Lectionary for 6/6/08

Today's readings are Proverbs 3.5-24 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Prov.+3.5-24 ) and John 11.38-57 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+11.38-57 ).

 

Where should we look for wisdom and guidance?  In Proverbs we see that God is the giver of wisdom.  Yet he sometimes guides us through unexpected means.  Caiaphas, in John 11, being the high priest, acts as God's prophet in saying that it would be good for one man to die for the whole nation.  He then sets out to have Jesus arrested and killed.  Here we have someone who was apparently not exactly the most gentle and devout high priest in history making a prophecy which accurately reports the necessity of Jesus' death for us, and then setting out to see that it happens.

 

We are told in 1 Timothy 2 that we should pray for our rulers.  They are God's servants, whether they know it or not.  I remember on a national day of prayer some years ago I was with a class of students visiting our nation's capitol.  We had an appointment to visit our U.S. Senator, who, as far as I can discern, is no kind of Christian believer whatsoever.  With my class, I cornered him in a lobby and after we had asked him a few questions the students wanted to ask, before he needed to leave for a meeting, I told him it was a national day of prayer and this Christian school class would like to pray for him.  He looked a little worried but agreed.  We prayed that the Lord would give him wisdom to understand what would be best for this country, that he would have endurance in his heavy work load, and that he would rightly perceive God's priorities and apply those in the legislation he worked on.  We prayed that he would rejoice in the fact that many people pray for him and that he would grow in godliness.  This was no purposeless prayer to the mush God.  This was prayer with purpose to the God of the Universe who guides the hearts and minds of legislators.

 

I wish I could say that this U.S. Senator had changed his legislative agenda in the past ten years since I visited with him.  He hasn't.  Yet I know that our Lord is able to use him or anyone else he pleases to speak God's wisdom and apply God's priorities in this world.  May the Lord use these unexpected vessels and may we be ready to see God's hand in our world.