A reflection on Genesis 45:3-11, 15; Psalm 37:1-12,41-42; 1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50; and Luke 6:27-38 by Danny N. Schweers

Your Heart’s Desire

The Bible readings for Sunday, February 20, 2022 are powerful, some of the most challenging you will find.

In Luke 6, Jesus tells us to love our enemies. In Genesis, we hear how Joseph forgives those who sold him into slavery. And in all of these readings is God’s promise.

Psalm 37 says the Lord “shall give you your heart’s desire.” It also says we can delight in the Lord and to put our trust in him. It says we can refrain from anger and leave rage alone. That we shall delight in abundance of peace.

Can you believe it? I believe it, but seldom really feel it. When I do feel it, when I am moved to feel that all we have wished for will be, my heart wells up and tears fill in my eyes. I am full of gratitude and know I am loved. I don’t know if that is my least manly moment or my most manly moment!

In his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul talks about “those who are of heaven.” He is talking about you and me. We are of heaven! He also calls us “those who are of the dust”. That is easy to believe. We know dirt and grime. We know disappointment, setbacks and suffering. We know the deaths of others and suspect our own death may be near. All of that is easy to believe. A cavalcade of plagues, devastating economic depressions, widespread starvation, everyone dying in a nuclear war, the planet uninhabitable — all these we easily imagine and, if we cannot, Hollywood will show them to us in vivid color and surround-around sound.

But heaven? Heaven is harder to imagine. Hollywood generally avoids depicting it. Yet we are of heaven, you and I, even if we are of the dust. We can delight in the Lord and put our trust in him. We shall delight in abundance of peace. We shall forgive those who sell us into slavery and we shall love our enemies. God will give us our heart’s desire.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Danny N. Schweers serves on the Vestry at SsAM and wears other volunteer hats as well, including webmaster for this website. Every week he writes a prayer to go with one of his photos and sends them out to subscribers. Click here to see his Photo Prayer website.

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