For God�s spiritual protection over each of the cabinet level departments and those who lead them
Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; protect me from men of violence, who devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war every day.
--Psalm 140:1-2
Holy Lord God, You are a God of peace and purity. You reign in beauty and holiness over all things, and Your power and might are beyond our ability to understand or imagine. When You call Your armies to action, they respond, O Lord of Hosts! We praise You for Your power and authority which are high and exalted above human reasoning.
We pray today for every member of President Obama�s cabinet and those who staff the departments they lead, asking that You cover them with Your extraordinary protection and care. Keep them safe, O Lord, as they serve our President, our nation, and, in turn, us. Keep them from hazard and calamity, clearing danger from their paths, that they may serve in freedom and strength. Remind them to serve Your purposes as they work in the halls of government, I ask in Jesus� name, amen.
With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.
For it is you who light my lamp, the LORD my God lightens my darkness.
For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.
This God--his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?--
the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless.
He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights.
He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great.
You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip.
I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed.
I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet.
For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me.
"God never disappoints his servants, but always at length deals graciously with them, provided they wait for his aid with meekness and patience."
"Let us, therefore, rest assured that God will actually show himself upright towards us, seeing he has promised to be the guardian and protector of our welfare, and his promise is certain and infallible truth."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
James 1:19-27
Today we get into one of the more difficult books of the New Testament. By "difficult," I mean that James is pretty tough on us. From James, we get the truth that "faith without works is dead." And today, we get the truth that "religion" is more than just talk.
But first, he cautions us about anger. "God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger." This is a very important concept, especially for people who are "activists." There are a lot of Christians who are into "causes." There isn't anything inherently wrong with a cause, but when the cause becomes your god, you have a problem. The truth of the matter is, there is really only one Cause, and that is Jesus. If we get more caught up in human rights and abortion than we do in Jesus, we've lost our focus. And if we get too angry about any of those things, that's all the world sees...our anger. Now, again, anger can be ok. As long as we remember two things that the Scriptures tell us. One, be angry and sin not. And second, what James said above..."God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger."
Lest anyone misunderstand me, I'm not against being active in support of human rights and fighting to stop abortion. Hear me well. But those and other causes should always be behind our devotion for Christ.
But then James goes on to another subject...listening, hearing, and acting on the word of God. We aren't listening if it goes in one ear and out the other. We should act on what we hear. He compares those who hear and then don't act on it to one who looks at himself in a mirror and then immediately forgets what he looks like. That sounds humorous, doesn't it? "But," he says, "whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God--the free life!--even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action."
That whole passage reminds me of a song, especially the part about forgetting the image in the mirror.
When I was a child
I had a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look and it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now,
The child is grown
The dream is gone.
I....have become
Comfortably numb.
Isn't that sad? Those are some of the most tragic words I've ever heard in a song, and every time I hear them, I pray that I don't become like that..."comfortably numb."
That requires action when we hear the word of God. James closes this out by talking about what "true religion" is. It's taking care of "the homeless and loveless." Traditional translations render it "widows and orphans." Either way. God cares about the helpless. And he expects us to care about them as well.
That takes us back to "causes," doesn't it? Ironic...but it's true. We do need to care about human rights and abortion. But we can't afford to let them consume us.
The causes are not the most important thing. Jesus Christ is. And, yes, Jesus got angry. We can be angry about causes that God gives us. As long as we don't sin in that anger.
Grace and peace, friends.