Daily Reading: 16 July

(from www.christianaid.org.uk)

Empty

Something to read

Save me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. Bring me out of prison, so that I may give thanks to your name. 

- Psalm 142: 6b-7a.

Something to think about

Not everyone goes to prison but at some point, everyone knows what it means to experience hostility. It comes in many forms. Well over 75% of people in the world know what it means to be persecuted or marginalised for their faith.

Others are trapped in what Martin Luther King Jr. called ‘airtight cells of poverty.’

Perhaps for you, that feeling of imprisonment means being caught in a financial poverty trap or house-bound sickness.

What matters for the Psalmist’s survival is the ability to think of the possibility that God hasn't forgotten us, and also of the potential of praise. It should also matter to us, for praise comes with recognising possibilities.

Something to do

It’s so easy to be superficial with suffering and this avoids being practical. Can you think of a situation of hardship which you or someone you know is experiencing?

Now make a simple note of what practical things you can do in response, and offer your response to God with thanks.

Something to pray

In our emptiness you fill us up. 

In our silence you whisper, “Peace be still.”

In our fear you are our faithfulness.

Amen.

Today's contributor is the late Rev Joel Edwards.

Joel was a writer, broadcaster, coach and public speaker. He was over 30 years in Christian leadership as director of Micah Challenge, a global advocacy campaign, general director of the Evangelical Alliance UK, and a wide range of community engagements in church and government.

At time of writing Joel was an honorary canon at St Paul's Cathedral, and visiting fellow with St John's College Durham, where he was completing a doctoral programme.

We are so grateful to Joel for his friendship with Christian Aid and faithful service to God. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.