Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Deliver me, O Lord, from evildoers; protect me from those who are violent,
who plan evil things in their minds and stir up wars continually.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, June 19, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
The psalmist is talking on a personal level. They are concerned with people who are deliberately plotting their downfall. That isn’t something I relate to, though I know there are plenty of people for whom it is the norm, particularly Black and brown folks oppressed by societal injustice. As a Christian, I am called to be God’s hands and feet in the world, working toward God’s deliverance of those folks.
This opening couple of verses, though, speaks more generally, and the reality of systems that perpetuate violence toward individuals, communities, nations, the environment, etc. isn’t something my privilege will ultimately give me immunity to. Thus I can cry out with the psalmist for God’s delivery from those whose actions, based in self-serving greed, are destroying the world in which I and my children live. I can work as hard as I can to be God’s hands and feet in the world, but ultimately, deliverance is from God.
Loving God, show me what is mine to do in the world, and help me to trust you with those things I can’t change. Amen.
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