Evening Prayer for Sunday, January 4, 2026

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Praying the Scriptures

Sunday Evening Prayer

January 4, 2026

“And he said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ But I said, ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the LORD, and my reward with my God.’” — Isaiah 49:3–4

O God of the vast and quiet sky,

As the last light fades over the western horizon and the distant peaks turn to silhouette against the deepening indigo, I pause in the stillness of this eleventh evening of Christmastide to acknowledge Your presence. You have called me to be Your servant in this rugged land, inviting me to bear witness to Your glory amidst the sage and the sand. In the cooling air of the desert twilight, I recognize the sacred dignity You have placed upon my life, claiming me as Your own even before I understood the depth of the task.

Yet, in this hush between the celebration of the Incarnation and the return of ordinary time, a weariness settles in my bones, and I confess the thought that haunts the edges of my faith. I look back on the days behind me and wonder if I have labored in vain, spending my strength for nothing and vanity in a world that often seems unchanged by my efforts. The quiet of the desert can feel heavy, amplifying the fear that my best attempts to serve have dissolved like heat shimmers on the highway, leaving no lasting mark upon the hearts I sought to touch.

But I will not let the encroaching darkness obscure the truth of Your promise, for surely my cause is with You, and my reward is held securely in Your hands. I release the burden of measuring my own worth and surrender the outcome of my toil to Your perfect wisdom, trusting that You gather and honor what I cannot see. As the stars begin to crowd the night sky above the mesas, I rest in the assurance that You are my strength and my recompense, and that no work done in love is ever truly lost.

Amen.

May the God who is our strength and our reward wrap us all in the comfort of His peace this night.

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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.