2 Peter 1:16-19

¹⁶ For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes ¹⁷ when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” ¹⁸ We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

¹⁹ Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. ²⁰ Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, ²¹ or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.

2 Peter 1:16-19

Dear God, this is an interesting follow-up to what I did yesterday on “The Truth.” That’s what defined Peter’s life. For Peter, I wonder what was the moment he decided Jesus was the Messiah. Was it the moment he was called? The first time he saw a miracle? Finding a gold coin in a fish to pay taxes? The Transfiguration? Did all of that do it, or did all of that crumble and disappear with the crucifixion? Regardless of what happened before the crucifixion, I think it’s obvious that Jesus’s resurrection was the driving force behind the remainder of Peter’s earthly life. Why? Because it was true.

So since I know the truth about you today, what is it you would have me do? Frankly, I find it pretty easy to talk with my friends and acquaintances about my faith. I have a pastor friend that describes it as having a leaky bucket. When you’re full of Jesus, you can’t help but leak it on others. I think I do that to some extent, although I could always do more. Where I’m probably not leaky enough is with those I don’t know who come across my path. Clients at our nonprofit. Servers at restaurants and stores. How would I interact differently with them if I really believed it was true?

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, first, thank you that it is true. Thank you for being who and what you are. Second, Holy Spirit, my counselor, comforter, teacher, healer, and presence of the God of the universe in my soul, please remind me continuously today that it is true. It’s all true. And show me how to offer that truth–the freedom, love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, kindness, goodness, and self control–that comes from true relationship with you.

I pray all of this with a submitted hear to you,

Amen

 

2 Peter 3:8-16

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.

Dear God, as an American Christian in 2023, it is hard to read this passage in the right context. I don’t suffer. I don’t know what it means to suffer. Yes, I have pain from rejection and being unmercifully judged, but that’s just from a few people close to me. It’s real pain, but I’m not being persecuted. I’m don’t have people out to get me–trying to kill me. Holding me back just because of my beliefs.

The most devout Christian group in the country are black Americans. In terms of church attendance, it is largely recognized that they lead all other races in terms of church attendance.

I would posit that it is because they experience more persecution and suffering in their daily lives than white Americans do. I remember once when an Hispanic coworker interviewed me one time for a class. The assignment was to interview someone who is from a different social class and background that the student. One of the things we talked about during the interview was white privilege, which is something I believe to be real. But when she wrote about it she said, “John believes there is white privilege, but he doesn’t take advantage of it.” I told her that she got that wrong. I said, “I can’t help but take advantage of it. For example, when my wife and I are driving back from South Padre Island and they just wave us through at the inland border checkpoint after they ask us if we are U.S. citizens I don’t stop and say, ‘Hold it. You need to look at my ID.’ Whereas your family all has to produce IDs when you go through the checkpoint. And that’s just one example.”

My point is, Peter, Paul, and this first generation of apostles knew what it meant to suffer and so they longed for your return. They longed for a new earth. They longed for an end to this age. They didn’t know why you were taking so long. I’m sure Paul would be shocked to know that 2,000 years have now passed and Jesus hasn’t returned to put an end to the old earth yet. But here we are. And while there are plenty of people in the world who suffer and would love to see this new earth arrive today, I don’t feel that same desire. I don’t live the same kind of life Peter and Paul lived. I’m just a guy who tries to discipline himself to worship you and learn more about you even though I don’t have a desperation for respite from this current earth.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, please combine to make me mindful of those around me who are, indeed, hurting and longing for you. Help me to understand the role you have for me to play in their lives. Help me to know how to bring you to them. Love through me. Live through me. And I also want to thank you. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for caring. And in the suffering I have experience, limited as it is, thank you for being my comforter and for being my reason for living.

I pray all of this in your gracious, powerful, and awesome name,

Amen

 

2 Peter 1:4-11

And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:4-11

Dear God, there is this interesting fine line we walk in this life, and I think maybe it comes down to a simple concept: meaninglessness/meaningfulness. I watched a movie last night that seemed to revolve around this idea. Everything, Everywhere, All at Once was an interesting look at what people use to find meaning in this world. Now I would say that the lesson of Job is that the only real meaning for our lives is serving you. It’s about being in relationship with you and then being used by you in the world. That’s where I find my meaning and where I find my peace. You are my God, and I worship you.

What I saw in the movie last night was a lot of meaninglessness and despair. I’m not sure any of the characters knew what they were living for. Frankly, it was hard to watch. And even the resolution at the end didn’t really answer the meaninglessness question. Maybe that’s why I didn’t like it as much as everyone else did. By the end, it felt like they got past the bad hump in front of them, but I am not sure anything really changes.

I was talking recently with a friend who is having marital issues. He went through a separation from his wife recently, the reconciled and things were in a honeymoon phase for a while, but now they seem to be settling into their old, pre-separation patterns again. It makes me think of the U2 song, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”

Father, beyond anything else in my life, I really do find my peace in you. I find my meaning in you. You’ve given me work to do today. And should my life end today, it’s okay because it’s been lived for you and you did with my time here what you wanted. It’s not about my bucket list. It’s not about what I did or didn’t accomplish. It’s about what use I was to you in this whole scheme of time. And some would read this and say how sad it is, but I would counter that those people haven’t put their lives in perspective. In the billions and billions of human lives that have been lived over the thousands or tens of thousands of years, mine is just one. It’s so small. And that’s okay. Because one day I will be one of those souls in heaven, worshipping you. I pray that others I know might find the peace that I’ve found through your love, your grace, your acceptance, and your plan for my life.

I pray this under the authority of my Triune God,

Amen

 

2 Peter 3:15-16

And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.
2 Peter 3:15-16

Dear God, I love how Peter talked about Paul in this passage. This could have been a very polarizing situation between them. Frankly, it shocks me that it wasn’t. And I don’t give Paul a lot of the credit, although maybe I should. I perceive him to be a little more difficult to like as an individual. But Peter believed in him. You had somehow assured him through your Holy Spirit that Paul was genuine in his representation of you. He definitely takes sides between Paul and Paul’s detractors and has harsh words for the detractors.

I sometimes wonder how all of this would play out in our modern time. Is there a reason you did all of this 2,000 years ago–just so we would have it in its current form now? Because I can’t imagine Jesus in this day and age with our current media and ability to communicate. Well, maybe I can. I can certainly see how he would have ended up being killed, but I see it more as an assassination by an organized group than I see it as a government execution. But then the follow-up and the formation of these letters that form the new Testament. Maybe that’s where the model breaks down.

But I digress. I want to think about Peter and his attitude a little more. As a disciple, he was formed in the company of 11 other close confidants of Jesus. He was admonished by Jesus himself for trying to elevate himself as more important than the others. He then had to oversee the persecution of his friends and himself. This could have developed a bitter, chip-on-the-shoulder, hardness to him, but instead it helped him to identify with Jesus and become more Christ-like all the more. And now he could see what you were accomplishing through Paul and he had Paul’s back.

Father, even today I am traveling with a coworker to check out another nonprofit like ours and learn from how they do some things we want to do. Help me to be humble. Help me to see what they do that would work well with our patients and then to be willing to hear your Holy Spirit and hear from you on ways we might improve on or change their work. Help me be what my coworker needs as she does the same thing. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Speak to us in a still, small voice and guide us in our discussions both in the car on the way there and back and then while we are there. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the patient from yesterday who needs your healing. We are doing some things for her medically, but she is going to need you if she is to be healed. Oh, Father, please heal her. Oh, Father, please be in this situation. Oh, Father, please touch every person’s life who touches hers. Make this pain count. Don’t let one thing about this be wasted. And show all of us who are helping her what to do.

I pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 

2 Peter 3:8-10

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
2 Peter 3:8-10

Dear God, if Peter were here today would he still express these sentiments with the same words? Now that it’s been nearly 2,000 years since the Crucifixion, would he rethink his understanding of Jesus’s return? I mean, I’ll admit that I don’t understand anything about this. Now, I also don’t feel like I have to understand it to be completely devoted to you and worship you. Going back to my thing about you keeping me on a need-to-know basis and I don’t need to know. But what would Peter and Paul think about the fact that the second coming has apparently not happened yet?

I have to admit, when I read verse 10 I think about the fallout of nuclear war. Humans have now set up the possibility of the heavens passing away with a terrible noise and the very elements themselves disappearing in fire. We could do that ourselves. Is that possibly part of this prophecy? Will that happen? Is that part of Jesus returning?

Father, I’m literally not afraid of any of this (well, mostly not afraid). I’m am here to worship you. I repent of the sins of which I am aware and ask your mercy over the sins of which I’m not aware. I will work as into you today. Holy Spirit, walk with me today. Speak to me and give me ears to hear. Give me eyes to see. Give me compassion and love. Help me to love others and extend grace beyond my own capacity. Then, “when my body lies in the ruins of the lies that nearly ruined me will you pick up the pieces that were pure and true and breathe new life into them and set them free? When you blast this cosmos to kingdom come…when those jagged-edged mountains I live are gone…when the sky is crossed with the tears of a thousand falling suns as they crash into the sea, then can I be with you? Can I be with you?” (“Be With You” by Rich Mullins)

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

2 Peter 3:8-10

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
2 Peter 3:8-10

Dear God, I was talking with my wife recently about Christians’ conflicted relationship with the end times. On the one hand we say, “Come on back Jesus.” On the other hand we see something that we interpret as a sign of the tribulation or whatever and we freak out. For example, if we see someone we perceive to be the anti-Christ, shouldn’t that excite us? Doesn’t that mean you’re getting closer?

It came up because she told me she had talked earlier that day with a friend who was freaked out by the recent lunar eclipse. It was the biggest one or whatever for 600 years and it will be another 600 years before it will repeat. So why does that thought cause fear and trepidation in the hearts of the faithful?

My theory is that we aren’t scared that we are losing our window to evangelize or make a difference. What is at stake is our comfort. Tell a slave or a suffering person that the end is near and they will be grateful. Tell a comfortable, fat and happy American Christian the end is near and there is resistance. There is fear of the unknown.

Father, the best thing I know to do with all of this is to take my eyes off of it and put them on you. I can’t get caught up in the future because it distracts me from this moment. Show me what you want me to do in this moment. Show me the work you have for me to do today. And help me to be what you need me to be for your kingdom so that it might come and you will might be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

2 Peter 3:3-10

Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
2 Peter 3:3-10

Dear God, some Christians are uncomfortable with this passage because they don’t want to deal with the idea that Peter didn’t understand the second coming. If scripture is inerrant, then how do I deal with Peter’s errancy? But in this case, I don’t know that Peter was wrong as much as he was sharing his theory. Now, he would probably have been shocked to learn that I would still be sitting here 2,000 years later still waiting for your return. But there’s something comforting in Peter’s mistakes.

For me, Peter is the living embodiment of what you value. He allows his passion and love for you to both lurch the church forward into history and then to get him into trouble or the wrong situations. For example, just before Pentecost, he seemingly abruptly decides that it’s up to them to fulfill the prophecy and replace Judas, which they do by casting lots and picking Matthias. But history tells us it was likely actually Paul who fulfilled that prophecy. Then he went on to deliver an amazing prayer at Pentecost. I could go on and on with stories about him. My point is, he lived a little recklessly, but sometimes that’s what you need, even if it comes with some hubristic or foolish mistakes.

Father, I am not a reckless person. I am not a bold person. I don’t know if you necessarily want me to be given the role you have for me in your body. Whether I am or I’m not intended to be more like Peter, please help me to not judge the Peters in your body so harshly, but to do what I can to support them. And help me to live completely into the role you have for me to play.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

2 Peter 3:8-13

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.

2 Peter 3:8-13

Dear God, I’ve always tried to not spend too much time thinking about the second coming, the afterlife, the rapture, the tribulation, and then the new kingdom. It seems like a distraction to me. It feels like something that takes my mind off of the present and being engaged in what you’ve called me to do today.

My wife and I just finished watching The Good Place. We normally wouldn’t have watched it, but a friend I trust recommended it. We saw the final episode last night and I was left a little…I don’t know how to describe it. It was just wrong. First and foremost, it was missing you. That was a problem. Second, it treated time like it will be experienced like we experience it now, and I don’t think that’s how it will be. You are timeless and I think that somehow we will become timeless as well. In fact, making us experience time forever seems like a form of hell. Third, and I guess finally for my purposes here tonight, it was all about earning your access to “the good place.” There was no sacrificial love. No mercy.

So how do I see my eternity after death? I see it as 1.) focused on you as God. Worshiping you. Praising you. Knowing you. 2.) I don’t think I will experience passage of time. I think time will be meaningless and there will just be existence in your realm. 3.) I know I will never get there on my own, but you’ve shown me too many times in this life how much you love me regardless of how good I am. I know your mercy is all that will get me there.

Father, help me to just plug away moment to moment. I know that I need to be ready, as Peter says here, but I’ll never be ready in the moment if I’m actually looking for the moment. I’ll only be ready if I am simply serving and following you in the present moment. Help me to stay focused on the present.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

2 Peter 3:8-9

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:8-9

Dear God, my wife and I were having dinner with friends last night and the conversation rolled around to some of the things in our lives that haven’t gone how we planned or wanted. For some of those things, we are still waiting for you to answer our prayers and do what we hope you will do.

I mentioned to them that I have just gotten to the point that I believe that you will bring about the things I hope you will. Bring about, but it has to be done n this way, taking this much time, because that is the way that will be best for your plan and the way that will best accomplish what I hope you will accomplish. There are times when I feel like my decision to believe this is a mental crutch to get through some of the disappointments and frustrations in my life. On the other hand, when I look back on my life, time and time again I can see that the things I wanted to happen that you brought about almost always required more time to come together than I wanted, but they also turned out better than I had expected because of it.

Father, for privacy reasons and since others see this journal I am not going to specifically say what I mean when I pray this, but I know you know what I’m talking about. So please do your work. Do it in your time. Do it in your way. Do it for your purposes and plan. And do it for your glory. Forget me. Forget my desires or my ego in this. I give it all to you and submit my glory in exchange for your glory.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 

The Elephant

Dear God, I’ve been praying through and thinking through these scriptures all week. I’ve looked at Moses on the mountain getting about eight chapters worth of instructions from you. I’ve looked at Peter talking in his second epistle about his experience at the Transfiguration. And I’ve looked at the Transfiguration itself. I’ve also layered on top of it the story of Naomi from the book of Ruth. These are the pieces of quilt I feel like you’ve given to me this week as I’ve prepared to preach tomorrow. So this morning, what I’d like to do is ask you to help me take these pieces and weave them together into the message that your Holy Spirit wants to deliver to the parishioners at the local Presbyterian church in the morning .

It starts, I think, with the old illustration of the blind men who each touch a different part of an elephant and then asked to describe the elephant. One describes the elephant as being a really long stump (the leg). One describe an elephant as an odd snake-type creature or really long, rough hose (the trunk). One describes it as a long smooth spear (the tusk). One describes it as a huge rough wall (the body). Another describes it as a thin, wiggly animal with some hair on the end (the tail). They are all accurate in their description of what they know, but they are wrong. They can’t see what we can see. They cannot see how the leg, trunk, tusk, body, and tail all work together to form one of the most majestic animals in the world.

That’s what you showed me in the story of Moses on the mountain. You were getting some business done with Moses. It was housekeeping time. It was paperwork time. You and Moses needed to spend some time together so that you could give him some marching orders for all of Israel. But the Israelites couldn’t see what was going on. All they saw was the cloud and the fire. For all they knew, you had grown angry with Moses and he was dead. If you would have asked them to explain what was going on they would have had no clue. Not even Moses really understood the whole picture, but you did. You could see what no one else could see.

Then we get the story of the Transfiguration. Another example of you tangibly showing up on a mountain and spending some time with your man. In this case, it was your son, Jesus, and he brought three friends (notably, you brought two friends of your own in Moses and Elijah). You know I’ve thought for a number of years that you did this because Jesus needed it. He was on his way to Jerusalem. He, at a minimum, had a good idea of what was coming if not complete knowledge of his impending future. I think he needed some affirmation and encouragement, and you provided it to him through your personal presence and affirmation as well as whatever he learned from Moses and Elijah. But what were Peter, John, and James doing there? If you asked them in that moment to describe what they had just experienced they would have said that Jesus is really powerful, and they had just gotten to see Moses and Elijah. Yes, Jesus kept talking about his death, but they didn’t really believe that. How could he possibly die? It’s almost like we look at the current stock market. How could it possibly start to lose? The piece of the elephant they could see what very small in the grand scheme of things. They didn’t understand the pressure Jesus was under or what he needed. They didn’t understand what you were doing for them in revealing the reality of Jesus being the Messiah to them through this story. That’s what the verses in 2 Peter are about. Peter, in retrospect, is telling his audience that he knows the Jesus story is real because of what he witnessed on that mountain. He and his two friends didn’t only hear some disembodied voice that could be explained away as a hallucination. They physically saw Elijah and Moses–so much so that it occurred to Peter to put up houses for them. You don’t build houses for spirits.

And then on the way down, they are still trying to make sense of what they had seen. They wondered if maybe seeing Elijah there was a fulfillment of the prophecy about Elijah preceding the Messiah. That’s when Jesus explains to them that they have already seen Elijah in John the Baptist. Jesus showed them just a little more of the elephant.

So why don’t you show us what is going on? Why do you keep us on a need-to-know basis? Why is it that I so rarely need to know? The answer is obvious. If we know any suffering or inconvenience that lies ahead we will most certainly avoid it. If I had known what answering your call to quit my stable job in 2003 would mean to my own discomfort and instability I might not have done it. If I had known some of the pain involved in parenting I might have avoided it. If Jacob had known that his relocation to Egypt would result in generations of slavery he might have let his family die in the desert. And that impoverished widow who Jesus saw put her two coins in the collection never knew that her faithfulness in the midst of her poverty would be a lesson to all of us for thousands of years.

And then there is Naomi. She was convinced you had turned on her. Mara. Call me Mara because God has made my life bitter. When I left I had everything, but now He has taken everything from me. The Lord has sent me nothing but tragedy and made me suffer. (Ruth 1:20-21) But she didn’t know. She didn’t know that you would use her situation and the loss of her husband and sons to bring Ruth to Bethlehem. She didn’t know that she would play a role, through her dead husband’s legacy, in setting Ruth up with Boaz. And she didn’t know that she would end up cuddling and raising King David’s grandfather, Obed. She didn’t know that Obed’s grandchild would kill Goliath and set up the country for its greatest period. She could only see a little piece of the elephant. But you were faithful to her.

What’s one other common thread in these stories. You gave each person affirmations along the way. They didn’t necessarily see them as affirmations. The Israelites didn’t understand that if Moses had just disappeared for 40 days with no cloud or fire they wouldn’t have necessarily believed him when he came back with the rules. Peter didn’t realize at the time that you had given him evidence of who Jesus was through witnessing the Transfiguration. And Naomi didn’t see it at the time, but if she had stopped feeling sorry for herself for a moment she would have seen that Ruth was there for her when she absolutely didn’t have to be. Naomi could have been left for dead, but you were there for her.

Father, help me to reach the level of faith where I don’t need to see what the elephant looks like to follow you joyfully. I don’t know what the lives of my children will look like. I can’t see how a decision they make in this moment will impact the next. I cannot see how my own actions will flow into history. But you have been good to me. You have been better to me than I deserve. I guess my simplest prayer is that I will decrease, you will increase, and I will worship you and do my best to love all of those around me with your love.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen