Living in the Spirit
June 21, 2017
Scripture Reading: Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17
Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all day long.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
listen to my cry of supplication.
In the day of my trouble I call on you,
for you will answer me.
There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours. –Psalm 86:1-8
What other gods do we have? When we can identify them, we most likely will find the source of interference with our relationship with God. The ancients shaped gods from clay and stone and other materials. They were tangible representations of their desires such as fertility gods, war gods, and agriculture gods. The hope was that homage paid to these gods brought children, victory, and good crops. The desires of life are neither good nor bad unless our emphasis on them overshadows their worth. Children are the future, war disrupts everything, food is a necessity for life.
Whether we have a graven image before us or not, we do have other gods. I write a lot about the gods of power and greed as I see them as the primary evils of our times. We all can find ourselves caught up in either or both. Legislators in Oklahoma ended important criminal justice legislation by protocol not votes because they could. Democracy is still in its infancy in providing equal justice for all.
How do we as individuals and collectively order our lives toward our commitment to serve God first and foremost and use the skills and talents with which God gifted us to actualize God’s vision for the world? How do we speak truth to comfortable culture that does not mesh well with God’s intent? How do we resist the drive to project our desires as God’s? How do we discern the difference?
Prayer: Struggle with us as we consider what gods are crowding our service to you. Free us from the bondage of other gods. Order our lives. Amen.