Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“[T]he snare is broken, and we have escaped. (v. 7b)”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, September 17, 2022
by Daniel D. Maurer, Clergy Stuff
God has appointed pastors and leaders of faith communities with many difficult tasks. One especially hard job is the interpretation of scripture. Every week (and sometimes more frequently), the ancient (and often obscure) words stare back into your pastors eyes. It’s as if the monastic scribe who once copied those words to pass God’s wisdom to another generation knew that, centuries from then, another faithful leader would be charged with reinterpreting and translating the message to the spiritually-hungry.
Of course, since the advent of the printing press, scripture is no longer delegated to the experts. Today, the stories in Bible do not even need to be contained in a book — anyone with an internet connection can instantly access, chapter and verse, any passage that exists. However, interpretation remains slippery, especially when it comes to particular passages that don’t seem to speak directly to us, much like today’s psalm.
How is Israel’s deliverance even remotely connected with us today? The pastor’s job is to answer that question, or at least begin the conversation with us how we, too, have escaped the snare of our enemies.
God, thank you for pastors and leaders who devote themselves to the study of your word. Amen.
