Why have you made me like this?: Lent Daybook 34
Take a few deep breaths, settle your body, mind, and heart into a quiet space, and let’s begin with prayer.
Opening prayer: Heavenly Father, make me more like Jesus and more like the true self you’ve created as I savor your loving presence today. Please guide my thoughts and impressions by your Holy Spirit. Amen.
Look: Potter (I have lost track of this source.)
Listen: Abba, The Worship Initiative - Lyrics | Spotify | YouTube
Read: Psalm 31; Psalm 35; Jeremiah 24:1-10; Romans 9:19-33; John 9:1-17
Excerpts:
In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me. Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.
You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me…
Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was beset as a city under siege.
*
Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! Take hold of shield and buckler, and rise up to help me! Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers; say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”
*
The Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. This was after King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the artisans, and the smiths, and had brought them to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs—the good figs very good and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”
Then the word of the Lord came to me: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with their whole heart.
But thus says the Lord: Like the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt. I will make them a horror, an evil thing, to all the kingdoms of the earth—a disgrace, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them until they are utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.
*
You will say to me then, “Why then does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who indeed are you, a human, to argue with God? Will what is molded say to the one who molds it, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction, and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— including us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the gentiles? As he also says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
“And in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called children of the living God.”
*
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”
*
I had said in my alarm, “I am driven far from your sight.” But you heard my supplications when I cried out to you for help.
Love the Lord, all you his saints. The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.
—Psalm 31:1-3, 21; Psalm 35:1-3; Jeremiah 24; Romans 9:19-26; John 9:13-17; Psalm 31:22-24
Pray: The Lord's Prayer - Adapted from this source
On Mondays during Lent, we'll use the Lord's Prayer as our guide for praying for ourselves and the world. One of the ways to pray the Lord's prayer is by dividing it into six sections and pausing between each section to offer prayer on that theme. This week, as we consider how resolving to stay present to God with our grief helps us express lament to God, notice areas of acceptance that stir in your heart and mind as you pray the Lord’s Prayer. Journal your responses.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name
Thank God for who God is and for God's abundant faithfulness. Contemplate
God's many attributes and offer praise for the blessings in your life, community, and the world: ____________________.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Pray for God's rule and reign to become a reality in your life, city, nation, and
world. Ask for God to bring miracles and salvation: ____________________.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Pray for God's daily provision in your life and for those around the world who
the Holy Spirit brings to your heart and mind: ____________________.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.
Engage in a few moments of silence to allow space for the Holy Spirit to bring
specific acts of sin to your attention. Confess those sins to the Lord. Also, be still
and allow the Holy Spirit to bring to mind those that have sinned against you so
that you can name them to God, ask for healing and strength to forgive. Forgive
those who have wronged you: ____________________.
Lead us not into temptation.
Ask for God to guide you in ‘paths of righteousness for God's name sake'. Pray that
God will give you the discernment and knowledge of God's will in the specific
decisions, known and unknown, ahead of you today: ____________________.
Deliver us from evil.
Pray for God's protection against any of the strategies of Satan. The Devil wants
to kill, steal, and destroy. Ask God to mightily deliver you and others the Holy
Spirit brings to your heart and mind: ____________________.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Do: Watch the pottery video below (or search for yourself, there are many beautiful, mesmerizing options!) and pray for the Holy Spirit to enlarge your imagination about how He works in your life - through the healing and suffering, correction and mercy, and the ordinary and extraordinary. Give thanks for these words from today’s passage in Romans:
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
“And in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called children of the living God.”
Rest in this gift and thank God with a prayer of response, “Abba, I belong to you.”
*Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year A of the Book of Common Prayer 2019 (Anglican Church of North America). Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include both Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 1)