Be Patient and Stand Firm

Ray Ortlund post:  A responsive reading for 9/11

Leader:  “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

All:  And Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out into the field.”  And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Leader:  Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

All:  “I don’t know,” he replied.  “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Leader:  The Lord said, “What have you done?  Listen!  Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.”

All:  Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds!  At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it.

Leader:  This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath,

All:  Because Edom pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked.”

Leader:  Confuse the wicked, O Lord, confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city.

All:  Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets.

Leader:  To the faithful you show yourself faithful, O Lord, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

All:  He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made.  The trouble he causes recoils on himself; his violence comes down on his own head.

Leader:  You love righteousness and hate wickedness, O Lord.

All:  You will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help.

Leader:  Cast your cares on the Lord, and he will sustain you.

All:  As for me, O Lord, I will trust in you.

Leader:  But whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

All:  For our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Leader:  Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

All:  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.  The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

Leader:  Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought we to be?

All:  Be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.