MY "JUSTICE SEEKING SOUL" in 2025

Back before 2024 ended & 2025 began, I set up this post to publish on this day - Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Inauguration Day (11:30 ET starts); and a very special person who was born on this day 95 years ago. So this special person preceded the other two in marking this date by 7 years. However, that all 3 end up on this day, this year could be considered rare. [Facts shared below for 2 of these; the other one is on that person's birth certificate from Fort Dodge, Iowa]

"Inauguration Day moved to January 20, beginning in 1937, following ratification of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, where it has remained since." On Nov. 2, 1983, Reagan signed a bill making the third Monday in January a federal holiday in observance of King's legacy. MLK Day was first observed three years later on Jan. 20, 1986 and since.

None of this, or all 3 of these, are the reason that I chose to prewrite this blog post and a devotional, that I was motivated to purchase an early September weekend when the Spirit prompted me, yet I have not read still but decided that I would definitely need to read it. 

I have chosen January 20th as the day that I will need to begin (if not before) and focus on the scriptures on this day, but will not be reading the entire book in one day. I'll be reading God's Word primarily (since I will still be doing my annual "prayer and fasting"), which is the reason I put this together ahead to publish on January 20th so that not only would I continue to seek God and read His Word, but so I would not be distracted on this day by the Inauguration, which I had already determined I would not turn on my TV to see. I have prayed in many ways about this day and the people. What I need, so that I continue to remain CALM (my 2024 One Word) and prayerful is "Rest for the Justice Seeking Soul" (the well-written devotional by Reverend Dr. Susan K. Williams Smith). I thought that my 2025 One Word might be any of the words in this title, since apparently this is how my soul seems to find calm and needs to lean for now. The thread that ties what I began with for this blog post, is that "equality and justice" is what two of the 3 and this book have stood for in their lives - human rights for all. And usually the person being inaugurated on this day to be President also stands for this - especially ones like former President Jimmy Carter (at 100 years old).

{but in my opinion, not this time, nor this person. He stands for himself, seeking revenge & retaliation - power and wealth as his driving force. It's ok if you don't agree with me, but sadly, this is what I see. I hope he proves me wrong, and my perspective makes sense. whether you agree or not. I spend much time seeking truth and will continue, to watch and remain alert as I "stand guard"}. This is why I must focus and seek God & spend my time today in His Word, as the special birthday person celebrates with his remaining siblings that have come for this day.

The main scripture verse on the cover of this book is from Amos 5:24.

Written inside the opening pages in "what people are saying" about the author & the book states that "Susan K. Smith knows what it means to stand in the center of the storm with hurting and struggling people."~ Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan Simpson

I need to learn and know how to do this in 2025 and forward. It goes on to say:

 "What does one need to do to hold on to the courage to be fully human in a world that punishes humanity and vulnerability?"~ Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan Simpson

WOW!!! - these words were included from Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan Simpson; and she continues with more powerful questions like that one above, she then states that this book "... reaches deep into the places of the hearts of people who refuse to disengage or live in denial with exactly what our hearts need daily to weather difficult times and spaces..." I know that this is what I need and my heart needs for 2025 to keep my spirit hoping. The meditations of this book will hopefully do this and feed my soul and spirit, starting off with Amos 5:6-9 (the book mentions that the Bible version used unless otherwise indicated is The New Revised Standard Version. {I am not familiar with this version}

(1) "Seek the Lord and live or He will break out against the house of Joseph like fire and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it. Ah, you that turn justice to wormwood,  and bring righteousness to the ground! The one who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night,  who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is His name, who makes destruction flash out against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress." (NRSVA)

Interesting note from the NIV that I do readAmos 5 titled"A Lament and Call to Repentance"{which seems fitting for this day}
It was interesting to see in various versionswhat this chapter was titled, some are similar, some don't title
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Here are the Scripture verses: (in whatever version you choose to read them)
 The title of that meditation is in quotation marks after the Scripture
There is no reason for the grouping of the verses, it's just to make them more easily readable &break the list of verses down for me(it is not done this way in the devotional)

(2) Isaiah 41:10 "God is With Us";  (3) 1 Timothy 2:1-2 "A Prayer for our Nation and Her Leaders"; (4) Luke 1: 78-79 "When Darkness Seems Impenetrable" (5) Romans 12:2 "Taking Spiritual Inventory"

(6) Psalm 46:10 "Being Still" (7) 1 Samuel 1:15-16 "Addressing the Bitterness of Our Souls"  (8) Romans 8:35 "The Gift Given Through Suffering"  (9) Ezekiel 37:5 "When You Can't Breathe" (10) Psalm 30:5 "To Wake Up and Work"

(11) Isaiah 59:2; Romans 12:9-10, 19-20 "Letting God Be God" (12) Psalm 91:5 "The Value of Nighttime" (13) Psalm 91:5 "The Pain of Being Nameless" (14) Matthew 5:9 "Becoming a Peacemaker"  (15) Colossians 3:9 "Dealing with Deception"

(16) 1 John 4:4 "Dealing with Humiliation" (17) Isaiah 41:10 "It Is No Secret" (18) Psalm 23:4 “And Then I Was Sweating” (19) 2 Corinthians 9:8 "Claiming Our Privilege" (20) Proverbs 16:3 "Do the Work"

(21) Proverbs 16:3 "Doing What Makes You Come Alive" (22) Psalm 13:2 "The Oil of Struggle" (23) Psalm 130:7 "Psalm 130" (24) Jeremiah 6:16 "God is Sovereign, Not Injustice" (25) Ephesians 6:12 "A Community of Resistance in Spite Of"

That's a verse for every hour of January 20thI've already done the one from Amos😉
I was unable to complete with the Scripturesbut here are the rest of the devotionalsand I will add the verses later

26: "Committing to God"  27: Learning Who You Are  28: Loving God Enough to Love Ourselves 29: The Fine Art of Self-Forgiveness  30: The Holes That Won’t Heal

31: When Our Backs Are Bent 32: Walking Across Rope Bridges  33: When Your Heart Aches  34: God Is Our Guide  35: In the Midst of Enemies

36 Will God Bring Justice?  37: Walking the Bridge of Sighs 38: A Walk Across the Street  39: On the Elimination of Isolation  40: Learning to Thrive When You Have Been Merely Surviving

41: The Power and Pathos of Quiet Grace  42: Embracing the Theology of “Somebodiness” 43: We Can Do All Things  44: Escaping Deception  45: Out of Babylon

46: When God Closes a Door  47: The Power of Embarrassment  48: The Power of Releasing Grief  49: The Power of Moving  50: The Power of Doing Little Things

51: The Power of Vision 52: Mourning into Dancing 53: Why We Wrestle 54: Oppressed by “a Handful of Dying Men” 55: Keeping Vigil

56: "When We Let God In" 57: Anger and Clogged Ears 58: Facing What We Must  59: What’s YOU Name?  60: When We Silence God

61: When Words are Empty  62: To Be a Coffee Bean  63: Trying to Comprehend the Incomprehensible  64: When the Sun’s Rays Are Weakest  65: Killing Our Mockingbirds

66: On Forgiveness and Love  67: When You Know You’ve Let Go  68: When We Must Use Another Part of our Spirit  69: The Path of the Familiar  70: The Deafening Silence of Loss

71: Elbow Grease  72: Gird Your Loins  73: Spiritual Dehydration  74: God in the Time of Trouble 75: Treading Water

76: Looking for God from the Sidewalk  77: It Is Scary to Love  78: Our Honest and Troubling Struggle with God  79: Reaching for the Transcendent  80: Spiritual Malpractice

81: When You’re Expected to Grin and Bear It  82: The Depth of the Excellence of God  83: The Fatal Flaw of Seeking Vengeance  84: The Gift and Function of “Unstructured Malevolences”  85: Understanding Soul Poverty

86: What Elephants Teach Us  87: Yet Do We Marvel  88: Keeping Vigil at the Bedside of the World  89: Believing We Can Do All Things 90: In the Tabernacle

Maybe I'll be able to complete by Lentwhich begins March 5th-April 17thwhich is 40 days (and doesn't include Sundays)
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There are 574 verses that contain JUSTICE - here's onethat tells us what Jesus says about JUSTICE:

"And will not God bring about JUSTICE for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off?  I tell you, He will see that they get JUSTICE, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:7-8 NIV

and here are 2 prayers for JUSTICE that I saved:

"Keep us Father from trying to take matters into our own hands for vengeance is Yours and You will repay - but Lord in Your grace and mercy we pray that You would give justice and peace to all those that have been cruelly and unfairly treated by their fellow man and may injustice and carelessness that they have had to endure be the means to draw them into Your saving arms of grace - we ask this in the precious name of the Lord, Jesus." author unknown "Ever present God, You called us to be in relationship with one another and promised to dwell wherever two or three are gathered. In our community, we are many different people; we come from many different places, have many different cultures. Open our hearts that we may be bold in finding the riches of inclusion and the treasures of diversity among us. We pray in faith." Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"... with liberty and JUSTICE for all"

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It was either this devo (which holds more of my passion)or "Retirement Rocks" and so far, I'm not finding much truth in those words,at least not for me.💙See you in February (I guess briefly before Lent starts)🙏Peggy