Daily Scripture Passage: Psalm 98

Psalm 98 (ESV)

Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord

98 Oh sing to the Lord a new song,
    for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm
    have worked salvation for him.
² The Lord has made known his salvation;
    he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
³ He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
    to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
    the salvation of our God.

⁴ Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
    break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

Thoughts to Ponder from Acts 13:22-52

Acts 13:44-52 (ESV)

⁴⁴ The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. ⁴⁶ And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷ For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
    that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

⁴⁸ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. ⁴⁹ And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. ⁵⁰ But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. ⁵¹ But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. ⁵² And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

“They shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium” (Acts 13:51).

When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Pisidian Antioch, they followed their usual custom and went first to the town’s synagogue. There, the “children of the family of Abraham” listened attentively to Paul’s preaching about Jesus. Some became believers, while others invited him back to explain further. However, some of the Jewish leaders managed to turn many of their people against the apostles. Paul and Barnabas saw this as an opportunity to bring the good news to Gentiles, many of whom came to believe.

When further persecution got the apostles expelled from the region, they wasted no time on recrimination or regrets. They simply “shook the dust from their feet” and moved on, concluding that God was calling them to evangelize elsewhere. And as they had come to expect, they discovered that the Holy Spirit had gone before them, preparing other people’s hearts to receive the good news of new life in Jesus.

When we encounter opposition, we often wind up with mud clinging to our feet. Trying to understand what went wrong, we revisit our words and actions over and over again, wishing we had handled things differently. Or we blame someone else, opening the door to hostility or resentment. Perhaps we conclude that this person didn’t deserve our loving efforts in the first place. This kind of over-analysis can lead to a frightened paralysis, in which we don’t risk any more trouble.

It’s fine to try to analyze what went wrong and to take responsibility for anything we could have done better. This is especially important when we are dealing with people who are close to us. But sometimes, like Paul, we will discover that our seeming failure marks not only the ned of our work in one sphere but also God’s invitation to move on to the next task that is part of his plan for us. When that happens, let’s commend the past situation to the mercy of God and joyfully seek the Holy Spirit, asking him to show us where the risen Jesus is inviting us to follow him next.

Jesus, thank you for making me your coworker. I lay my fears and failures at your feet, asking you for the grace to see where your love would lead me next. Amen.

From C.S. Lewis

The human spirit will not even begin to try and surrender self-will as long as all seem to be well with it. Now error and sin both have this property, that the deeper they are the less their victim suspects their existence; they are masked evil. Pain is unmasked, unmistakable evil; every man knows that something is wrong when he is being hurt…And pain is not only immediately recognizable evil, but evil impossible to ignore. We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities; and anyone who has watched gluttons shoveling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating, will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

From The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis