10/17- Friday Psalm 5:4-8, 11- 4For you
are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
you, Lord, detest. 7But I,
by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward
your holy temple. 8Lead
me, Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies— make your way straight before me. 11But let
all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in
you.
Bonhoeffer: “Repeatedly in
Psalm 5 there are two voices, bringing the same concern to God. Is this not a
hint that one who prays never prays alone?”
Thoughts: To be able to
downplay evil as if it does not matter what we do is to miss the importance of
the holiness of God. Some things do not
please God. Which things? God, as the Creator, has the right to decide
what is wicked and what is good. The
things that go along with His design and His creation are good. The bloodthirsty who kill thinking they are
doing good- think ISIS- are wrong. The
lying and deceiving who try to disguise the reality of life in order to achieve
more selfishness are wrong. But it is by
God’s great love that we are brought into fellowship with Him. It is by God’s great love that we know we
should be reverent and humble before Him instead of arrogant and selfish. The prayer is that God will lead us in His
way of fellowship and love because there are those who would persecute or make
fun of those who would try to be selfless instead of selfish. There are the arrogant who would use their
power to overwhelm the weak and humble.
The two voices Bonhoeffer describes are the “I” and the “we.” No individual prays apart from the
fellowship. The selfless are never
alone.
Prayer: Lord, as I give myself
to you and others, may I find that you are there with me and others are as
well.
Crowd cheering a racer on.
The Fellowship cheers us on the straight and narrow path to the finish line.
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