Focus

Slow your breathing and become aware of the taking in and letting out of your breath. Focus on putting things aside so you will be open to what God is saying to you today.

---

Read

Psalm 86 (NRSV)

Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all day long.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.
Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;
listen to my cry of supplication.
In the day of my trouble I call on you,
for you will answer me.

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.
All the nations you have made shall come
and bow down before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God.
Teach me your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

O God, the insolent rise up against me;
a band of ruffians seeks my life,
and they do not set you before them.
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
Turn to me and be gracious to me;
give your strength to your servant;
save the child of your serving girl.
Show me a sign of your favor,
so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame,
because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

---

Reflect

Psalm 86 begins with the cry, “Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy”. Throughout the scriptures, there is a recurring theme that God indeed hears those who are poor, who are without, who are outsiders, who are oppressed. The entire Bible is the spiritual literature of an oppressed people. I have come to believe that the Bible cannot be properly understood outside of that overarching context.

I am convinced that a great many Christians, however, have never read the Bible through this particular lens. Instead, they read it through other lenses, some of which render an accurate interpretation of the scriptures, at least to an extent. Other lenses through which we read the Bible render a very false interpretation of the text.

I would like to challenge you to take a year, perhaps this year—it’s not too late to begin—and read the Bible through, keeping in mind as you do that from cover to cover, the Bible is the spiritual literature of a people who were often homeless nomads, a nation who lived as slaves, as oppressed people, as exiles and refugees, and who found God in the midst of it all.

---

Pray

God, help us to see clearly that you hear the cries of the poor and needy. In the name of Jesus, who chose to be poor that we might be rich, we pray this prayer. Amen.

Go with God.