Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, June 12, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Victory can look like lots of different things. The U.S. cultural drive to win at any cost teaches us otherwise. It says victory is only standing triumphant at the top of a heap of other people, with power and wealth and worldly acclaim. I think God’s victory is quite different.
Of course, the back half of this psalm is full of violent, militaristic language that supports the top-of-the-heap idea. But I can just maybe eke out how I can see it as scripture and find resonance with it. With God’s praises in our mouths, we, then, go forth in action to bring justice in the world. When we have the humility to recognize that God is God (that is, that we are not God) then we are equipped to do God’s work in the world, moving toward the promised victory of true justice for all.
Maybe it’s a stretch. But I’m going with it.
How do I define victory? What if I look at it through the lens of my faith?
![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)
