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December 31, 2020

God's Word Runs Swiftly

Michael E. Williams   |   Read Psalm 147:12-20

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Lectionary Week
January 1–3, 2021
Scripture Overview

These scriptures chosen to mark the new year give us a panorama of perspectives, from Ecclesiastes as a poetic musing on how life is measured out in seasons, to the vision in Revelation of what we commonly consider the end of time itself. Psalm 8 asks what the role is for humans in God’s magnificent creation. At the core of these scriptures is a strong sense of God’s presence and loving steadfastness in which we can rest.

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-13. In what season of life do you find yourself? What are you praying for in this season?
Read Psalm 8. How do you feel when you read the psalmist’s words that God has created humans “a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor” (Ps. 8:5)?
Read Revelation 21:1-6a. How is the vision of a new heaven and new earth described here good news for you? What do you see God making new in the world around you?

Respond by posting a prayer.

Psalm 147:12-20

12 Worship the LORD, Jerusalem! Praise your God, Zion! 13 Because God secures the bars on your gates, God blesses the children you have there. 14 God establishes your borders peacefully. God fills you full with the very best wheat. 15 God issues his command to the earth God’s word speeds off fast! 16 God spreads snow like it was wool; God scatters frost like it was ashes; 17 God throws his hail down like crumbs who can endure God’s freezing cold? 18 Then God issues his word and melts it all away! God makes his winds blow; the water flows again. 19 God proclaims his word to Jacob; his statutes and rules to Israel. 20 God hasn’t done that with any other nation; those nations have no knowledge of God’s rules. Praise the LORD!

Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible. Used by permission.

There was a time in my younger days when I used to run ten-kilometer races. Never being a fast runner, I always wound up at the back of the race. In one race, a runner passed me wearing a t-shirt that bore the words: When the going gets rough, sprinters...

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Thank you, God, for your many gifts, especially for your word that precedes me wherever I go. Amen.


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