“The Lord raised up for them a deliverer” – July 27

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 72; PM Psalm 119:73-96; Judges 3:12-30; Acts 1:1-14; Matt. 27:45-54

My sister Wayles gave me a wall calendar for Christmas this past year. Sitting in our home office today, I realized I neglected to turn the page to July…just a few days shy of turning the page to August. The calendar is called Sister Acts, featuring pictures of nuns on the run, in the community, and in July’s photo, they are at a drive-in theatre, seated in a blue convertible, eating popcorn. My sisters and I grew up loving the nun-based movie, Sister Act, where Whoopi Goldberg is a performer wrapped up with some less-than-stellar characters. To protect her, she finds sanctuary in a convent and must set aside her flashy nightclub attire to vest as a “woman of the cloth”. It was quite a struggle for Goldberg’s character to adjust to the rhythms of setting aside personal wants as she was called into a life of service and prayer with the other nuns and postulants for her protection from the mob.

While this Hollywood storyline spawned a movie, a sequel, and a musical, the tension is so relatable. How are we to live lives faithful to God, amid the distractions and temptations around us? In the Book of Judges, we read of this in a different setting: the Israelites living in the ancient Near East, surrounded by different people groups and mores. Time and again, a cycle of faithfulness arose: “the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, forgetting the Lord their God, and worshipping” idols and false gods. Then, the anger of God was stirred against Israel and a punishing act happened to them – generally a new leader of the land took over and they would be subjected to hardship. After a period of time, the Israelites remembered their roots and called out to the Lord for help – and God raised up a deliverer for the Israelites. Hence the name of the book of the Bible: Judges. God raised up leaders to judge and guide the Lord’s people and to influence the temporal leaders of the day, so that the people of the land were protected and cared for.

God answered the cries of the Israelites in distress by preparing another person to deliver them. That holy response time took more than a moment or three. Sometimes the road of faithfulness appears to be winding and without end. And it is. One of the messages in our Holy Scripture today is that God desires our calls for help and our attention. It is in crying out that we return our gaze upon the Lord our God, and away from the screens and mindsets that separate us from the life and hope of Yahweh. And God is faithful to us, preparing others to be guides and tellers of truth along the way.

Katherine+

Questions for Self-Reflection: 

When have you cried out to God for help?

Who is someone that speaks truth to you, even when it is hard to receive?

Daily Challenge: 

What kind of judge would God send here in 2022? What would that person, imbued with the Lord's preparing love, relate to you to re-center where you are? What about your family? What about your community?

Be honest with yourself. Pray about it. Write down what comes up for you.