just appreciate Solomon’s putting it out there. It just grounded me a bit this morning.
How does God guide me to do God’s will in my day-to-day life?
