Meditations: July 2025

Lord, you are a good father:
To none who asks for bread do you give stones;
You do not give a serpent for fish.
Am I allowed to pray like I’m five?
In childish exactness, with absurd expectation?
Be pleased to answer ridiculous petitions;
Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.

(Matt 7:9-11; Luke 11:5-8; Luke 22:42)

When David says, Against you only have I sinned,
It is because from you and through you and to you are all things:
You their source, sustenance, and end.
You are justified when you speak,
Blameless in judgment.

(Ps 51:4; Rom 11:36)

Weeping tarries the night,
But joy comes in the morning.
Dawn in my heart, O sun of righteousness.

(Ps 30:5; Mal 4:2)

Clothe me, O Lord, in your righteousness.
Let me buy from you white garments,
Fine linen without price,
The righteousness of the saints.
Adorn me with inner beauty,
With self-control and good works,
With gentle lowliness and a quiet spirit.
Present me to yourself in splendor
With neither spot nor wrinkle,
Holy and without blemish.
Jesus, be my righteousness.

(Rev 19:8; 3:18; 1 Tim 2:9-11;
Eph 5:27; 1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21)

Whoever believes will not be in haste.
Whoever believes will not be put to shame.

(Isa 28:16, qtd in Rom 9:33; 10:11;
1 Pet 2:6)

Let your word, O God,
Be more needful than bread,
More gladdening than wine,
Richer than oil,
Sweeter than honey,
More delightful than apples and raisins,
More fragrant than spices,
More comfortable than sandwiches.

(Deut 8:3; Ps 104:15; 19:10;
Song 2:5; 4:14-16)

The hearer of the word, deluded,
Hearing but not doing,
Beholds his nature in the mirror
But hastens to forget what he is.
The doer, regenerate,
His faith justified by his works:
He beholds himself in the Law—
He the image of the Son,
The Son the image of the invisible God—
And persevering, remembers what he sees.
He beholds in the mirror
Christ’s righteousness staring back at him:
1 I love the Lord my God.
2 I love the Lord more than any creature.
3 I honor and bring honor to the very name of the Lord.
4 I love the works of the Lord and in them rest from my own.
5 I honor the Lord my Father as I honor my own parents.
6 I love my neighbor.
7 I am true to my neighbor.
8 I honor the gifts bestowed upon my neighbor.
9 I seek the wellbeing of my neighbor.
10 I love my neighbor more than any thing.

(James 1:22-25; Ex 20:1-17 cf Matt 22:35-40)

[I don’t think I quite nailed the Ten Commandments, but it’s a short meditation, not an exhaustive discourse. It’s weird to think about the prohibition against adultery as an elaboration on loving your neighbor, though we are assured all the Law boils down to God and Neighbor.]

The dead man still rots, O Lord.
Deliver me from his stench.

(Romans 6-7)

Quake my earth and pour down the heavens,
O you who rides through the desert;
Be rain in my wilderness.
Lead me to the pleasant land;
Let me dwell in the shadow of your holy mountain forever,
O you who rides in the heavens.

(Ps 68:8, 4, 16, 33)

When you return to Zion
And dwell in the midst of Jerusalem,
When you name Jerusalem the Faithful City
And Zion the Holy Mountain,
Grant me to be an old man with my staff,
My old wife and I sitting in the streets,
Watching our grandchildren play.

(Zech 8:3-5)

[Update 8/9/25: I'm very excited a) to have gotten my computer fixed (thank you Lord!) so b) I could finally add Reftagger to this site and c) it was finally convenient to add references in posts! (Blogger is... not fun to use on mobile.) It is exciting to see how much Scripture has gone into these little thoughts. It is even more exciting to make a tech change that allows me to more ably point you, O reader, to the Lord through his Word.]