God's choice
I will have compassion on the house of Judah. I, the Lord their God, will save them; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen. ~ Hosea 1:7 (CEB)
So God will choose the one to whom he decides to show mercy; his choice does not depend on what people want or try to do. ~ Romans 9:16 (NCV)
Lord God, you are full of compassion and mercy -- and you're not afraid to exercise it. And you are unconventional. You don't make your decisions based on the good efforts of people. You don't even defeat enemies in the same way that we try to defeat them. Thank you for being so different. Although, I feel a little bit insecure about different. I like the familiar way of destroying enemies. Help me to change. Fill me with your mercy and compassion. I want to faithfully reflect your character -- the character that you are implanting in me. 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)
