Merciful God
Joseph said to his brothers: You tried to harm me, but God made it turn out for the best, so that he could save all these people, as he is now doing. ~ Genesis 50:20 (CEV)
Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time. ~ James 2:13b (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
God is in the business of transforming broken relationships and misguided actions into something good.
PRAYER:
Merciful God, your kindness keeps me interested in you. I deserve to be dealt with harshly but you treat me kindly. Thank you. But I'm not as merciful and positive as you. I tend to dwell on the mistakes of others and am unwilling to give second or third chances. Heal my attitude and transform my approach to people so that it is more in line with how you do things. I want to be a reflection of your kindness so that all people see Jesus through 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 -- 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)
