Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of Proper 5: Year 1
Morning, Psalm 72; Evening, Psalm 119:73 to 96;
Deuteronomy 31:30 to 32:14; 2nd Corinthians 11:21b to 33; Luke 19:11 to 27:
“My soul has longed for your salvation; I have put my hope in your word:” (Psalm 119:81)
I understand that Psalm 119 is patterned after the Hebrew alphabet with each alphabet having eight verses. From the letter Kaph, and in our verse 81, we have the above words, words of hope for our salvation.
We have souls. For far too many of us we are not in touch with our souls. Our souls are our connection with God. It is within our souls that we have hope.
Hope, as Paul explains, is not something seen, but rather, unseen, God’s unrevealed plan for us is coming into being in spite of ourselves. And by God’s plan, we are clueless. We can never see it coming. Paul says, “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience:” (Romans 8:24 and 25). So we are driving blind. We trust in God to work God’s magic. The Isralites did not see the sea parting for their escape from the oncoming Egyptians. No one saw, or expected God almighty to come to us as an infant. God always surprises us, but at the same time, fulfills our hopes in ways we don’t see coming.
In my quiet moments I come into close contact with the presence of God. It is the almost, but not yet. It is Peter, James and John at the transfiguration. It is about feeling the presence of the Almighty, the Creator of all that is, and yet, concerned about humanity, about you and me.
There really is hope for all of us. God has implanted a soul in each of us. We are special among living creatures. We need to be more attentive to the nudging we get from God in our daily lives. God wants good for each of us. God wants it for us more than we want it for ourselves. Yes we hope for what is not seen and yet desired. This too is the action of our God given souls. I believe the hope that is in us is part of the Image of God who is the God of hope. Paul prays for us in saying, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit:” (Romans 15:13).
Whether we are aware of it or not, our souls long for God’s salvation. My beloved of the Lord, we must put our hope and trust in God’s Word and God’s guidance in our everyday lives.
Let us live in order that we might love, rather than just live to live, listening to what the Spirit is saying to, and through, the saints of God, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 