Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, June 27, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
God acts directly in our lives. For most of my life, I didn’t really believe this was true. Despite all my understanding of theology and love of growing up in the church, I lived as a functional deist—believing that God was “out there somewhere, off busy doing other, more important things” and that it was up to me to wrest happiness from life using the gifts God had given me at birth. It took a bit of a beat-down by life and the practice of a recovery program to make me realize the disconnect. These days, I am quick to see where and how (and through whom) God shows up in immediate, vital ways on a regular basis. And of course, it’s not as though God didn’t show up before then—God always did. It’s just that now I see it in real time as much as in retrospect, which is cool. It’s “no messenger or angel, but God’s presence” that makes my life livable (and wonderful) in spite of whatever challenges get thrown my way.
When has God shown up directly in my life? Was I aware of it in the moment or only in retrospect?
