11/28/16
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
In our Psalm for this coming Sunday we pray that the king will have God’s justice. Sadly it seems that we often have a tendency to pray for God’s blessing on those leaders we like and pray for God’s cursing on those we do not like. This is not the pattern in biblical prayers for leaders. Rather, we pray that our leader, whoever it might be, would have God’s wisdom to bring justice and deal rightly with people. We ask that God’s servant, our political leader, will care for the poor and rescue people from those who would oppress them.
This, of course, is an impossibly complicated task. Any one of us could quickly list several political or social situations in which any action or inaction on the part of political leaders would result in some good and some ill. No matter what is done, someone will suffer. Some of that suffering will be just and some will not. The interactions in society are so incredibly complex there will simply be no straightforward solution. How is the leader to manage? Verse five adds to the prayer, that the leaders will fear the true God. He is the only one who can give true wisdom. The leader who trusts in God in a steadfast manner will be a great blessing to his people.
We pray for our leaders. We pray that they will trust the true God. And we pray, in this time of Advent, that we will all together be ready for the coming of the true King, the Lord of all, who will indeed pour out righteousness and blessing upon his people.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
In our Psalm for this coming Sunday we pray that the king will have God’s justice. Sadly it seems that we often have a tendency to pray for God’s blessing on those leaders we like and pray for God’s cursing on those we do not like. This is not the pattern in biblical prayers for leaders. Rather, we pray that our leader, whoever it might be, would have God’s wisdom to bring justice and deal rightly with people. We ask that God’s servant, our political leader, will care for the poor and rescue people from those who would oppress them.
This, of course, is an impossibly complicated task. Any one of us could quickly list several political or social situations in which any action or inaction on the part of political leaders would result in some good and some ill. No matter what is done, someone will suffer. Some of that suffering will be just and some will not. The interactions in society are so incredibly complex there will simply be no straightforward solution. How is the leader to manage? Verse five adds to the prayer, that the leaders will fear the true God. He is the only one who can give true wisdom. The leader who trusts in God in a steadfast manner will be a great blessing to his people.
We pray for our leaders. We pray that they will trust the true God. And we pray, in this time of Advent, that we will all together be ready for the coming of the true King, the Lord of all, who will indeed pour out righteousness and blessing upon his people.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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