2 Kings 5:1–15b
Luke 4:23–30
Psalm 42:1–7

My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God… (Psalm 42:2a)

There is way too much depressing news. Some days, the local crimes and environmental disasters and political shenanigans and terrible diseases just get to be too much for me. Again, and again, humanity sorely fails the common good. My soul thirsts for a living God.
Stories from today’s scripture respond to that thirst. Naaman only gets his miraculous cure after he gets over his sense of self-importance and lets go of his expectations. The crowd who want to throw Jesus off the cliff for questioning their special status in the synagogue in Nazareth find themselves powerless to stop his walking away, passing through their midst. Some power is at work in these stories.

I thirst for some power to be visibly at work in our world today! I thirst for some assurance that the vulnerable really are being cared for… that justice is being served… that prophets and prayers matter.

And occasionally, I remember in my daily life to ask explicitly for God to help with a specific detail — an understanding I need, or a healing for which we yearn, or the right person for a ministry. My experience is that when I ask, God DOES stuff. Something unexpected, usually subtle and quiet and tailored to my unique experience, brings clarity.

Something happens that feels in the moment like a clear response to my prayers, and yet is just logical enough, just subtle enough, that I may be imagining any real connection. God drives me crazy.

Holy God, I am so sorry. I repent of my failure to trust you, to know you, to see you. Give me the courage to act boldly, to trust boldly, to love boldly. I thirst for you in my life. Amen.
-Helen McPeak