Lent, Day 17: LET GOD BE PRAISED

Psalm 81

Worship is never just about feeling good in God’s presence.  Worship is about hearing God’s Word, responding to it, embracing it to our hearts, and then being caught up into a life of obedience and ongoing praise.  So, Asaph gets us thinking in Psalm 81.  

In this worship psalm, celebration and praise are ignited.  The people are called to remember the powerful grace of God that delivered them from Egypt and the harsh realities of the pharaoh.  They are reminded that in the past, under the leadership of Moses, God’s people, “did not listen” to his voice (see vs. 11).  They had refused to go with God.  He had called them to be free of strange and foreign gods, and to live for Him, the LORD, Yahweh, who brought them up out of Egypt, with a promise of blessings and continual guidance, but they would have nothing to do with it.

So, in worship, the people remember.  They look back, reflect, examine their own hearts, and hopefully, “listen” to God’s voice this time, and commit again to live in obedience to His delivering, sustaining, and empowering will. Sadly, Israel continued to have its ups-and-downs.  They would draw near to God and then move away again.  They would seek His face and then turn from His ways.  They wanted the blessings of God’s covenant with them, but didn’t want to live in a covenant relationship with God.  

Now, Fast forward to 2020.  Fast forward to your life and mine.  Fast forward into our stories.  Are we faithful?  Do we too easily slip away from the embrace of God?  Do we set up shrines to our own gods? May it not be said of us, as God said of ancient Israel, “My people did not listen to My voice, and Israel did not obey Me.  So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in their own devices” (vs. 11-12).  

Sadly, too often I have walked in my “own devices,” and the mess created has been less than pretty.  How about you?  I have learned, by God’s patient grace that life in His embrace is much better than life in my mess.  Maybe that’s why worship with fellow believers means so much to me.  We gather and greet and laugh and hug and shake hands and give high-fives, and sing and pray and hear God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit, somehow, someway, creates within us a deep and abiding hunger to live in God.  Not only does He give us the hunger, God gives us the power to get out of and to stay out of the mess.

So, my fellow believers, “Sing for joy to God our strength; shout joyfully…raise a song, strike the timbrel…blow the trumpet” (vss. 1-3).  Let there be no strange god among us.  Let there be no foreign god among us. Let us listen to God’s voice and obey His will for us.  Let us walk in God’s ways, and let God be God in our midst.  

Praise my soul, the King of heaven;  

To His feet your tribute bring. 

Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,  

evermore His praises sing.                            

                              -- Henry F. Lyte, 1834

Third Sunday in Lent: THE GRACE IN WHICH WE STAND

Romans 5:1-11

In Jesus, we have peace with God, and we stand in grace, exulting in the hope of the glory of God (see vs. 1-2). This grace is so profound that we are enabled to “also exult in our tribulations” (vs. 3).  Our lives are filled to overflowing with the very life of God in Christ Jesus.  Nothing in our lives is beyond the range of grace.  On the mountain or in the valley, God is with us.  With king David we, too, proclaim, “The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need” (Psalm 23:1, NLT).

In Jesus we are caught up in an ongoing process of growth that takes us deeper and deeper into the marvelous wonder of God.  Paul says, 

We… exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (vss. 3-5)

As the people of Jesus we live, knowing that “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”  Love is the state in which we live.  Nothing that happens there can undo the grace and mercy of God.  Tribulations come (don’t we know it well) but somehow God sweeps them up into His Sovereign and holy power, and uses them to shape and mold us into more than we could ever dream we might be.  Tribulation brings about perseverance.  Perseverance brings about proven character.  Proven character brings about hope.  Hope never disappoints because the never-disappointing and always marvelous love of God embraces us to His heart, and holds us steady.

Understanding the grace of God is quite an undertaking.  Grace begins when it doesn’t have that much to work with.  Paul says, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (vs. 8).  That’s remarkable, isn’t it.  Before we even know we need God, God comes to us.  In Jesus we are reconciled to God.  God takes the initiative.  God reaches out to us.  God takes us where we are and leads us forward.  He doesn’t leave us where He finds us.  He draws us to His heart, pours His love into us, and makes a place for us at His forever table.  Who would have thought it?

On this Third Sunday in Lent, may we realize again that at the heart of our faith there is a Savior who died, but who was raised again, showing us that nothing can hold back the grace of God.   

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound  

that saved a wretch like me. 

I once was lost, but now am found;  

was blind but now I see.

                                   - John Newton, 1779

Lent, Day 16: DAY-BY-DAY GRACE

Exodus 16:1-35

In their desert wanderings, God provided both water and food to His people.  Each morning there would be dew on the ground and as the dew evaporated, “there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground” and “the house of Israel named it manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey” (vs. 14, 31).  God’s provision was there but they had one instruction to obey. They were to take only what was needed for that day, and to clean up the rest and let the sun melt it away.  It was a day-by-day grace.  No hoarding, no cheating.  God would provide day-by-day. However, some of the people just had to push the envelope. They would take more than that days rations, only to discover that the left-over manna would perish and rot.  It was not to be saved.  Storage wouldn’t give them nourishment; only God. 

Dependency on God is a matter of the heart, isn’t it?  Trust, faith, obedience, focus, none of these come easily to most of us.  Yet, Thomas à Kempis was right, I think.  He said “Instant obedience is the only kind of obedience there is; delayed obedience is disobedience. Whoever strives to withdraw from obedience, withdraws from grace.” 

I grew up singing a wonderful song by John Henry Sammis, (1887), that has been helpful to me in my journey.  He wrote,

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,What a glory He sheds on our way!While we do His good will, He abides with us still,And with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other wayTo be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

The Manna issue with ancient Israel wasn’t their problem; it only revealed their problem.  They could not come to the place of trusting and obeying their God.  They just couldn’t, and it cost them dearly.  God wanted grace, they wanted their own way.  God wanted provision, they wanted to stockpile their gatherings.  God wanted to embrace His people into a wonder future, they wanted a backup plan, because they simply could not trust their God.

“Trust and obey,” can we do that?  Can we “Trust in the LORD…and…not lean on our own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5)?  This is not to say that God wants us to table our brains and be fools.  It is to say that if God is not at the center of all we are and do, we are headed for trouble down the road.  Each day, can we yield our lives to God and trust His amazing grace in us?  

Jesus trusted the Father step-by-step in His life.  May our Heavenly Father, help us do this, too?

Lent, Day 15: A WAY IN ALL THE WAYS

Psalm 95:6-11

The ancient Israelites, who should have been the most prepared and grateful people in the world, moved away from God not too many days removed from their slavery in Egypt.  They could not trust God.  If God didn’t show up immediately when they prayed, they moved on to other ways.  Consequently, they struggled, they wandered, they enslaved themselves again to the ways of destruction instead of the ways of deliverance, grace, mercy, guidance, and purpose.  Psalm 95:6-11 captures both the good and bad in the Exodus story.  In the past they were a people who erred “in their heart.”  They refused to know the ways of God.  So, God gave them over to their rebellion and that generation did not enter into the promised land. 

That was then, what about now?  That’s the Psalmists question.  He wants nothing to do with the ways of the people in his family tree.  It was time to wake up, to recognized the wonder of God in their midst, and to live as people of the Living God.  He leads them in worship, “Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker” (vs. 6).  Worship, not rebellion was his call to the people.  “He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand” (vs. 7).  It seems he was calling the people to live out the meaning of their faith.  “Today, if you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (vs.7-8). 

We are called to worship, not to wander.  We are called to embrace our calling as people of God’s pasture. We are called to remember who we are.  We are called to remember to whom we belong.  We are called to remember our true identity, and to embrace the love of God as He works His works in the world.  And, right in the middle of his honest song of celebration, the psalmist gives us one big IF.  “Today, if you would hear His voice do not harden your hearts” (vs. 7-8).

All through their history Israel had a heart problem, but before we call them out about it, maybe we ought to look into our own hearts.  How do we go about living in the love of God?  How easily might it be for us to get so caught up in the situations around us that we lose sight of God.  Remember these great words from Robert Robinson (1758),

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;  

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it;  

Seal it for Thy courts above.

In this Lenten season, may we look deep within and pray, “Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.”  The key to living inwardly free in this dangerous world is to open our hearts to God and pray, 

Come thou fount of every blessing; 

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.

Lent, Day 14: A LIFE OF THANKSGIVING

Psalm 95:1-5

How would you define your default attitude in life, your automatic, go to, spontaneous and unrehearsed attitude?   I asked myself this question long before I asked it to you; and I find it difficult to answer.  I think I’m a pretty positive guy, but I have my moments, moments I don’t want to admit to; (please don’t speak with Vonnie about this).  Thankfully, the Psalmist doesn’t let me off the hook, and I am forced to look inward for a true gut check.

The Bible invites us to “sing for joy to the Lord” and to “shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation” (vs. 1).  It challenges us to “come before His presence with thanksgiving” (vs. 2).  These words challenge me to ask if joy and thanksgiving comprise the default state of my life.  Am I so captivated by the reality of the Living God in my inner being that joy and thanksgiving flow freely in me?  After all, I do believe that “the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods” (vs. 3).  This should leave me awed and stunned.  Why?  Because this “great God and… King” is the very God who has dared involved himself in my life.  He is the LORD (Yahweh), and He invites you and me into His presence to live and conduct our lives.  

I am thinking a lot about this in this Lenten season.  How much of an impact am I allowing God to have in me?  Am I so aware of His presence in my life and in the world that this awareness impacts all it means for me to be who I am?  Does God have a say as to what will be the inner attitudes of my life?     

Charles Swindoll said somewhere, “Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitudes toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.”  I agree wholeheartedly, and want to let the 90 percent be filled, saturated, and overflowing with the life of God.  

Today, maybe all of us could search our hearts and open them to God’s transforming grace.  May God help us to be a grateful, joyful, and thanksgiving people.  Our God deserves this, the world needs it, and so do we.

Would you pray with me?

“Search my heart, O God” (Psalm 139:23). May the default setting of my life be one of joy and thanksgiving.  You are my God, “a great God and a great King above all gods.”  I worship you.  Amen.

LENT, Day 13: THE LAND OF BEGINNING AGAIN

John 8:1-11

In John 8:1-11 we see the heart of Jesus.  A bit later Jesus will say, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32).  In our story we have two realities, the reality of a women caught up in the sexual misconduct of adultery, and a group of people who felt her sin was so grievous that she should die for it.  Into the fray Jesus comes and changes the narrative.  He forces the crowd to look inward and see the hidden sin in their own hearts.  He calls the woman out of her sinful situation, forgives her, and changes the trajectory of her life.  No one got let off the hook that day.  People in the crowd had to face themselves, and the woman had to face herself. Jesus levels the playing feel and models a fundamental truth, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  

The woman had sinned, and Jesus held her to it, forgave her, and said to her, “Go.  From now on sin no more” (vs. 11).  The pride and spiritual arrogance of the people of the crowd were challenged by Jesus, and for a brief moment in time, the crowd dispensed and walked away.  They knew their hearts, and Jesus forced them to stare down their hearts, and see through the sham of their so-called righteousness. I believe the season of Lent is a wonderful time to stare down our hearts, and see what is really in them.  

True, we should do this often, not just during Lent.  Yet, most of us don’t live with this kind of intentionality.  We get caught up in our lives, believe our own press releases, see the sins in others, and go about making them pay.  Lent takes us to the desert and to the prayer and fasting of our Savior, and causes us to look deep within and see what is really there.  No pretense.  No self-edifying press releases.  No spin doctoring, 

To a woman, and the crowd that would kill her, Jesus brings truth, the kind of truth that makes people free.  But, let’s be honest, the truth can hurt, and hurt deeply.  The question is, how will we respond when God speaks the truth into our hearts.  Are we that lone person in need of God’s love and forgiveness, or a member of the crowd that would rather see the sin in others rather than in ourselves, or both?  The truth is, speaking of truth, we all need God’s grace and mercy.  As Paul writes in Romans 3:10, “There is none righteous, not even one.”  None of us gets off the hook so that we are lifted to that place where we can judge another.  We all stand in need of God’s amazing grace.  Someone once expressed, 

How I wish that there was some wonderful place  

called the Land of Beginning Again,  

Where all our mistakes and all out heartaches,  

And all our poor selfish grief,  

Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door,  

And never put on again.

There is such a place, the heart of God.  

Welcome home.

Lent, Day 12: LEAVE SLIDE RULES HERE

Romans 4:1-13

“Abraham believed God” (vs. 3). Of all the things the Bible says about the patriarch of the Christian Faith, the greatest is that he “believed God.”  The Jews aligned themselves with Moses and the Law, even though they had enormous respect for Abraham.  Christians align themselves with Abraham even though they have enormous respect for Moses.  We need both of these men of God but it is Abraham the New Testament turns to, to reveal the heart of God, and God’s longing for in His people.

Years ago I read a story by Charles F. Kettering.  He said,

When I was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem solved, I’d place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: Leave slide rules here.  If I didn’t do that, I’d find someone reaching for his slide rule.  Then he’d be on his feet saying, “Boss, you can’t do it.”  (Bits and Pieces, December 1991, p. 24).

I think Kettering gives us an insight into why God wants in His people, an attitude of faith.  We need to dream, explore and imagine.  Robert Browning wrote, “Ah, a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?”  The age of the so called, Enlightenment, elevated the ways of the slide rule to a place of superiority.  God calls Faith to the place of superiority.  In fact, if there is no faith, no one will ever see the need for a slide rule.  Perhaps, Augustine was correct when he said, “Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that thou mayest believe, but believe that thou mayest understand.”

Works and understanding will never draw us near the Father.  Make no mistake about it, though, we need works and understanding.  The greatest need of the human heart, however, is a relationship with the Living God.  When that relationship is healthy, the rest will follow.  Too often we put the rest before the Faith, and we wander, unfilled.  When Faith is at work, God is free to work the works of forgiveness and renewal and hope into the human heart.  

Martin Luther said, “God our Father has made all things depend on faith so that whoever has faith will have everything, and whoever does not have faith will have nothing.”  This axiom will not be embraced by many people, but it is front and center in the life of people who have come to abundant life in Christ Jesus.  

What will you and I cling to on the day of our death, our slide rule or our faith?  Can we sing together,

In the morning, when I rise… 

and when I am alone… 

and when I come to die… 

Give me Jesus… 

You can have all this world… 

but give me Jesus.

                                        -C.S. Brown, Give Me Jesus lyrics    

                                         © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Lent, Day 11: THE CHANGE-MAKER

Hebrews 3:1-6

Do you believe in Jesus?  If yes, then you are a part of the “holy brethren,” and a member of a community called, “partakers of a heavenly calling” (vs. 1).  That stretches the imagination, doesn’t it.  We, you and I, are partakers of a heavenly calling, who have as our leader, “Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession” (vs. 1).  

As believers, we are the Church of Jesus Christ, who “was faithful as a Son over His house” (vs. 6).  This amazing Son has spoken into our lives in remarkable and almost unbelievable ways.  He is our Savior, a friend, the one who “made purification of sins” (Heb. 1:3), the one who “because of the suffering of death” was “crowned with glory and honor so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9).  We have been called into the very community of God on earth.  This is sacred soil on which we walk.

Jesus is the Change-Maker of lives.  He takes us in our brokenness and brings us into a community of people who seek to live as a partakers of a life called forth from heaven.  In 2 Peter 1:3-4, the apostle describes it this way.  He says that God’s “divine power…has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature.”  Partakers of the divine nature!  Are you kidding me.  Partakers of a heavenly calling.  This is breathtaking wonder and mystery.  

The Change-Maker has opened up the very heart of God and invited us to make our home in Him.  Grace is not simply something God gives us.  Grace is Someone God becomes in us.  In a very real way the DNA of God flows in our veins as we live in Jesus.  He is the Vine and we are the branches (see John 15: 4-5, 8).  In Him, the very life of God flows in us.  

Remember what Brennan Manning said, ““We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground” (see the March 6 devotional).  I get this.  I really do.  Writer, Tim Hansel, says somewhere, “Grace is the central invitation to life and the final word.  It’s the becoming nudge and the overwhelming, underserved mercy that urges us to change and grow, and then gives us the power to pull it off.”

As we make our way to Good Friday and Easter Morning, let’s remember that God has reached out to us in spectacular fashion, and calls us to life that cannot be described in a better way than “abundant” (see John 10:10).  Maybe this is why Charles Wesley wrote the famous words, “O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace” (1739).

Remember who you are, “Partakers of a heavenly calling."

Second Sunday in Lent: A NEW WAY OF BEING

John 3:1-17

  

It would have been a strange moment in a way.  Nicodemus, a religious man, a ruler of the Jews, sought out Jesus to speak with Him about the things he had heard.  The Pharisees, of whom Nicodemus was one, had a lot of problems with Jesus, and on many occasions sought to shut Him down.  Apparently, Nicodemus saw something, however, that intrigued and fascinated him; so, regardless of his standing in the community he came to talk with Jesus.

Nicodemus believed that Jesus had come from God because of the works that Jesus had performed.  Yet, Jesus didn’t seem to be impressed with the fact that Nicodemus had seen the works.  Jesus called him to a deeper awareness.  He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (born from above) he cannot see the kingdom of God” (vs. 3). This troubled Nicodemus, and he inquired, “How can a man be born when he is old. He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” (vs.4).  Jesus then spoke to him of spiritual realities, of faith and belief, of laying aside one way of being and coming into a new way of being in the world.

We human types or captivated by what we might call the miraculous.  We love a good magician, don’t we.  But magician’s don’t do magic, they do illusion.  So, you can’t always trust what you see.  What we see may, in fact, be a miracle, but we don’t need miracles; we need God.  We need to come to life in Jesus and to practice a new way of being in the world.  The problem, if there is one, is that the things of God aren’t designed to wow us; they are designed to point us to God, who seeks to work amazing grace into our lives and in our world.  We want the spectacular.  Jesus wants to embrace us in the love and majesty of God.  

In this Lenten season, we don’t need miracles, even though some of us would love to see a few.  We need the life energizing presence of God in us.  This comes in the life of Faith.  Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (vs. 16).  Perhaps, the greatest miracle, if we still want to use this word, is a life transformed by God’s grace, energized by God’s power, and motivated by God’s love.  Now, that would be a miracle.

A lot of people think God is only about judgment.  Jesus didn’t think this.  He said, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (vs. 17).  That’s a totally different reality, is it.  Jesus came to save us because this is what we most need. None of us will get out this world alive, but we can get out of this world “saved” (vs. 17).  In fact, it is a saving relationship that begins today, continues throughout our lives, and takes us home to heaven when we die.

Who would have thought it?

Lent, Day 10: JUST BE REAL

Luke 7:1-10

In today’s reading we find a Roman soldier who had heard about Jesus’ power to heal.  He was a Centurion which means that he was in charge of 100 soldiers.  We don’t know too much about him, but we do know he had a servant in his home whom he highly regarded.  The servant was very sick and about to die.  When he heard about Jesus he thought maybe, just maybe, Jesus could help the servant.  To find out, he sent some Jewish elder friends to ask if Jesus might come to his house and save the life of his servant.

His friends tried to convince Jesus to come because they believed the Centurion was “worthy,” explaining how he loved the nation and even helped build the local synagogue.  Jesus accepted their invitation and headed off to the Centurion’s home.  Before He got there, however, the Centurion sent another group of his friends, to say to Jesus, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed” (vs. 6).  When Jesus heard these words, “He marveled at him” and turned to the crowd and said, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith” (vs. 9).  

That’s a breathtaking story isn’t it.  A Roman reaching out to Jesus through some Jewish friends; Jesus coming to the Roman Centurion’s home but being told, upon arrival, that this Roman man had had a change of heart and didn’t feel like he was worthy for Jesus to come into his home.  Instead, he trusted the powerful word of Jesus to work its work regardless of Jesus’ physical location in the matter.  Then, Jesus, using a Roman Centurion, turned to say to a group of Jews that this man’s faith was greater than any faith He had seen in Israel.  That’s just all mixed up, isn’t it?

This event reminds me that God isn’t looking for Jews or Gentiles but for both.  Nationality is never the issue with God.  God looks on the human heart, and sees the true mind and spirit of a person.  As someone once said, all the ground is level at the foot of the cross.  Jesus is looking for people to be open to God, and receptive to what God is doing in the world.  

This leads me to look inward and ask what is the true state of my heart.  Do I think I have special access to God because of my background and upbringing?  Jesus tells us not to think this way.  Jesus calls us to faith, and to a humbling of ourselves so that God can work the works of grace in us.  I’m pretty sure we should stop trying to impress God.  He knows us through and through.  Instead, maybe we should just get real before God, confess our unworthiness, and then let God be God in us.  

Lent calls us to get real and stay real before God.

Lent, Day 9: THE GOD OF EVERYONE

Romans 3:21-31

The Law never made anybody do legal things.  The heart is what it is, and wants what it wants.  The Law must somehow be written into human hearts, into our motives and passions and aspirations.  We can be forced to obey the law, with the threat of legal action if we don’t.  Yet, until the law is in our hearts we will fight it and resist it and maybe have disdain for it.  We can keep the law so that our outer life seems to reflect it, but inwardly be fuming.  At the same time, we might love the law, but know inwardly we are not living up to its standard.  At the end of the day, law is a heart matter.

This is where faith comes in.  God wants to get black words on white paper into our heart so that the safety and freedom provided by the law will be at work in us.  Jesus is God’s Word to us here.  The truth is, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (vs. 23).  We all have a heart problem that black words on white paper can’t erase.  We need a Savior; and we have One.  We need an Advocate who can work the works of God into us so that the grace and mercy of God can find a home in us.  

Jesus is the wonderful Savior of God.  He comes to us all, Jew and Gentile alike, and wraps the arms of God around us, and hold us to the very heart of God.  He does not write us off but includes us in, on the breathtaking and stunning love of God.  God calls us to faith in Christ Jesus whereby we are called into abundant life.  

In his book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning writes, “My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.” Another thing Manning says is, “We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.”

Do you see the love and grace and mercy of God as Brennan Manning sees them?  How would you describe God’s love and grace and mercy?  In light of Romans 3:23, how would you put into words the overwhelming realization that instead of judging us beyond belief, God reaches out to us and calls home, into the place of forgiveness and justification, the place we can call home.

In our reading today, may God help us see His heart on all matters and be open to all the magnificent things He has for His people.  Have you ever sung these words?

Love of Christ so freely given,  

Grace of God beyond degree; 

Mercy higher than the heavens,  

Deeper than the deepest sea. 

All that thrills my soul is Jesus;  

He is more than life to me; 

And the fairest of ten thousand,  

In my blessed Lord I see                      

                    (Thoro Harris, 1931)

Lent, Day 8: THE CARETAKER

Psalm 121

I love to be out in nature, and I cherish every moment of experiencing the natural world around me.  It is beautiful and breathtaking, sobering and energizing, humbling and uplifting, all at the same time.  Yet, there is one thing nature is not.  It is not the saving and redeeming and restoring force of God’s love and mercy.  I may look to the mountains, and be captivated by the wonder it all, but “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven earth” (vs. 2).  

Psalm 121 helps us get it right.  It helps us see that there is only one God in the universe, and that God is our keeper, the shade on our right hand, and the protector from all evil.  He is the Sovereign “LORD” who is our “guard” in all our involvements in life, the good, the bad, and the ugly (see vs. 5, 7, 8). So, in essence, the Psalmist says I will look at the mountains but I won’t turn to them for the truth that sets free.  I will not turn to anyone or anything, other than the LORD.

We live in complicated, partisan, and opinionated times, don’t we.  I suppose it has always been this way but, be that as it may, we are definitely in these times now.  Navigating the world is a challenge in which, if we are not careful, we can lose ourselves, get caught up in the emotional clutter that goes with the turf these days, and find ourselves lost in the clutter.  It is not a friendly world.  It is a divided world, and the lies are so entrenched that it is difficult to see our way through to truth.

In it all, we have a helper, “the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (vs. 1).  Our helper doesn’t take us out of the world.  In fact, He sets us right down in the midst of the world that we may life a life above the fray, even while we are in it, and reveal the wonder and majesty and glory of God.

In the Lenten season we see Jesus right down in the midst of the fray.  For forty days and nights He fasted in the wilderness, and at the end of this time, the enemy showed up in an effort to take Him down.  He sought to lure Jesus away from the heart of the Father.  He failed; and the enemy will fail with us, too, if we will not look to the mountains but to the Maker of the mountains, to God, the One who positions Himself between the blazing heat of the sun and us, and abides there, creating a place for us in the shadow of His Amazing grace (see vs. 5, and Psalm 91:1).

It might be good to slow down in this journey to Good Friday and Easter, and realize that God is with us.  The world is what it is.  However, God is who God is, too.  And our hope and safety and joy is not in the temporary things of the world, but in the everlasting love of the Father.  Remember, “The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever” (Psalm 121:8).

Lent, Day 7: OUTRAGEOUS LOVE

Matthew 18:10-14

Our heavenly Father’s love is extravagant and outrageous.  Not one of us can fully understand it, because it just doesn’t make sense in a world where love and respect must be earned and merited.  On top of that, people of faith are pretty much overlooked and underappreciated.  Jesus knew it well and referred to them as “little ones” (vs. 10).  The world doesn’t turn to the “little ones” much.  It seeks the best of the best, and the leader of leaders, and the master of masters.

In God’s economy everything gets turned upside down, or maybe right-side up.  The love of the Father goes beyond rhyme or reason to embrace His “little ones.”  Jesus explained this in terms of a shepherd in charge of 100 sheep.  Suddenly, he recognizes that one of the sheep is missing. So, the shepherd leaves the 99 and goes in desperate search for that one sheep.

It doesn’t make sense does it?  Why leave the 99 in search of the one?  I can’t answer the question fully.  I only know that when someone you love is missing, it captivates your imagination and you do all in your power to bring that missing one home.  Logic fails.  Reasoning fails.  There are no acceptable losses.  Love wins.  I think the song writer had it right when he wrote, 

I stand amazed in the presence   of Jesus the Nazarene,   And wonder how He could love me,   a sinner condemned, unclean.

How marvelous! How wonderful!   and my song shall ever be:  How marvelous! How wonderful!   is my Savior’s love for me!  (Charles H. Gabriel, 1905)

When you know that you are the one wandering sheep, and that God goes on a desperate search for you, you stand amazed. You just have to.  It is mindboggling, astonishing, and bewildering.  It is, as John Newton wrote, “Amazing Grace.”

Lent reminds us that God comes near, right now, into the midst of the very real world in which you and I live, and dwells here with us.  He is watching over the sheep of His pasture.  He knows when one of us is missing or hurting or lost.  He doesn’t wish one of us to perish but to be at home in His forever family.

Father,

“Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be; Let that grace now like a fetter bind my wandering heart to Thee”

                        (Robert Robinson, 1758).

Lent, Day 6: ONE WHO REALLY GETS US

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

There are people everywhere longing for someone to understand them, to accept them, and to be their friend.  Today, loneliness is a reality for countless numbers of people.  In February 2019, “Psychology Today” printed a story under the title, “Loneliness: A New Epidemic in the USA.”  Written by, Dr. Frank John Ninivaggi, M.D., F.A.P.A., an Associate Attending physician at the Yale-New Haven Hospital, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine Child Study Center in New Haven, Connecticut and the Psychiatric Director of the Devereux-Glenholme School in Washington, Connecticut, the article points out that “The newest epidemic in America now affects up to 47% of adults.  Of 20,000 U.S. adults ages 18 and older surveyed, half report feeling alone (40%) or left out (47%). One in four (27%) feel they are not understood. Two in five (43%) feel relations are not meaningful and they feel isolated (43%). Generation Z (those born after about 1995) was found to be the loneliest generation. 

You and I may not have known the numbers released in the article, but we already knew about the widespread reality called, loneliness.  You may be one listed somewhere in the above statistics.  

Into this reality Jesus comes to bring mercy and grace.  In Him we have someone who really gets us.  He understands our story and comes to us as a great high priest who brings compassion and empathy into us, and speaks the loving companionship of God to us.  He invites us into a community of people who have their own stories of life, and in whom God is living and helping them rewrite their story.

So it is that Hebrews calls us to “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace” (Heb. 4:16).  God is not here to write us off but to open us up to marvelous wonders of amazing grace.  He is not outside somewhere telling us to get better but, rather, within us, to wrap His arms around us and draw us into wonderful, abundant, and eternal life.  

What is your story?  Will you dare open it up to God in fresh new ways and allow Jesus to bring truth and love and healing and renewal into you?  Give Him your story, whatever it is.  Loneliness.  Disenfranchisement.  Frustration.  Sin.  Anger.  

Are you tired of chasing pretty rainbows?  

Are you tired of spinning round and round?  

Wrap up all the shattered dreams of your life;

Give them all…Give them all to Jesus.  

Shattered dreams, wounded hearts, broken toys. 

Give them all…Give them all to Jesus,  

And he will turn your sorrows into joy.

(Bob Benson, Sr., Phil Johnson, 1975, Dimension Music)

Lent, Day 5: GETTING AND STAYING HONEST

Psalm 32

Undealt with sin is a killer.  So, David begins the heartfelt poem of Psalm 32 with these words, “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How bless is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” (vs. 1-2).  Inner honesty and the intentional owning of one’s life, is perhaps the most freeing acts a human being can make.  To hide and cover up and make excuses, destroys the human heart, and takes away the joy of life.

David prayed, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD;’ and you forgave the guilt of my sin” (vs. 5).  Until David did this courageous thing he said, “my body wasted away through my groaning all day long” (vs. 3).  Sin just isn’t worth it.  Inner dishonesty just isn’t worth it.  Hiding from truth just isn’t worth it.  

The joy of sins confessed and the forgiveness that comes with it led King David to say,  to those who would read his poem, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” (vs 8).  The Message paraphrase of this verse reads, “Let me give you some good advice; I’m looking you in the eye and giving it to you straight.”  I suppose once you’ve experience the freedom that comes in getting real with God and yourself, you just have to share it and not hold back.  “I’m giving it to you straight,” said David.  

In the season of Lent, we are called to get real before God.  Honestly, we should get real with God everyday of our lives, but once in a while we just need to slow down, take our pulse and make sure that things between God and us, are okay.  It’s like that annual physical checkup.  It most likely will reveal that things are okay, and that you just need to keep doing what you’re doing to take care of yourself.  Occasionally, however, the doctor will tell you that the checkup is revealing something you need to do differently, in order to be in your best condition.  Sometimes it will start you on a journey that will call for a change in eating habits, or a call to lose a little weight, and maybe even point you in the direction of a necessary surgical procedure.  Checkups are a good thing.

Lent shows us that God is calling to us on behalf of His best will and interest for us.  To this, David says, “he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him” (vs. 10).  God is for us.  He won’t force us, but He is for us.  So, David concludes, “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones; and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart” (vs. 11).

As you journey to Good Friday and Easter, remember God is for you.  He wants the best for you.  You have no better cheerleader than God.  Gratefully take His grace and live.

First Sunday in Lent: WHEN THE ENEMY IS ON YOUR CASE

Matthew 4:1-11

Our text today has Jesus heading out to the desert “to be tempted by the devil’ (vs. 1).  A part of that desert for Jesus was fasting for “forty days and forty nights” (vs. 2). Afterwards, when we expect it most, He became hungry, and with the hunger He faced a certain vulnerability.  It was here the devil showed up to strike a decisive blow to his enemy, God.  He struck, and he struck hard, but he wasn’t quite prepared for the way Jesus would respond to him.

Three times, the enemy stuck hard at Jesus.  In essence, the three temptations spoke to the issues of the need to be relevant, the need to be spectacular, and the need to be powerful.”  These three words, “relevant…spectacular…powerful” are words Henri Nouwen uses in his book titled, In the Name of Jesus, and they really envelop the story of our lives.  

How we want to be relevant.  When the enemy tempted Jesus it was for him to turn stones into bread.  This act would show the world how relevant He was, and how this act would be world changing, and establish Jesus as the talk of the town.  

How we want to be spectacular. Here, the enemy tempted Jesus to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, knowing that the Father would command His angels to come down and prevent a catastrophe.  This action would wow the world, and impress it with a mindboggling miracle.

How we want to be powerful.  Here the enemy tempted Jesus to compromise His relationship with the Father by worshiping the devil.  In exchange, the enemy said that he would give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, along with all their glory.  This action would place the world at Jesus’ feet, and he would be ruler over all the planet.

Jesus did not buy into the promises of the enemy at all.  It was fake news, and Jesus tuned it all around on the enemy.  In essence, Jesus said that He didn’t come to be relevant, spectacular, or powerful.  He came to do the will of His Father, to live as one in the created order, to model the life of God, to suffer, to die, and to be raised up from the grave.  

Later, in His teachings Jesus said to His disciples, “follow Me” (Matthew 4:19).  He did not call them or us to be relevant, spectacular, or powerful.  He calls us to be faithful, to be humble, to turn our lives over to God, so that God can be God in our lives.  On Good Friday, Jesus will go the distance in refuting the false claims of the enemy.  On Easter, Jesus will reveal to the world that when God is allowed to be God, resurrection authority is let loose in people, and the deepest needs of the human heart are fully met.

Amen!