Auden: faith without sight vs. sight without faith

Saturday, May 11, 2013
Meditation:
    For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
    —2 Peter 1:17-18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christ did not enchant men; He demanded that they believe in Him: except on one occasion, the Transfiguration. For a brief while, Peter, James, and John were permitted to see Him in His glory. For that brief while they had no need of faith. The vision vanished, and the memory of it did not prevent them from all forsaking Him when He was arrested, or Peter from denying that he had ever known Him.
    ... W. H. Auden (1907-1973), A Certain World, London: Faber and Faber, 1971, p. 150 (see the book)
    See also 2 Pet. 1:17-18; Matt.13:58; 17:1-8; 26:33-35,69-75; Mark 6:5-6; 9:2-9; 14:29-31,66-72; Luke 9:28-36; 22:31-34,55-62; John 1:14; 13:36-38; 18:17-18,25-27; Rom. 11:19-21; Heb. 3:12; Rev. 1:13-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Heavenly Father, You are lord of my ordinary times. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Underhill: the interior life

Friday, May 10, 2013
Meditation:
    Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
    —Philippians 4:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    By the quality of our inner lives I do not mean something characterized by ferocious intensity and strain. I mean rather such a humble and genial devotedness as we find in the most loving of the saints. I mean the quality which makes contagious Christians, makes people catch the love of God from you.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), Concerning the Inner Life, London: Methuen, 1927, p. 12 (see the book)
    See also Phil. 4:5; John 15:9-10; Col. 3:12; 1 John 4:12; 1 Pet. 3:15-16; Jude 1:21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that I may show forth Your love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Guinness: the authority of faith

Thursday, May 9, 2013
    Ascension
Meditation:
    Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.”
    —Hosea 4:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Today we have deflated the phrase “let God be God.” We laughingly apply it to presidents or children, usually as a form of indulgence, ... condescendingly. But for Martin Luther who coined the phrase, the context was the unrelenting call of God before which he trembled.
    But if the phrase needs recovery, how much more the reality of God’s authority in our lives? At its heart, the modern world is a decisive challenge to the authority of God outside our private lives. This is true not because a few atheists trumpet that “God is dead” but because our entire culture, Christians included, so relies on the gifts of the modern world that we have “no need of God” in practice.
    No more urgent task faces the church today than the recovery of the authority of faith over the modern world.
    ... Os Guinness (b. 1941), The Call: finding and fulfilling the central purpose of your life, Nashville: Word, 1998, reprint, Thomas Nelson Inc., 2003, p. 66 (see the book)
    See also Hos. 4:1; Job 38:2-3; Ps. 46:10; Isa. 55:8-9; Hos. 6:6; Matt. 28:18; Luke 10:22; Phil. 2:9-11; Col. 2:9-10; Heb. 1:1-2; 1 Pet. 3:18-22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You reign from heaven, supreme over all. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Juliana: from without beginning

Wednesday, May 8, 2013
    Feast of Juliana of Norwich, Mystic, Teacher, c.1417
Meditation:
But from everlasting to everlasting
    the LORD’S love is with those who fear him,
    and his righteousness with their children’s children—
    —Psalm 103:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I saw full surely in this and in all, that ere God made us he loved us; which love never slackened, nor ever shall be. And in this love he hath done all his works; and in this love he hath made all things profitable to us; and in this love our life is everlasting. In our making we had beginning; but the love wherein he made us was in him from without beginning; in which love we have our beginning. And all this shall we see in God, without end.
    ... Juliana of Norwich (1342?-1417), Revelations of Divine Love, Grace Harriet Warrack, ed., Methuen, 1901, ch. LXXXVIII (see the book)
    See also Ps. 103:17; Gen. 1:26-27; Job 10:9-12; Ps. 22:9-10; 139:13-14; Isa. 44:2; Jer. 31:3; John 3:14-16; 6:51; 1 Thess. 4:17; 1 John 2:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your love is without bounds. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Faber: patience for progress

Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Meditation:
Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
    —Psalm 51:2-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Neither must we be in a hurry to forget past sin, and to force our way into the sunshine. If God gives us quite a depressing sense of sin, let us cherish it and stagger on beneath the burden. Blessed is any weight, however overwhelming, which God has been so good as to fasten with His own hand upon our shoulders. In a word, patience with self is almost a condition of spiritual progress.
    ... Frederick William Faber (1814-1863), Growth in Holiness, London: Thomas Richardson & Son, 1860, third edition, p. 114 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 51:2-3; 38:4-6; Lam. 1:20; 2 Tim. 1:12; Heb. 10:19-22; 1 John 3:19-20
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You persist when I falter. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Babcock: watching for mercies

Monday, May 6, 2013
Meditation:
How can I repay the LORD
    for all his goodness to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the LORD.
    —Psalm 116:12-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Be on the lookout for mercies. The more we look for them, the more of them will we see. Blessings brighten when we count them. Out of the determination of the heart the eyes see.
    ... Maltbie D. Babcock (1858-1901), Thoughts for Every-day Living, New York: C. Scribner’s sons, 1901, p. 107 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 116:12-13; 103:2; Luke 17:15-18; Rom. 12:1; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Phil. 4:6-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I see Your blessings in my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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de Sales: resisting depression

Sunday, May 5, 2013
Meditation:
Though you have made me see troubles,
    many and bitter,
    you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
    you will again bring me up.
    —Psalm 71:20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Moderate bodily discipline is useful in resisting depression, because it rouses the mind from dwelling on itself; and frequent Communion is specially valuable; the Bread of Life strengthens the heart and gladdens the spirits.
    It may be useful, too, to lay bare all the feelings, thoughts, and longings which are the result of your depression before some spiritual advisor, in all humility and faithfulness; to seek the society of spiritually minded people, and to frequent such as far as possible while you are suffering. And finally, resign yourself into God’s hands, endeavouring to bear this harassing depression patiently.
    ... François de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life [1609], London: Rivingtons, 1876, IV.xii, p. 322 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 71:20; Song of Solomon 2:16; Ps. 119:82; John 6:35; Rom. 8:18,35-37; 1 Pet. 1:6
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me strength for the trials. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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