Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Potter and clay

You have everything backward! Should the potter be thought of as clay? Should what is made say of its maker, “He didn’t make me”? Should what is shaped say of the one who shaped it, “He doesn’t understand”? ~ Isaiah 29:16 (CEB)

You are only a human being. Who do you think you are to talk back to God? Does the clay say to the potter, “Why did you make me like this?” ~ Romans 9:20 (CEB)

God, you're not threatened by questions. But you are insulted by arrogance. Forgive me for presuming that I can talk back to you. Help me to accept what you are doing in the world and in my life. Sometimes the pain seems to be too much and I explode in anger. But I know that you are carrying out your plan and that eventually things are all going to workout according to your will. That's good, because I know a whole lot less than I think I know. And I most certainly know nothing compared to you. Amen.

Challenging Words
  • arrogance -- an attitude of superiority, when someone thinks he is better than others or better than the reality of who he is, prideful
  • presuming -- prideful assumption, arrogant thinking, the attitude that you are right and so everyone else must be wrong, lack of humility


DAILYTEXTS.ORG

*ABOUT THE
DAILY TEXTS

The Daily Texts have been published by the Moravian Church since 1731. In 2015 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)

EEB = EasyEnglish Bible (©2015, MissionAssist)

ERV = Easy-To-Read Version (©2006, World Bible Translation Center)

GNT = Good News Translation (©1992, American Bible Society)

MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)

NCB = New Catholic Bible (©2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp.)

NCV = New Century Version (©2005, Thomas Nelson Inc)

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)

NRSV = New Revised Standard Version (© 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.)

NTE = New Testament for Everyone (©2011 Nicolas Thomas Wright.)

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