Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Rather, your iniquities have been barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, December 16, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I don’t believe God ever hides God’s face from us. But I’ll tell you that I have a long history of hiding mine. I’ve thrown up all kinds of barriers between myself and God. And God doesn’t have to punish me for it—I do a perfectly fine job of punishing myself, thank-you-very-much. In fact, the very act of putting up those barriers and turning away from God, that self-created separation, is its own punishment. I have never found much happiness in life trying to barrel through on self-will, acting as if God was busy off doing other things so it was up to me to control everything.
The truth is God is never busy off doing other things. God is right here, right now, fully present in even the minutiae of my—and your—life.
What barriers do I place between myself and God?
![1 Kings 17:1-16 [17-24], God’s Care for the Widow](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b39b61ab48de92d991a40a/bf37035e-33d5-439f-a0d6-a68b02d0f1bc/24-11-03.jpg)
