Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, August 18, 2025
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
The calm before the shitstorm. I hope you can pardon my language. This is just the phrase that popped to mind when I read this. It seems like such an odd interlude. All hell is literally about to break loose, and it’s almost as if heaven is collectively holding its breath before the final horrific havoc is wreaked upon the sinful earth. Maybe they are in shock, rendered speechless by the degree of violence and destruction that is about to occur, their hearts broken for all who will become victims, as if they cannot quite believe God would do this to God’s creation.
There are times when I, too, am silenced by my incredulity at what I can only describe as evil oozing from the highest offices in my country right now. When I hear yet another story of yet another beautiful human who has become a victim of unlawful detention or deportation, or who is being starved to death by a nation we supply weapons to. I don’t want things to come to the point where violence seems the only answer—it’s not the answer, even if Revelation says it is. I want to believe that God can and will bring justice to bear on our oh-so-broken systems. But in the meantime, this stuff can literally take my breath away.
Where do I see God in the midst of terrible human-inflicted suffering?
