Vulnerable people
The Lord protects the foreigners among us.
He cares for the orphans and widows,
but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. ~ Psalm 146:9 (NLT)
Religion that pleases God the Father must be pure and spotless. You must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil. ~ James 1:27 (CEV)
Caring God, you have a special place in your heart for people who live with less money and fewer opportunities. You love us all, but the weak and vulnerable are extra important to you -- perhaps because they are so unimportant to most everyone else. And they benefit more from your care and grace than anyone else. I admit that I'm blind to most of the broken people around me. It's not that I don't care. But I don't care enough to see them. Please open my eyes and continue to expand my heart. Save me from trying to blame people for their problems. That is an evil habit, from which I need to be free. And I am trusting in Jesus to continue to free me in order to better serve him and his vulnerable people. Amen.
*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 — my own 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)
