Evening Prayer for Saturday, July 5, 2025

 

Praying the Scriptures

Saturday Evening Prayer

July 5, 2025

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. (Romans 8:22–24a)

Gracious Lord,

As the last rays of the sun slip behind Red Mountain and shadows stretch across the desert floor, I sit quietly, watching the lights of Deming blink to life below me. There’s a stillness in the air, but also a groaning—a low hum in creation, in my bones, in the longing of this world. I feel it tonight. The dry wind carries more than dust; it carries the ache of all that is not yet made whole.

And yet, I remember: we do not groan without hope. Your Word tells me that creation waits like a mother in labor—so I, too, wait. I groan inwardly, yes, but I do so knowing I’ve received the first fruits of Your Spirit. I am not abandoned in this waiting. I am adopted, and the fullness of that promise is coming. In hope I was saved, and it is in hope I will endure.

Lord, give me peace in the waiting. Help me to see even the creosote and mesquite swaying in the fading light as witnesses of Your faithfulness. Let the hum of the city below remind me that Your Spirit is still at work—even when all seems still, even when nothing appears to change.

Tonight, as the sky deepens into blue and the stars take their place, I rest in Your promise. Not all is redeemed yet—but You are not finished. The darkness is not the end. The morning will come.

Amen.

May the God of hope cradle you in the stillness of this night, and may His Spirit keep your heart steadfast as you wait for the dawn of redemption.

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The Bible passages come from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bible, copyrighted © 1989, 1993 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America and are used by permission. All rights reserved. Praying the Scriptures is penned daily by Kenny Sallee, ThM.