P.R.A.Y
PAUSE
REJOICE & REFLECT
ASK
YIELD
Personal Worship
We are continuing in the Hard Sayings of Jesus and we begin the week thinking about retaliation.
Together we will pray (P.R.A.Y.) each day – ‘P’: Pausing to be still as we come into the presence of the Lord. ‘R’: Rejoicing as we remember who our God is and what He has done, and Reflecting on His word. ‘A’: Asking God to help us and others. And ‘Y’: yielding to His will in accordance with His word.
As I come before you to pray, I still my thoughts and quiet my mind. I seek to make you the center of my focus.
Prayer of Approach
We join King David as we pray the words of Psalm 86:
Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me.
We choose to rejoice in the power of God’s Word, with all his people in Psalm 86:
There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God.
Psalm 86:8-10
Today we are reflecting on the words of Scripture in Matthew 5:38-39a where we read:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil.
Matthew 5:38-39a
We have to remember that we are picking up in the midst of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. A sermon as we know it that really does flip the world and culture on its head, because of how backward it seems. Jesus’ goal here is not to allow the people just to stop at the prescriptive use of the Old Testament laws. His purpose here is to show that our sinful heart needs further restrictions in order to manage our behaviors. Jesus begins here with the idea of retaliation. And he says that they have heard, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This was the Old Testament law that later would be known as lex talionis, the law of retaliation. Two things we have to know about this law. Firstly, this law was a great tool to end blood feuds. It stopped the escalation that is so natural for us as humans. Secondly, the law was given to Israel as a nation. The law was not designed to be discharged by an individual but by the judiciary.
By Jesus’ day, both of these fundamentals were overlooked. It was too easy to ask, “How far can I go in my personal retaliation without breaking the law?” People were taking the law and justice into their own hands which only caused more bitterness, vengeance, malice, and hatred.
Jesus says you have heard that now I say with my authority as the Son of God not just that, but do not resist the one who is evil. This is a hard saying not just to live out, but also to even understand. Is Jesus saying to never intervene if we see abuse or evil being done to someone else? Is he saying as a Christian you can never be a police officer? I don’t think Jesus is saying that. I think Jesus wants us as individuals to wrestle with the idea of personal abuse and personal self-sacrifice. He is saying you need more than the law to restrict your sinful heart in regard to retaliation. You need a heart transformation that destroys the roots of retaliation in your life. We will look at the four examples that Jesus gives us to think about tomorrow, but for today we sit and wrestle with the idea of retaliation in our own hearts.
Lord, I ask that your Spirit would fill and illuminate my mind to what you have for me today. Give me understanding. Let me see where there are roots of retaliation in my own life.
1)How does the current culture shape my idea of retaliation?
2)What do I think Jesus is getting at here?
3)Where do I see the roots of retaliation in my own heart?
Lord, you are mighty to save and I ask that you would look upon your people with favor. See us in our brokenness and meet us. Would you power out your presence and power on us? Send your Holy Spirit. Bring revival to our land and let us glorify you because of it.
As I read the passage again slowly, I listen for anything that You would say to me in it. Help me see how to position my life in order to yield to your word.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil.
Matthew 5:38-39a
Yielding Prayer
Lord, you are the God who went through great personal abuse to make me your child. I see your heart for me and I want to obey you because of it. These are hard and difficult commands you give us. Give me your Spirit and fill me with a desire to obey you in this way. Let me be honest with myself as I seek to yield to you in this life.
Yielding Promise
And now, as I move into the day ahead, the Lord who loves me reminds me in Romans 5:10:
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Romans 5:10
Closing Prayer
Lord, enable me, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to love you today with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to serve you today, by loving and caring for others as I do my own self; and, to exalt you today, by telling the people in my world about the abundant and eternal life found only through faith in Jesus.
*The P.R.A.Y. acronym has been adapted from the Lectio 365 app.