Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then [Samuel] would come back to Ramah, for his home was there ”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, September 10, 2022
by Daniel D. Maurer, Clergy Stuff
In my opinion, my seminary professors never did adequately cover what preachers should do with vast swaths of the Old Testament that deal with battles and other history. When I was a pastor, I had the luxury of using each Sunday’s assigned readings from a lectionary. Thankfully, many of these battle recollections are left out.
Now that I’m out of the pastoring profession, I still wonder the purpose of passages like today’s. Perhaps it’s only to reflect on the history of Israel. However, I can’t shake the inkling that there is something more.
The prophet and judge Samuel eventually returned home to complete his God-given, commissioned task. I can think of no more appropriate metaphor to remind us that, at the end of it all—no matter how quickly it passed or how difficult it was—God bids us return home. In God, we find our final resting place, after all the battles and difficulties life has to offer.
Remind me that I will find my way home in you, O God. Amen.
Prayer concern: For the homeless or those feeling lost.
