Living in the Spirit
August 10, 2016

Scripture Reading: Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
   you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
   and come to save us! –Psalm 80:1-2

“Work with me here” is a phrase spoken by detectives on television trying to get information to solve a crime. Is it not the phrase Jesus speaks to us as we pray for salvation? The Bible resonates with pleas by God’s people for God to save us usually from disasters of our own making.

I must confess I am not attentive to tasks that would make my life much easier if I would just incorporate them into my routines. I ignore helpful hints about tossing junk mail in the recycle bin as soon as it is determined to be junk mail. For some reason, I feel a need to stack them on my side table thinking I might look at them again, and I have to look at them again when I finally get disgusted with my stack quickly shuffling through the unopened letters and ultimately recycling.

I fear we may do the same thing with our faith. Rather than communing with God on a regular basis we remain self-sufficient until what might have been a small issue has grown into a major one and we seek God’s saving acts as an afterthought. God is the source of sufficiency as well as salvation. As partners with Christ, we must invite God’s strength in every aspect of our lives.

Prayer: Lord, forgive me for my failure to be a full partner in our relationship. Enable my sufficiency to reflect your solutions to life’s small and large challenges. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.