Jun 25, 2023
(Gn.12:1-9; Ps.33:12-13,18-20,22; Mt.7:1-5)
“The eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear Him.”
There is a plank in our own eye; there is but a speck in our brother’s. This is what the Lord sees. And this is what we see if we fear the Lord. If we fear the Lord, we remain humble before Him. If we fear the Lord, we will be released from judgment. If we fear the Lord, we indeed will be as Abram, following His blessed commands.
“Abram went as the Lord directed him,” our first reading tells us so aptly today. He left his father’s house at a word from God and followed wherever God led, his path illumined only by faith. He walked not by his eyes but only by his faith in the Lord’s promise to him; the Lord became his eyes and he trusted himself and all his family and all his possessions to these eyes which watched over him. In darkness and in quiet he sets out, the Lord as his only light and His voice as his only guide. Such faith, such blessed faith and humility.
Such faith must we all have, brothers and sisters, for it cannot be otherwise but that the Lord calls each one of us to such faith, to such trust; He calls each of us from our “father’s house” to walk with Him alone and find our way in His presence. Do we fear Him? Do we love Him? Are we humble before Him? If so, we will know the path upon which the Lord leads us; we will hear His voice speaking quietly in our ears and in our hearts. And we will follow Him. And He will bless us and fulfill His own call for our lives. He will remove the plank from our eyes and grace us with the ability to remove the speck from others’. He will be our wisdom in teaching, our strength in serving. We will not go forth vainly in our own power, but will know His hand guiding us in all we do, for all will be done in His Name. Then great things will be accomplished in us. Then we become sharers in the promise of Abraham.
The Lord is our God. He watches over. He judges. He leads. All healing and all grace and blessing come from His hand and not our own. Our eyes see only what is before us; His illumine the universe. But we may share in His vision, we may partake of His presence, if we have faith, if we humble ourselves before Him and go as He directs.
And as He blesses us so with His guidance, as we find ourselves coming into His kingdom, let us not fail to build an altar to His Name, let us remember to praise Him for His grace. And we shall find our path sure; and in time we shall come “by stages” to eternal life.
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O LORD, let us not judge, but love;
let us go as you direct us.
YHWH, who can see as you see, who has vision so pure? Only he who repents of his sin and obediently follows your way, walking in harmony with his brother. If we are not humble, we are blind, for your power is not known to us. We shall remain in darkness forever if we do not come to faith in you.
Let us be faithful as Abraham; let us reflect his obedience to your Word. Let us listen this day to your Son and turn from hardness of heart and judgment of others that your kindness may be upon us, O LORD. If we are not kind and forgiving, neither shall we be forgiven, but rather bring condemnation upon our own souls – O let us repent of such blindness!
Save us, O LORD, from the death of sin, from vain pride; preserve our souls in this land of famine, in this foreign place. Let us leave behind the idols of this age and build an altar in our hearts to you. You are our God, you alone. Help us to leave all behind to find your way, walking humbly with one another. Then our eyes shall be opened.