God Pause for Monday, 11/24/2014
/Luther Seminary God Pause
Monday, 11/24/2014 Reading: Isaiah 64:1-9
Years ago (many), our son always gave this reply when he got into trouble and was asked, "Why did you do that?!" With quivering lip he'd say, "I'm having a bad day ... "
Whether because of something you said--or did--or didn't say or do, when's the last time you had a bad day? And when you have a bad day, do you echo the words of Isaiah, and ... Bob Barker and Drew Carey? Do you, too, cry out to God, "Come on DOWN!" And if you recount God's previous appearances and power-full deliveries but God still seems--well, indifferent--to your plight, then what?
Perhaps your Great Expectations of our Great God do reflect those of Isaiah--or Elijah. Perhaps you look for God to startle from within a fire or earthquake or other life-shattering display. But perhaps, instead, it is time for God's still, small voice. Perhaps this day is yours simply to be shaped by our Almighty Potter.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me ... And don't get too upset over my bad days, Lord God. Forgive that which I've done and that which I've left undone, for it all boils down to the fact you are our God, and we are your people. Amen.>
Keith Muschinske Chaplain, United States Air Force (retired) Eagle River, Alaska Master of Divinity, 1989
Isaiah 64:1-9 (NRSV)
1 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence-- 2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil--to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! 3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. 4 From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. 5 You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed. 6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 7 There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. 8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. 9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.
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