In Your righteousness,
deliver and set me free. Psalm 71:2
I am Your servant and
the child of Your handmaid; You have freed me from my bonds. Psalm 116:14
In the course of their
journey he came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her
house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet and
listened to him speaking. Now Martha, who was distracted with serving, came to
him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do all the
serving by myself? Please tell her to help me.’ But the Lord answered, ‘Martha,
Martha,’ he said, ‘you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are
needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is
not to be taken from her. Luke
10:38-42
The distracted fretting of Martha.
The contrasted freedom of Mary.
The one thing.
And yesterday’s verses included my
pilgrimage verse.
Blessed
are those whose strength is in You,
whose hearts are set on
pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Bitterness,
they make it a place of
springs;
the autumn rains
also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength,
till each
appears before God in Zion.
And what a gift it was from God my St. James
pilgrimage, twice, so I could really get what it is about. One thing, really.
And I am part of this almost silly Facebook
group, American Pilgrims. Silly because the whole bunch of them really get it.
Over and over, it is about this one thing. Over and over again, it doesn’t
matter about the blisters. It doesn’t matter about the type of jacket. It
doesn’t matter about the snoring. Even if they haven’t wrapped the words “Lord
God Almighty” around the Presence, He is there.
The Way of the Wall, Gary Stokes: The
Middle of the Oreo
Often when we seek His will, His purpose, we are attacked
from all sides and from within.
Nehemiah 5 is all about hard times. The very hard times
being suffered by the Israelites as they labored to rebuild the wall. And they
cried for mercy.
The cry for mercy is always answered by God.
Nehemiah reacted with anger, anger that led to godly action.
He paused and pondered. And he ruled his heart within himself. He noticed the root problem and gathered the
leaders and contended with them over a very actionable step: you are charging
interest from your own people. The leaders minimalized the consequences of
their actions, slavery of children. (Exodus 22:21-27) If
you lend money, do not treat it as a business deal; charge no interest.
When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
Israel’s national identity is “We were slaves, and when we
cried out, He redeemed us.” We are not The People Who are Better, but We are
the Redeemed People. This is all about, Will we be redemptive or will we be
blind?
All men and women are created equal in the eyes of God. We,
the Church, need to step into actively protect each and every child, our flesh
and blood.
It is different to be religious rather than reverent. Let us
not buy into doing what our culture does. The Way of the Wall means living a
life worthy of the calling you have received.
Jesus
taught us, saying: “Sell your possessions and give to those in need. Get
yourselves purses that do not wear out, treasure that will not fail you, in
heaven where no thief can reach it and no moth destroy it. For wherever your
treasure is, that is where your heart will be too.” Luke
12:33-34
