God Pause for Wednesday, 10/29/2014
/Luther Seminary God Pause
Wednesday, 10/29/2014 Reading: Psalm 43
Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.>
A few days ago I attended a seminar featuring Richard J. Leider. I bought his latest book, Life Re-imagined: Discovering Your New Life Possibilities. Richard and his book were all that were promised to me by friend, David. You might guess that a person who will be seventy-nine by the time you read this, would be energized by the prospect of NEW possibilities.
The psalmist, too, is re-imagining his life. What would his life be like if he was no longer walking around mournfully because of the oppression of the enemy? What would the possibilities of his life be like if he really believed that God was greater than his enemies? What would happen if he re-imagined that he was no longer living in the darkness of the night but in the daylight of truth?
The answer for the psalmist is that re-imagining his life would lead him to again praise the Lord, his help and his God. When a seventy-nine-year-old, retired preacher begins to re-imagine his life, and discover his new life possibilities, he might lose his social security and pension. He might be thought to be a candidate for therapy to cure his delusional mind set. When I suggested to the cooperative board that we should have a canopy over our front entrance, two people suggested that hell would have to first freeze over. It will be risky to share my new life possibilities. Yet I would like to suggest that re-imagining life and discovering new life possibilities is what sainthood is all about. All things are possible for those who believe.
Father, connect us so tightly to your Son, that we become empowered to re-imagine our lives as Jesus' partners to recreate the world to your glory. Amen!>
Hub Nelson Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Edina, Minn. (Retired) Master of Divinity, 1962
Psalm 43 (NRSV)
1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people; from those who are deceitful and unjust deliver me! 2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you cast me off? Why must I walk about mournfully because of the oppression of the enemy? 3 O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. 4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
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