Friday, March 31, 2017

Friday of Lent 4



Friday of Lent 4, March 31, 2017 Psalm 122:6 


Psalm 122:6 English Standard Version (ESV)

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
    “May they be secure who love you!
                         
 In Hebrew, the author uses a wordplay on the sounds of “shalom” meaning peace which forms the last part of “Jerusalem

The Psalmist offers up a prayer, to the Lord who hears our every cry. “May they be secure who love you.” The answer to that prayer, is, of course, flipped. “Because I love you, you are secure.”  In spite of who or what comes against you, God is for you. Paul would remind us in Romans, chapter eight, “If God is for us who can be against us?”  Read these encouraging words. Paul offers three hopeful assurances: There is no opposition Romans 8:31-32.  There is no condemnation Romans 8:33-34. There is no separation Romans 8:35-39. All these things come to us from the Lord who loves us. You are in the safe hands of Jesus who says, “Because I love you, you are mine, and you are secure.”

O God, you have given us the good news of your abounding love in your Son Jesus Christ: So fill our hearts with thankfulness that we may rejoice to proclaim the good tidings we have received; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives, and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen 1

[1] Collect for Friday of Lent 4,  http://www.liturgies.net/Lent/LentenCollects.htm
Luther’s Seal © Ed Riojas, Higher Things

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