Troubling times
The Fourth Sunday of Easter
The Lord is good.
He protects those who trust him
in times of trouble. ~ Nahum 1:7 (CEV)
We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:8 (NCV)
KEY IDEA:
The Lord is our hope during troubling times.
PRAYER:
You, Lord, are my only hope -- especially during the troubling times that I am enduring. I confess that I too often allow despair to find a place in my life. So I need help in staying focused on the hope you give. I'm going to keep my eyes on you for you are my hope during troubling times. Amen.
*ABOUT THE
DAILY TEXTS
The Daily Texts have been published by the Moravian Church since 1731. In 2011 I started posting these Bible verses for my spiritual formation students at Pacific Islands University. In the process of responding to the verses, I found the rhythm of looking for a common thread and writing a prayer based on that key idea to be helpful for my own soul. The prayers are more or less modeled on the TRIP method, which is what I ask my students to do in their journaling. ~ Brad Boydston
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase -- a freestyle biblical adaptation -- somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
