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10:30 am Worship

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Psalm 86: 1-2

¹Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

²Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you.

You are my God…

“What, then, is God saying to man through creation?

“What is God saying to man through the scriptures?

“One thing and one only: that God is God and man is man. The consequences follow of their own accord; what matters is that man should realize that God is God and that man is not God. “It may seem almost absurd to keep on insisting on this truth, but it is not so: for our mistakes, our uncertainties, and our unhappiness almost always stems from our having ignored one or other term of the equation.” [Carlo Carretto, In Search of the Beyond, 31.]

Once we begin to apprehend this teaching, Carretto said, we can begin to find peace, for we realize, looking at nature, how God created and continues to create, and reading scriptures, to believe all things are in the hands of an omnipotent, good, and loving father. The Bible reveals our own poverty and inadequacy and, in Jesus, assures us it doesn’t matter.

We are loved. Forgiven. Thus, the psalmist recognizes his own poverty and weakness, his need for guidance and direction, and finally recognizes where assurance may be found.

Knowing these things, one can relax, cast off fear, and move forward no matter what circumstances occur in his or her lifetime. Can rediscover the simple joy of a small child, who remains in every moment without worry. The small child knows he must depend on the parent, that he will be fed, clothed, held close. For this reason, Jesus used the image of children to teach his disciples. What did he teach? Just this: God is God, man is not God.

Man depends upon another. Just like a child.

Hymn of the day: The Love of God. Online at Rossford UMC - Media.

Rev. Lawrence Keeler