Living in the Spirit

September 13, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 98:1-5
O sing to the Lord a new song,
   for he has done marvelous things.
His right hand and his holy arm
   have gained him victory.
The Lord has made known his victory;
   he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
   to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
   the victory of our God.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
   break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
   with the lyre and the sound of melody.

I prefer to write these devotions the day before they are published because I like to cover current events. I had the opportunity to go on a retreat, however, and decided to write some of these ahead so that I could take a bit of a retreat from my routine. I am glad I did that and am equally glad that when I returned to my writing this Psalm was waiting for me. I learned the chorus, I Will Do a New Thing in You*, (see Isaiah 43:19) when I attended a Children’s Defense Fund Seminar several years ago. Life changes and the world around us changes. Thus, we are constantly thrust into finding new ways of being and answering our call to serve the Lord.

The meeting I just attended considered economics’ impact on everything we do. We met in Washington DC and had the opportunity to tour the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Holocaust Museum. At the same time, we explored the impact the economy had throughout the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament in our study group.  The irony of the experience was staying in an expensive hotel and eating expensive food while exploring the negative impact economic factors have on all people’s lives. All the vulnerable poor could not have afforded this educational experience. That is only bad if we do not incorporate what we gleaned from the experience by finding ways to restore our world to wholeness where everyone has enough. That will require us to take our blinders off and let the Lord lead us into a new thing in us.

Prayer: Lord, help us find our new thing so that we can enable others to find theirs. Amen.

*https://hymnary.org/text/i_will_do_a_new_thing

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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.