Tuesday, September 8, 2020  

Today’s Scripture Reading  |  Psalm 114

When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
Why is it, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?
O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water. (NRSV)

Reflection
Cynicism comes far more naturally to me than hope, and those feelings have only grown in this summer of unrest. Systemic injustice is so deeply interwoven into the fabric of our nation that its expulsion seems as likely as hills skipping like lambs.

The Exodus story is different for me though. The narrative of the Exodus reminds us that our God does not sit idly by while God’s people suffer. The seas of injustice that envelop us flee from our God; the mountains of suffering that tower over us skip like rams. 

The promise of the gospel is that the earth will tremble. Thank God. 

Prayer
God of hope, disrupt my patterns of cynicism. Help me remember your promise of liberation, trusting that the seas will flee and the mountains will skip once more. Amen. 

Written by Allie Green, Director, Urban Youth Mission

Reflection and prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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