Daily Devotion for January 13, 2018
Prayers
Scripture
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Our Saturday Oldie was famously associated with Kate Smith. She ended her television show with this hymn every week.
Whether near or far away.
May you find that long awaited,
Golden day today.
May your troubles all be small ones,
And your fortunes ten times ten.
May the good Lord bless and keep you
Till we meet again.
May you walk with sunlight shining
And a bluebird in every tree,
May there be a silver lining
Back of every cloud you see.
Fill your dreams with sweet tomorrows,
Never mind what might have been,
May the good Lord bless and keep you
Till we meet again.
May you walk with sunlight shining
And a bluebird in every tree.
May there be a silver lining
Back of every cloud you see.
Fill your dreams with sweet tomorrows
Never mind what might have been.
May the good Lord bless and keep you
Till we meet again.
Music and Lyrics by Meredith Willson (1950)
Prayer for God‘s Protection
Heavenly Father, I live in your shelter. You are my refuge and my fortress. You are my God, in whom I trust. Deliver me and all those who love You from the dangers of the world, both the physical dangers that can crush our bodies and the deadly pestilence that can lay waste to our souls. Cover us with your mighty wings and protect us with your steadfast shield, and we will not fear the terror of the night or the perils of the day.
The world in its darkness curses you, the only truth, the only love, the only salvation; it seeks to destroy us by force, by sarcasm, by seduction, by compromise. But if a thousand fall to the lies of the world, if ten thousand should fall away, it will not affect me. For I have made you my dwelling place, O God. You have sent your angels to guard the faithful. On their hands, they bear us up, that no stone shall strike our foot, and no viper strike our heel.
Deliver me, O Lord, for I hold fast to you even in my fear. No temptation or power of earth can separate me from your love. You answer me when I call to you; you protect me because I call on your name. You have satisfied me with long life and salvation. All praise to the God of Jacob, all praise to Jesus Christ.
A Prayer After Reading Scripture
May the word I have read, Lord, be planted deeply in my mind and heart. Help me not to walk away and forget it, but to meditate on it and obey it and so built my life on the rock of your truth.
Meditation
[Planting the Word in ourselves.]
Community of Prayer
Heavenly Lord, I know I am not alone saying these prayers or reading your Word this morning, but many people unknown to me, from all stations of life, have joined together in this brief moment of devotion. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be among the community of all who pray in the name of Christ this morning, and remain among us always.
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.
1 Samuel 2:1-11 (TLB)
Hannah’s Prayer
This was Hannah’s prayer:
“How I rejoice in the Lord!
How he has blessed me!
Now I have an answer for my enemies,
For the Lord has solved my problem.
How I rejoice!
No one is as holy as the Lord!
There is no other God,
Nor any Rock like our God.
Quit acting so proud and arrogant!
The Lord knows what you have done,
And he will judge your deeds.
Those who were mighty are mighty no more!
Those who were weak are now strong.
Those who were well are now starving;
Those who were starving are fed.
The barren woman now has seven children;
She with many children has no more!
The Lord kills,
The Lord gives life.
Some he causes to be poor
And others to be rich.
He cuts one down
And lifts another up.
He lifts the poor from the dust—
Yes, from a pile of ashes—
And treats them as princes
Sitting in the seats of honor.
For all the earth is the Lord’s
And he has set the world in order.
He will protect his godly ones,
But the wicked shall be silenced in darkness.
No one shall succeed by strength alone.
Those who fight against the Lord shall be broken;
He thunders against them from heaven.
He judges throughout the earth.
He gives mighty strength to his king,
And gives great glory to his anointed one.”
So they returned home to Ramah without Samuel; and the child became the Lord’s helper, for he assisted Eli the priest.
Notes on the Scripture
annah's prayer is in the form of a psalm. Like many of the Psalms, it reminds us of Christ's teachings, in places, with its message that God may bring down the proud and mighty, and lift a begger off a dunghill to set him among princes. Hannah, of course, has been the recipient of such an act; her prayers were answered when she bore Samuel. “No one shall succeed by strength alone,” she prays; and of course this goes one step further in the New Testament, where Paul teaches that God’s grace is made perfect in weakness.
Verses in the first half are more remniscent of Solomon than of David, reminding us that the vicissitudes of life are God’s will.
We will continue with Samuel's story tomorrow, when things begin to heat up between him and Eli's feckless sons.
