Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, August 6, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
In other words, don’t give up. Doing God’s work in the world can be exhausting and painful. Often we face the enormous barriers of an entrenched society uninterested in the welfare of its most vulnerable members, too wrapped up in self-interest to see the damage being done to the environment and its inhabitants—even though it includes themselves!
Following in “the Way” of Jesus, as Christianity was referred to in the first century, is not the easier, softer path through life. It calls us into stark honesty with ourselves; it pushes us out of our comfort zone and into service; it leads us into direct conflict with those in power. And sometimes we suffer for it—discouragement, exhaustion, doubt, loss.
Thus we have to entrust ourselves to God, knowing God is faithful and shares our place in our suffering. But as the writer makes clear, we are not to hide ourselves in God, but continue doing what it is we are called to do.
This is a life far more fulfilling than any that comes from buying into the self-interested society that surrounds us. God sees to that.
When have I been so discouraged I wanted to give up? Did I find the strength to keep going? Where?