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The intent of Pilgrim Processing is to provide commentary on the Daily Lectionary from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. The format for the comment is Old Testament Lesson first, Gospel, and Epistle with a portion of one of the Psalms for the day as a prayer at the end.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

3 February 2013




Both the prophet and the Lord hearken to His creative acts for comfort.  The prophet summons the Lord to awaken and display His power as He did in days of old, when He brought things into being, when He acted on behalf of His people.  The Lord, in response, asks why the nation should fear men and forsake Him, the creator of all things.  Sometimes we need to be reminded of whom we serve and the covenant promises He has made to us.  We lose perspective too easily, we lose our faith in God's sovereignty and we are captured by fear.  He is the Lord of all, the uncaused Cause.  We are His children, He has a covenant of life with us that cannot be annulled.  He is the only one in heaven, earth or under the earth that we should fear and He so loved us that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us.

"If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority."  The first step to knowing is obedience.  That is what Nietzsche was talking about when he said that what the world needs is a long obedience in the same direction.  His premise was that one only learns deeply about something so long as the person knows the rules and follows them slavishly and it is only at that point that true creativity can begin but it is within the rules of the discipline that this happens.  Jesus says that if we want to know the truth about His teaching we must have hearts set to do God's will, not simply to know that will.  Knowing for the sake of knowing isn't enough, we must seek knowledge in order to apply it, to please God.  If we begin with that idea in mind, we will indeed know the truth.  When we speak with someone outside the faith we must remember this basic premise, they cannot know the truth about God, or accept it, without having this desire.

Faith is a step in the direction of God.  Abraham obeyed in faith and moved in faith and the result of this was that Sarah received power to conceive in faith.  If you look back at the time when the Lord told them she would conceive a year after His visit you will certainly have to look hard to find evidence of faith, but they did indeed have a child and that was a miracle, something only God could do.  Too often we undertake the journey of faith in order to receive some earthly reward and lose heart, the journey of faith is one towards that heavenly country of which the writer speaks.  Let us determine to journey by faith, our will being set to do God's will, that we might know Him and enjoy Him more.

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