The judge
The Lord will judge the peoples. ~ Psalm 7:8a (CEB)
God is the only Lawmaker and Judge. He is the only One who can save and destroy. So it is not right for you to judge your neighbor. ~ James 4:12 (NCV)
Lord God, I know that you are the only one capable of making a judgment about how well people are living up to your standards. But that hasn't stopped me from trying to do the same. I easily get riled up over the injustices I see. I mean, it's good that I am taking your standards seriously. But it's bad that I'm taking it all so personally -- making it all about how I feel or how I see things. Forgive my presumptuousness. I am grateful that you are more gracious than me. In your grace keep me humble and trusting in your judgment. Amen.
Challenging Words
- riled up -- idiom for being really angry and excited. When people are all riled up they act agitated, angry, or irate.
- presumptuousness -- assuming more power or authority than is proper
*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)
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)
