Firm in Faith
July 17
2012
Tuesday
of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
By Beth DeCristofaro
Thus says the LORD: This shall not stand, it shall not be! Damascus
is the capital of Aram, and Rezin is the head of Damascus; Samaria is the
capital of Ephraim, and Remaliah's son the head of Samaria. But within sixty years and five, Ephraim
shall be crushed, no longer a nation. Unless
your faith is firm you shall not be firm! (Isaiah 7:7-9)
For if the mighty deeds
done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this
day. But I tell you, it will be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you." (Matthew 11:23-24)
Piety
Open my
eyes, Lord, that I might see the mighty deeds you perform each and every day
whether they are powerful or gently quiet.
Open my heart, Lord, that in faith I watch for your presence in each
encounter with another. Deepen my faith
that I stand firm in You in the joys and sorrows of my life.
Study
There is an old
saying in the Talmud that goes: “We
don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” I’m not sure, were I king, that I would
find the promise that within sixty years and five, Ephraim shall be crushed. After all, that is
longer than most lifetimes in that era.
But God’s promise is protection according to the Covenant. God will stand firm with his Chosen
People. God asks no less of us. In asking us to stand firm, God asks us to enlarge
our faith so that it includes the mystery of God’s own time, not according to
our convenience.
Jesus
must have startled his listeners as he unfavorably compared them to Sodom.
It is God’s perspective not our own in which He wants us to stand
firm. We can’t know what God has for us
if we keep seeing things as we are – as if we are the center of the universe. Jesus asks us to look to Him and through Him
so that our perspective might come closer to how things are – God’s things,
God’s time, God’s promise.
Action
What have
I been praying for or hoping for that is my agenda? How can I stand firm in faith, hope and love
of God rather than my own wish list?
Give that wish to God and be open to God’s unexpected gifts.
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