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Daily Lent Readings

Readings Begin Sunday, March 9

Daily Lent Readings
 

Lent readings post to this page beginning Sunday, March 9, 2025.
 
Each day we'll say a prayer from Jeremiah 31, read a passage from Scripture, unpack the different contexts of each golden thread, invite the Spirit to weave the thread into our lives, then finish the day with a prayer we hope will internalize what we learned by praying it back to God. And it only takes 20 minutes a day.
 
Readings are also available via podcast on Apple, Spotify or YouTube. 
 
 
 

Day 42: Fear Not at the World's End

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Revelation 1:12-20
 
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
 
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
 
Picking Up the Thread
Revelation opens with John’s wild, awe-inspiring vision of Jesus the glorified and reigning Son of Man. Of course, this colorful imagery only begins to describe what is beyond words. But I can well imagine the terror I’d feel seeing a human figure so glorious that his face radiated like the sun, whose voice sounded like Niagara crashing, whose eyes pierced through all veils like fire in the dark. I really want to be on the right side of this person!
 
But the mighty one who could so easily crush us approaches gently. John falls at Jesus’ feet paralyzed with fear, and Jesus lays a reassuring hand upon him. He speaks the words we are cherishing this week, “Fear not.” I hear his words like this; “Let me tell you who I am. I’m the one with whom all creation has to do. Before there was anything, I am. After all is said and done, I am. I am the center. But once I left the realm of eternity to enter the world of all your warring and suffering. I became what I was not in becoming one of you. In reply, you killed me. I was truly dead. For I had truly given my very life for you. But look now. I am alive forever more. Death and the realm of the dead are under my authority. I can open all doors. I am the Living One. I am guiding how all things will work out. And you will be part of it.”
 
Stitching It In
 
The Greek word translated as “Living One” is zon, pronounced “zone.” The possibility here for wordplay takes us right to the heart of our study on this last day. Get in the zone. Get in the zon. Be joined to the Living One. Stay close to him through faith. Fear this glorious Son of Man because he is the First and the Last, the one who wields the keys to life and death. Then you will find that you need not fear anything else. The tumult of the last days will be severe. But you will be upheld through it for eternal life in Christ. This will be worth celebrating tomorrow on Easter morning!
 
Over the past six weeks, we have traced six golden threads through Scripture. From Genesis through the history of Israel, from the psalms and prophets through the gospels all the way to the final revelation, we see the tapestry God is weaving.
 
We are created. In love, in God. For love, for God. It is good that we exist. For although we fell from innocence, the Lamb of God planned from all eternity to shed his blood to redeem us. The triune God has made us to fear him. Because he is reality, our well-being requires that we align with the truth. We refer to him and relate to him in constant mindfulness so that we stay out of deception and darkness. When we look to Christ Jesus in this way, all other fears become relativized, even downsized. If God is with us, who can be against us? 
 
Most beautifully, we see from Eden to the new Jerusalem the deep intent of the triune God for his unique image bearers. He wants to give himself to us as our beloved, loving God. He has staked his life on us forever in the incarnation of the Son. And he calls us to himself to be his precious people. For what God passionately desires is to dwell with us in communion in a renewed cosmos. That’s quite a story. A story that God will bring at infinite cost to a glorious fulfillment.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
I thank you, gracious Father, Son and Spirit
For weaving a story of mercy and love
Through this world in all its twists and turns.
 
I thank you that your will shall be done.
Your kingdom will come into full flower.
Earth and heaven shall be one.
And all manner of thing shall be well.
 
That is the tapestry of beauty beyond compare
Woven with the golden threads of your Word. 
 
As I go to your house tomorrow 
To proclaim Jesus risen and reigning,
Tune my voice to the songs of angels,
Shape my life for your mission
And knit my heart to my companions.
 
Let your church rise with you
That the world might be re-stitched,
Remade and redeemed according to your plan
In the joy of your triune being. 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 41: Fear Not in Jesus' Teaching

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Luke 5:8-11  
 
But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” . . . And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
 
Luke 12:29-34 
 
“And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
 
John 14:1-3, 27
 
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. . . . Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
 
John 16:33 (NKVJ)
 
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
 
Picking Up the Thread and Stitching It In
Jesus often encouraged his disciples not to fear. This was because our Lord’s total trust was in his Father. We read of him praying so often because that is how he remained at peace through so much opposition. Jesus connected his disciples to the care and protection of the Father through himself. As they trusted in Christ, they were taken into the love of the triune God. 
 
In today’s passages, we see Jesus speak “Fear not” to the disciples in various situations. Let’s walk through these and see how they apply.
 
“Fear Not” when you do not feel worthy. After the miraculous catch of fish, Simon Peter realized that Jesus was more than an ordinary man. Jesus was the Holy One in our midst. Suddenly Peter felt his own inadequacy and sinfulness. But Jesus said to him, “Do not be afraid.” Jesus was not shocked by human sin nor offended by the taint of our evil. He came to forgive sins, so he proved that the forgiveness he would achieve on the cross was meant for Peter too. Jesus made him part of his mission, saying, “From now on you will be fishing for people!”
 
Our guilt, fully and justly earned, makes us fear being in the presence of God. The mission of Jesus to the world seems to require someone purer and truer than inadequate me. But our sinfulness does not daunt Jesus. He still calls us to himself and sends us to others. This is evident in the powerful words Paul left us to use when the Accuser attacks us: “Who is to condemn [us]? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). The only one in a position to judge is the One who paid for our sin and included us in his rising!
 
“Fear Not” when you don’t know if you have enough. Jesus tenderly understood that as physical creatures, we need nourishment, clothing and shelter. Coming from a humble background, Jesus knew the meaning of thrift and striving to make ends meet. He reminded his disciples that our Father knows what we need, and he does not care for us begrudgingly. These sweet words calm our fears about running out: “Fear not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Therefore, we can find freedom from worry by joining his kingdom economics. Jesus encouraged us to trust him by actually giving out more to others, believing the Father will fill in all we need. So Paul concludes, “I have learned in whatever situation I am in to be content. . . . And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:11, 19). 
 
“Fear Not” when you are facing death. On this Good Friday, we remember the comfort Jesus gave to his disciples just before he was arrested. We often quote these words when coping with the loss of loved ones or facing our own mortal frailty: “Let not your hearts be troubled. . . . I go to prepare a place for you . . . that where I am, you may be also.” Once more, Jesus links peace and encouragement with himself. When we encounter death, we do so with the one who passed through its dark gates and came out the other side shimmering with everlasting life. Jesus has made a way through for all who trust in him. Nothing in this world can give us surety against the destroying power of death. No person or product can show us the other side of eternity. But the unbroken witness of Christ’s people through the centuries is that one man came back from the dead, victorious over that power forever. He showed us his body living again and transformed for everlasting life. Therefore, his words, beyond hope, create the effect they command, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
 
“Fear Not” in the tribulations of the world. In John’s gospel, these were the last words of instruction Jesus gave his disciples: “That in me you may have peace.” In me. He asks us to coordinate our whole lives with his. Entrusting ourselves entirely to him, our fears get quelled. We do not find peace through any security system we can create (they all fail). Nor through keeping all threats and turmoil at bay (we can’t). Nor by hiding away from the world (we’ll be found). But joined to Jesus in continuing faith, we find the peace that passes understanding. He asks us to release control, to cease trying to work it out on our own and entrust our whole lives to him.
 
When we enter such a union by faith, we can begin to plumb the depths of his promise. In the world, we certainly will have tribulation. That’s a fact. As one of my childhood friends used to say, “It’s gonna hurt and you’re gonna cry.” No doubt. But then there’s more. Take heart. Rise up. Be of good cheer! In a world such as this, you may yet rejoice, even in sorrow. For Jesus has overcome the world. Let that be our prayer on this holy day.

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 40: Fear Not for Jesus Is Here

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Matthew 14:22-33
 
Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 
 
And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
 
Picking Up the Thread 
 
Jesus had just spent a full day ministering to a crowd that followed him around the Sea of Galilee to a remote place on the far shore. Moved with compassion, he healed the sick and taught the people as a shepherd caring for lost sheep. By evening, it was too late for the people to find food in that wilderness. So Jesus multiplied the five loaves and two fish into a feast for more than five thousand. 
 
Now as darkness falls, Jesus sends his disciples in the boat back to the other side. Meanwhile, he goes up the mountain to pray and replenish his spirit in the Father’s presence. The disciples, however, struggle against a strong wind that blows against them on the water. Though the Sea of Galilee is only a few miles wide, after more than six hours, they are still fighting the waves far from land. Then they see a figure walking across the water. Already exhausted, the disciples feel their fears leap within them. They cry out, “It is a ghost!” Their trepidation stems from the notion that contact with a disembodied spirit might separate their own souls from their bodies undoing them completely. Leaving aside whether or not such a thing actually occurs in this world, we can feel their terror.
 
Then Jesus speaks to them: “Take courage. I am. Be not afraid.” The figure that appeared as the source of their primal fear is Jesus who brings peace to them. This instance in the middle of the night actually reveals the very heart of what it means that the eternal Son of God has arrived in our midst. The quelling of fear occurs as we orient our lives to the person of Jesus.
 
Jesus has declared, literally in the Greek, “I, I am.” Most often found in John’s gospel, this phrase harks back to Exodus 3:14 when God revealed his name to Moses, “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” This was the giving of the sacred divine name which we write as “the LORD.” In saying emphatically “I am,” Jesus identifies with the one who is pure being, the great I AM, the only true God. To have the presence of Jesus is to have all of God himself. For Jesus is the second person of the triune God who has his very life as a communion of love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The basis for courage in the face of fear is not wishful thinking or a positive attitude. It is the person of Jesus himself.
 
Matthew’s account contains Simon Peter’s challenge for Jesus to call him to walk on the water too. Jesus does not hesitate, saying simply, “Come.” For a few moments, Peter indeed walks on the waves. But when he takes his eyes off Jesus, he looks at the height of the waves, fears anew and begins to sink. He cries out the great prayer of faith, “Lord, save me!” Of course, Jesus takes him by the hand, they return to the boat and the storm is stilled. The presence of Jesus calms fears, winds and waves for Jesus is master of all.
 
Stitching It In
 
As we noticed yesterday, sometimes what God is doing in our lives for our good can cause us fear. In today’s story, the disciples’ fear moves from a rather normal anxiety about the storm to the terror that something supernatural would unmake them entirely. But they soon realize that the frightening presence is Jesus coming to them. He transcends the highest waves and is willing to invite his disciples to join him. In our lives, he may well call us to more than we ever thought possible as if he wants us to walk on water! In him all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). But we can start to sink when we take our eyes off Jesus and look only at the waves. 
 
As we deal with the fears that arise in us, we can remember that all courage and calm are found in the person of Jesus. Not with circumstances. Those may or may not resolve immediately. But Jesus is here. The same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Our comfort is found in his words: “[I]t is I. Do not be afraid.” We find courage as we try to discern where and how the Lord is with us in any and all circumstances. We can learn to ask questions that lead us to him. Instead of asking first, “Why did you let this happen?” we can ask, “Where are you in this? What are you doing through this?”
 
Courage comes from Christ. Even in the wildest storms, he is there. He is.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
It’s so hard to see you in the driving rain.
It’s so hard to hear you in crashing waves.
I have thought I was alone and sinking.
Only later do I see how you were always there.
 
I prayed for you to be more real in my life.
Then when you moved toward me, I panicked.
I feared that more of you would be the end of me.
But the unmaking you brought is a new creation.
 
Lord Jesus, you are. You are life. You are reality.
There is nothing that lasts outside you.
Give me courage to coordinate my life
With your eternal being. Help me find
The end of fear in your “I Am!”
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 39: Fear Not When God Does Something New

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Luke 1:26-32, 38
 
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.”
 
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” 
 
Matthew 1:19-21
 
And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
 
Luke 2:8-14
 
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
 
Picking Up the Thread
We love the Christmas story. Even if we have heard it for decades, we still find great comfort in hearing it again each year because we know how the story ends. But for the characters in the historical moment, this news of a savior being born of a virgin undid every certainty. 
 
Mary, betrothed, chaste, awaiting her wedding day, is told by an angel that she will conceive a child by the power of the Holy Spirit who will be the long-awaited Savior, the very Son of God. Joseph, a righteous and devout man, learns that his fiancé is pregnant but is instructed by an angel to marry her anyway and protect the child who will save his people. On a typical night watch, the shepherds behold the heavenly realm breaking into the ordinary world. An angel and the hosts of heaven light up the midnight sky with power and glory that could destroy the shepherds.
 
For Mary, Joseph and the shepherds, what God is doing is terrifying. This is the end of a predictable life. Disgrace, rejection and destruction could follow. In each case, the LORD sends an angel to speak peace to their terror: “Fear not.” “Do not be afraid.” What seems at first dismaying is actually good news of great joy. God has entered the world as a child. He has come to save his people. In each case, the angel’s message is astonishingly personal: What is happening through you will resound throughout the earth and all the way to the heavens. God will be glorified by what he does through you in this time. 
 
Each of these characters took courage from God’s word through the angels. They went forward in faithfulness. And thus they participated crucially in the great salvation God would accomplish through Jesus. 
 
Stitching It In
 
So far, we have been considering fears borne of not being able to see the future or from immediate enemies that mean us harm. Today, we realize that fear can arise through something new and even wonderful that God desires to do in our midst. 
 
When the Spirit starts to stir in us we can wonder at first if this is a threat or an opportunity. We are led toward a new direction, and it unsettles us. We may well ask questions like these:
 
~ If I move out of my parents’ house, will I be able to 
support myself?
 
~ If I accept this new assignment, will I be able to complete it? 
Or will this new position reveal my inadequacies and sink me 
into failure?
 
~ If I take a stand alongside this friend, will I be destroyed if he 
goes down?
 
~ If I don’t leave this trauma buried but let it be exhumed and examined, will it overwhelm me again?
 
~ If I come clean and bring this shame to light, will I be rejected? Humiliated? Fired? Arrested? Can I really be free of the guilt, or does only condemnation await?
 
~ If I decide to forgive, will it make what they did to me no longer wrong? Will they get away with it?
 
~ What if the thing I don’t want to look at is the very thing I need to see, own and bring before the LORD for my healing?
 
God loves us as we are. He also loves us enough not to let us stay as we are. He has so much more for us. When he moves in our lives, we may well feel fear. These Christmas stories bring us the angel words as personal encouragement. Do not fear moving forward. What is conceived is of the Holy Spirit!
 
Perhaps right now you are evaluating something that is stirring within you. Can you offer it to God? Can you say along with Isaiah, “Here I am, send me” (Isaiah 6:8)? Can you ask with David, “Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation” (Psalm 25:5)? May God speak courage to you for the next step of his work!
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
I really prefer to be comfortable, Lord!
Safe, predictable, peaceful, steady, sound
Is the way I like it. But I know you know
I am not yet where you call me to be.
 
It takes so much energy to risk
Forgiveness, surface old wounds,
Open the door to a new calling,
Drop grudges, stop blaming, start anew.
 
I fear what you have for me!
Yet you are the God of my salvation.
Apart from you, I have no good.
Speak to me now, “Fear not!”
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 38: Comfort from the Poets

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Psalm 27:1-6, 14
 
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
     whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
     of whom shall I be afraid?
 
When evildoers assail me
     to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
     it is they who stumble and fall.
 
Though an army encamp against me,
     my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
     yet I will be confident.
 
One thing have I asked of the LORD,
     that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
     all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
     and to inquire in his temple.
 
For he will hide me in his shelter
     in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
     he will lift me high upon a rock.
 
And now my head shall be lifted up
     above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
     sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the LORD.
 
Wait for the LORD;
     be strong, and let your heart take courage;
     wait for the LORD!
 
Isaiah 41:10
 
Fear not, for I am with you;
     be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
     I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
 
Picking Up the Thread
The very rhythm of the words in Psalm 27 creates peace. David prays in a cadence of calm. He fully recognizes dangers and opposition. But he refers all events with the centrality of the character of the LORD I AM. 
 
He sees how there are adversaries who want to destroy him. An army of problems marches toward him encircling him with bad intent. A day of trouble has arrived, and the surrounding opponents could engulf him. As kids, we called that “getting rumbled,” “being pounded,” or simply “smeared.” It’s frightening to anticipate the frustration of being thoroughly thwarted. The damage that can be done legitimately terrifies us.
 
The opposition David encounters has faces. He knows the people coming for him. That may be true for us as well. At other times, the fear-inducing enemy may be faceless circumstances. A crisis in the industry in which we work. Crippling new regulations. An imminent audit. Restrictions on our speech. Sudden disease. Complications from an accident.
 
What’s more, there is an enemy behind the seen enemy. There exists spiritual opposition to God’s will and Word. Martin Luther observes, “[T]his world with devils filled / may threaten to undo us” (“A Mighty Fortress”). The evil one does not want life, love, holiness and growth to occur, and he can very vehemently terrify us with threats of our undoing.
 
In any and every case, Psalm 27 directs us to how God can create peace even amid fearsome hostilities on every level.
David sings a cascade of qualities of the God who loves us. Let’s review. The LORD is light, the radiant force required for growth, sight, warmth and health. God is also our salvation. He delivers us from dire circumstances. (You wouldn’t be reading this if God hadn’t saved you many, many times in your life already!) Christ Jesus also frees us from self-tyranny, the weight of guilt, the stain of sin and the accusations of shame. And he gives us hope that though we will not be spared mortality, there is more life to come, much, much more. 
 
The LORD is also David’s strength, his stronghold. Because David feared the LORD properly, coordinating his whole life with God’s reality, he finds that God gives him strength beyond his own inner resources. The sovereign, loving reign of God is a fortress into which David can retreat. He finds with God a respite from “the strife of tongues” (Psalm 31:20), a safe place for his soul to rest amid accusations and threats. 
 
Psalm 27 continues with a triple metaphor. The LORD is for David a shelter in the day of trouble, a tent within which he can hide, and a rock upon which he can repose far above the tumult. 
 
The peace of God multiplies when we mix in the voice of the LORD himself speaking through Isaiah. All the qualities of God that David noted become promises of immediate action in Isaiah 41: “Fear not, for I am with you. . . . I will strengthen you . . . help you . . . uphold you.” God actively intervenes on behalf of his people.
 
Stitching It In
 
Today we see again the pattern for subduing fear we noted earlier. David has asked himself under immense pressure, “Who is the LORD God? Who is the LORD God to me?” 
 
Aligning our lives with the character and past actions of God anchors our whole being. It lifts us above circumstances. It powers down anxiety with an eternal perspective. 
 
We can return to words from Luther’s great hymn, “The prince of darkness grim, / we tremble not for him. . . . . The body they may kill; / God’s truth abideth still: / His kingdom is forever” (“A Mighty Fortress”). 
 
One of the more reliable ways I know of dealing with fears is to list them out on a piece of paper. I put “I fear . . .” at the top of the page, then make notes for all that threatens me. Surprisingly, seeing the whole list calms me. It all fits on a page. It’s a lot, but not too much for the triune God. Fears fall into perspective when I get them out of my swirling head and onto a page. Then I can offer them up one at a time or as a whole list. Raising the paper above me, I give myself to Christ even as I say, “Please take these. Please be at work within them. Show me what to do next. For you my light, my strength and my salvation.”
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
As a child walking safely with a parent,
I reach up my hand and find that you take it.
The crowd of big people pushing all around us
Cannot sweep me away, for your grip prevails.
 
The noise of traffic and machinery,
Human designs so insistent and deafening,
Cannot keep your voice from me, 
“I am with you. I am your God.”
 
The fear that none of these passersby
Would ever want my company, ever care,
Fades in the comfort of the warmth so near
Of your presence that will not ever leave.
 
Gracious Father with loving arms around,
Tender Savior with words from the gospels,
Blessed Holy Spirit, sweet presence within,
You quieten, calm, encourage and guide.
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 37: Fear Not Before Enemies

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
2 Chronicles 20:12, 15-18, 20-21
 
“O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
 
“Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. . . . You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you.” Then [King] Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. 
 
And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness. . . . Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
 
Picking Up the Thread
This story takes place in the 9th century BC after Israel had split into a northern and southern kingdom. Jehoshaphat ruled over Judah in the south. As ever, the perennial enemies of God’s people sought their demise, and word reached the king that a menacing coalition was marching toward Jerusalem. To his credit, Jehoshaphat immediately brings the situation to public prayer in the temple. Yesterday, we confirmed that remembering who God is and what he has done is essential to combatting fear, and Jehoshaphat does just that. He calls upon the LORD to remember his eternal promises to his people and recounts God’s many saving acts. He admits their helplessness, saying, “We do not know what to do,” before affirming trust in God, saying, “[B]ut our eyes are on you.” 
 
The LORD’s reply comes as the Spirit speaks prophetically through one of the priests, “Do not be afraid . . . for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. . . . You will not need to fight. . . . Stand firm . . . and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf. . . . Do not be afraid.”  
 
In response, the king bows in submission and worship, and all the people join him. The next day they do indeed go out to the battlefield, and as they go, they sing the praises of their faithful God. In the end, their enemies turn against each other and are destroyed by their own hands. God’s people return with thanks and joy.
 
Stitching It In
 
This has been a significant passage to me for many years. One personal example stands out. As a young associate pastor, I developed a program for children I was very excited about. I poured energy into it and felt like I was using my ministry gifts. I probably also added in some immature confidence and no doubt a dose of arrogance. A couple of years in, the church brought an outside consultant to evaluate the program. As the inquiries were made, I realized the outcome had already been determined. I was distraught. Full of fear, I worried constantly about what I would do if my “baby” were taken from me. During that time, someone shared this Scripture passage with me and paraphrased its advice, “The battle is not yours, but God’s. Go down and face them. But you will not need to fight. Just see what the LORD does.”
 
After great struggle, I did put the entire process into the hands of God. I worshipped Jesus in trust as my Savior and God. At the final meeting where the report was delivered, I did not mount a vigorous defense. I let happen what would happen. The program got terminated! God did not usher in a great victory for me in the moment. Yet I was at peace—broken-hearted, but deeply peaceful, full of thanks for Christ, for my family, for life. 
 
When I look back now, I see how truly God did not let me down. Yes, my special program got canned. But four months later (four months!), I was serving as senior pastor in a lovely small town where we would live happily for the next thirteen years. With a wider lens, I see how much my ego needed to be consecrated and how my immaturity required that setback. I also see God’s merciful hand moving invisibly once he received the control I released.
 
I hope the takeaways are clear. Name your fear and what’s coming against you. Receive the message from God’s Word: “Do not be afraid.” The battle is not yours but God’s. Go down and face them. See what the LORD does. Then worship the LORD before and after the event with thanks for who he is and all he has done and will do. 
 
This method of offering up to God our dismay over the advancing opposition does not mean every battle goes our way. Also, knowing the battle is God’s, not mine, does not mean I do nothing. Every situation is different, and sometimes there is much that we are called to do. But we don’t rely on our own strength. That’s the key. There is an internal release in calling on the LORD to fight for us. To work through us. To be what we cannot be. 
 
When we release and then later give thanks whatever the outcome, we see over time the beautiful ways God responds. We discover in the depths of trials and conflicts how we can ever rely on the words, “Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed.”
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Your steadfast love endures forever.
I will say that no matter what or who marches out.
 
Jesus, what is so heavy to me
Is light to you.
You ask me to come to you 
And give you whatever frightens me,
Whatever weighs me down and presses.
But I know now where that lifting,
That saving, that wonderful provision begins.
I must release.
 
So I say with the ancient prayers,
Jesus, I surrender myself to you.
Please take care of everything.
 
Jesus, you are the undoer of knots,
Please untie this. 
 
I am in your hands,
I worship you and seek to abide in your love
Enacting your will in obedience each hour.
 
I say it again,
Lord Jesus, I surrender myself to you.
Please fight for me.
Please stay with me.
Please do what only you can do.
Take care of everything.
 
And I will fear no evil,
For you are with me. 
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 36: Fear Not When the Future Is Dark

WEEK SIX
FEAR NOT!

 

 


 
Magdalena Walulik. Virgin Mary and Jesus. 2024.
We saw last week that a healthy fear of God leads to freedom from other fears in daily life. Of course, that does not mean that fears won’t arise. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t read so many times in Scripture the words “Fear not” or “Do not be afraid.” Fear is a natural response to potential threats. Suddenly feeling afraid when we perceive danger is normal. The question is what we do with that instinctive fear. Does it overtake us, haunting every moment? Or can we feel it, examine it and then release it to God?  
 
We can discover that when we fear God above all else, every other fear gets diminished in light of his constancy and care. A Biblical fear of God inspires us to keep the LORD as our constant reference point in everything. We entrust our whole lives to him, yielding our will to his will. That means we can trust that God will take care of everything. 
 
This contemporary icon of Mary holding the infant Jesus calms me every time I look at it. I’m reminded of the LORD’s words in Isaiah 49:15 in which God compares himself to a mother nursing a baby: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?” Of course, if asked we all would answer loudly, “Of course not! She would never forget her baby!” But the LORD goes on, “Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” While this picture of the cheek-to-cheek love of mother and child comforts me, our God declares that his fear-quelling love runs deeper even than that.
 
God’s steadfast love and tender mercy moved him to come to us as a little child who needed a mother’s care. Without Mary and Joseph, the infant Jesus could not have survived. Yet, as the poet William Everson writes, “[W]hat they nervously guarded / Guarded them.” (William Everson, “The Flight in the Desert,” The Value of Sparrows, December 28, 2016) As you look at this image, imagine both Mary and Jesus saying wordlessly to each other, “Fear not. I am here.” This week we will seek to be located in this peace-creating love of God that stills our fears.
 

FEAR NOT WHEN THE FUTURE IS DARK

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Genesis 15:1-6
 
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
 
Picking Up the Thread
We return once more (see Day 8) to the foundational story of Abram who became forever known as Abraham, the father of the multitude of God’s people. The LORD had promised him offspring as numerous as the sands, a people through whom the world would be blessed. Yet even long after Abram’s call to leave his homeland and journey to Canaan, the fulfillment of this promise seemed very far away. Abram wondered if, after all his trials, this glorious heritage would ever come to be.
 
In today’s passage, Abram has just returned from freeing his nephew Lot from capture by kings of neighboring clans. One of Abram’s allies offers him a share in the spoils of victory, but Abram declines the reward, not wanting to be obligated to his neighbor. Abram denies himself the momentary treasure. But then the LORD speaks to him with the promise of a greater reward, saying, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” Would God fulfill his long-ago promise at last?
 
Abram has been waiting a long time, and he wants to see some tangible evidence. He reminds the LORD that he does not have even one heir. In response, God leads him out into the night and tells Abram that his descendants will be as numerous as the countless stars. This revelation under the dramatic night sky inspires Abram’s faith once again. He does not immediately see the future fulfilled, but he trusts the God who made the promise. As we read in the famous verse, “Abram believed the LORD and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Above all else, God prized Abram’s trust during the in-between time, the long empty stretch between promise and fulfillment. 
 
Here we notice how the encouragement to “fear not” becomes a reality when Abram trusts God once more with his future. This confidence aligns with knowing he has God himself as his shield and truest reward. Abram possesses God, in all his grace and favor before he has the specifics of the promised future enacted. And it proves to be enough.
 
Stitching It In
 
When we entrust ourselves to the God who loves us, we do not receive a detailed timetable of all that he plans to send our way. Nor do we get a guarantee that all we fear will disappear and all we want will come to be. Immediate circumstances may not resolve the way we would like. What looms in our mind as the worst might yet happen. So, on one level, our present fears may be grounded.
 
How then do we receive the assuring command, “Fear not”? The faith that God desires from us is just like the faith he sought from Abram. Will I trust that God himself is my shield? That he himself is reward enough? The golden thread of “I will be your God” comes into play here. The LORD gives himself to us, to have him, to claim boldly, “He is my God. My shield.” We sing with Robert Grant’s hymn, “Your mercies how tender, how firm to the end / Our maker, redeemer, defender and friend” (“O Worship the King”).
 
The future remains dark to us. It is only rarely given to a human to know what will be. We cannot see how all this will end. This not knowing can evoke terror. What if this cancer cannot be stopped? What if she leaves me? What if my house never sells, my investments tank, and I die a pauper? What if I never see my children come to faith? What if I can’t get the job done? The list is endless.
 
To quell the fear, I offer the advice of Douglas Kelly, my beloved theology professor. To paraphrase him, first, ask yourself, “Who is Jesus Christ to me?” Say out loud all that Christ is and all that he means to you. Then ask, “Is Jesus Christ still this to me?” Then ask, “Is it really likely that this is the moment when Christ has decided to quit on you, after all these years and all his faithfulness?” If not, can you trust this uncertain future to him right now? Can you believe that come what may you have Christ, and he 
is enough?
 
Reminding ourselves of the truth of Christ’s character and his faithful care for us is a powerful antidote to fear.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
I know, Lord Jesus, that I answer your promises
As Abram replied in fear,
“O Lord GOD, what will you give me,
Since I remain childless?”
That fits all the times I do not see fruit
From my labors, my plans, my prayers.
Nothing seems born from my efforts!
 
And more. I pray as you taught, 
“Your kingdom come, your will be done.”
But the world seems worse.
Chaos, coarseness, cruelty rise.
Are you really going to birth a new world,
Or will I be an orphan, stranded in this hell?
 
Help me hear the sufficiency in your words,
“Fear not! I am your shield, your reward.”
 
I have you, Jesus. You are the one who sought me
And brought home in forgiveness.
You are the one who filled in the gaps,
Freed me from myself to discover love,
You have ever sent peace that passes understanding,
Your Spirit stirs in me hope beyond sight.
 
I do not know how this looming future will resolve,
But I cannot be lost from you.
You have given yourself to me forever.
I draw upon that peace,
I will look in hope for the fruit 
You will grow in whatever comes next. 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 35: Fear Is Glorious!

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Revelation 14:6-7; 15:2-4
 
Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
 
And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, 
 
“Great and amazing are your deeds,
     O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
     O King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord,
     and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
     All nations will come
     and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
 
Revelation 19:1-5
 
After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, 
 
“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
     for his judgments are true and just. . . .”
 
And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And from the throne came a voice saying, 
“Praise our God,
      all you his servants,
 you who fear him,
       small and great.”
 
Picking Up the Thread
Today we see that from the first book of the Bible to the last, healthy fear of God is a foundational aspect of faith. What’s more, this kind of fear will continue through an eternity of joyful worship. But first, we also recognize that the fear of God does indeed include something terrible, that is, the terror that we can choose to be left out of his new creation. Persisting in “my will be done” has dire consequences. For one day God will grant that demand. This breaks his divine heart. Paul tells us that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time” (1 Timothy 2:4-6).
 
Even in the horrific last days, God pursues humanity. In our passage from Revelation 14, we see an angel flying across the earth, proclaiming one last time the eternal gospel to the world. What is this good news? The angel summons every tribe and nation “Fear God and give him glory” (Revelation 14:7). That’s what we are made for! We do not generate our own lives. We are not the result of blind forces or accidents of nature. God created us. We find our purpose and joy in acknowledging him. We become the glorious creatures we were created to be only when we do not exalt ourselves but give glory to God. 
 
The angel’s glorious evangel, the great news, is that God has left this time and space open for us to respond to him. The lamb who was slain has triumphed over death and evil. Salvation belongs to him (Revelation 5:9; 7:10). He longs to share that reconciliation with us. He desires us to align our lives with the worship of all the hosts of heaven. 
 
However, in this scene with the angel winging over the earth, the message is that there is still time, but not much! The hour is swiftly coming when the door will close. God will call the world’s business to a halt. His judgment will be rendered upon human refusal to acknowledge him as our Creator. He will say, “No more!” to all the suffering we have caused as a result of our willfulness. No one is getting away with anything. All shall be revealed. We will give an account for every second. Even though many will say, “‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1) and “‘The LORD does not see’” (Psalm 94:7), there will be no hiding from the truth. God sees all. The frightening chaos in the world’s last days calls you to seek salvation from beyond yourself. The God who sees all has atoned for all in Jesus. Fear God, glorify him and escape condemnation!
 
Stitching It In
 
This week’s study has made me realize that it is a serious business to be a human being. Created in the image of God, we have a sacred vocation. We give voice to all creation in its praise for being made. We tend the planet and work its resources to provide for all. But what a botched job we have made of it! In a cosmos filled with billions of shining lights, we are what C.S. Lewis called “the dark planet.” (C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet. London: The Bodley Head, 1938) We do not hear the myriads of angelic beings singing praise around the throne of God. We can scarcely look beyond ourselves to see how much more God has for us. We steam along fearing scarcity, failures, rejections, disasters and setbacks. But not fearing what will hurt us most, being misaligned with the God who made us. 
 
Scripture summons us to fear God once again. At the most basic level, the realization that we do not belong to ourselves and that we will give an account to our Maker motivates us to seek his mercy. However, once we have moved from clinging to self to clinging to Christ and have accepted his mercy, we can and must engage the healthy fear of God that we have 
been examining.
 
The five “r’s” of fearing God can light up our lives. We see the world charged with God’s glory as we refer everything to his reality. We find freedom from self-tyranny as we respect and revere the Creator who claims us for himself. When we remember God’s mighty acts of salvation through studying Scripture, we see our little lives in the context of a much greater story. Such a proper perspective reduces our egos but elevates our sense of eternal worth. 
 
Thus, we can be immersed in the intimacy of relating to the God who has accommodated himself to our frailty and undertaken so great a redemption on our behalf. That frees us to relax and rejoice in the sovereignty of God who works all things together for good, bringing order out of chaos, love out of suffering and life out of death. Pressing deeply into the right fear of God prepares us to savor our final week’s theme: Fear Not! 
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Like a poor woman finding a precious lost coin,
Like a good shepherd daring the tangled slopes
For a heedless wandering sheep,
Like the shameless father who watched daily
Down the foreign road for his errant son,
So much more do you rejoice at the return 
Of the worst and least human being
To the home of your merciful presence.
 
I thrill in the tumult of today’s world
To envision the herald angel flying
Across the battlefields and tent cities,
The houses of rage and streets of ruin
With news of your eternal gospel.
 
You call us to go from death to life
By rising from the dullness
Of passionless distractions
To the invigorating fear that you
Are gloriously more than the tedium
Of daily life. You are! You are glorious.
 
Oh quicken me to look up,
Loose my tongue and strengthen my voice
To worship and share, to rejoice and tremble
At Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
The God who is and ever shall be. 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 34: In Christ, We Fear the Lord Growthfully

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Philippians 2:12-13
 
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
 
1 Peter 1:13-19
 
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
 
2 Corinthians 5:9-11, 14-15
 
So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. . . . For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
 
Picking Up the Thread
The long-awaited Messiah, Jesus, lived out the perfect fear of God. He delighted to do his Father’s will. He remained aware of his Father’s presence and purpose in every situation. He prayed constantly, relating to his Father through the Hebrew Scriptures and the Spirit who prayed within him. He trusted that his Father’s plan would come to pass even though Jesus would walk through the valley of death to accomplish it. By his death, he achieved for us a great salvation. In him, we have reconciliation with the Father. We are made new with resurrection life flowing through us by his own Spirit that Jesus has shared. We look forward to everlasting life in communion with him and one another: “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31).
 
We as believers are commanded to fear God. Do we fear because we dread the possibility of eternal separation from our Redeemer? Absolutely not. But we know we are prone to forget how great and costly the salvation given to us is. We slide back into occupying our minds with scores and charts, screens and expenditures. However, a healthy fear lifts our attention upwards even amid daily obligations. 
 
In today’s passages, Peter and Paul remind us to treasure this restored fellowship with God. In Philippians, Paul has just reminded his readers how Jesus, though he was God, took up the “form of a servant” as he came to us: “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8). Rescuing us cost Christ his life! 
 
Stitching It In
 
Paul urges us to respond to this salvation by “working it out.” That is, live out all the implications of what it means that God has laid hold of you and includes you in his great loving forgiveness and purpose. Do this, he urges, with fear and trembling. Why fear? “For it is God who works in you.” God! God himself, the Creator of the universe, the Almighty King has so regarded you that he gave his only Son. The Spirit who shaped the formless waters into the creation of earth’s beautiful complexity now resides within you. What is stirring in you is not just an emotional response. The triune God is nudging you, inspiring your will to participate in becoming more like the new Adam. He is calling you into his mission. God, the true God, invites you to be a vital part of what he is doing. Would we not feel some trembling urgency if we learned that our favorite earthly leader, hero or artist called us to come immediately to be part of a project? Multiply that by a million!
 
Similarly, Peter exhorts his readers to “conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.” Earth in this form is not our final home. We are strangers here. Our homeland is heaven. Peter coaches us to resist the tug to fall back into a former way of life, a pattern where now is all, where we fear earthly loss but have no regard for God or his future. Our motivation, however, is not avoiding punishment. Rather, Peter reminds us of the inestimable worth God conferred upon his people. We were ransomed from the futile ways of life inherited from the whole history of the rebellious broken world. The price was not mere gold or silver but “the precious blood of Christ.” 
 
When we fully grasp that the Son of God took up flesh and blood to give that flesh to be torn and give that blood to be poured out for us, we gasp in wonder. Jesus is not just a spiritual option that we turn to when we get bored with our pursuits. He is the king who ransomed a slave. The shepherd who sacrificed himself for a wandering sheep. The father who feted a wastrel son. Shall we treat this as a trivial thing? A mere religious choice? One god among many?
 
Paul turns up the heat as he tells the Corinthians that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” Yes, the judge is our redeemer, but he is still the judge. Yes, the Savior paid for all our sin, but we must still face its reality. Yes, he lived faithfulness for us, but he still requires us to love and obey him. Do we want to arrive at judgment as if we merely took out a “fire insurance policy” by believing in Jesus but did nothing in loving reply to the love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit?  
 
Once again, the deepest motivation for such fear is not a servile terror. It is the recognition that because Jesus died and rose for us, we no longer have to live for ourselves. We’re no longer caught in the endless self-loop of trying to satisfy ourselves. Our own chosen fulfillment plans always fail us and entrap us with consequences. But Christ has made us free. He has opened the path to the deepest human satisfaction: to live not for ourselves but for him who for our sake lived, died and rose again. Pleasing the one who loves us more than he loves himself is the essence of a Biblical fear of God. This has been the plan all along.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
My appetites growl so loudly!
The next thing I need drives most of life.
Finding pleasure, making comfort,
These are my main pursuits.
 
But then I feel a quiet stirring within me,
That my life is more than now.
I want to know you.
I don’t want my years to have been a waste,
I long to be part of what matters.
 
This impulse is you, blessed Spirit!
Not overwhelming, but humbly
You nudge me towards the Father.
You open my mind and heart to consider
All the Son did to remake human life.
You press me to contemplate
What it took to atone, to reconcile,
To ransom, retrieve and re-birth and make new.
 
I tremble at the value you have placed on me.
I desire, by the desire you have graciously given,
To love you with my whole heart and
Serve you with my whole life, even this day.

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 33: Christ and the Fear of the Lord

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
     the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
     the Spirit of counsel and might,
     the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
 
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
     or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
     and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
     and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
     and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
 
Psalm 130:3-4, 7
 
If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
     O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
     that you may be feared. 
 
O Israel, hope in the LORD!
     For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
     and with him is plentiful redemption.
 
Picking Up the Thread
This prophecy of Isaiah puts to rest any doubt we may have had about the Bible’s presenting a healthy fear of God as integral to love and flourishing. We often read this foretelling of a messiah in the Advent season. Isaiah foresees that “a shoot will rise from the stump of Jesse.” Jesse was King David’s father, so this is an oblique way of referring to the lineage of kings that came through David. Even though some terrible kings led the nation to the brink of exile, the LORD would not forget his promise that David’s line of kingship would never fail. When all seems lost, the Christ will appear. 
 
Both “messiah” and “Christ” mean “anointed one” after Israel’s custom of anointing kings with oil. But this mighty figure will be anointed with the Holy Spirit. A superabundance of God’s favor and presence will be upon him. The passage describes what the out-poured Spirit will create in Christ: wisdom, understanding, wise counsel, deep knowledge of God and the fear of the LORD!
 
The prophet underscores this last attribute through repetition: “And his delight will be in the fear of the LORD.” No one delights in terror-based fear. No human would relish the fear that comes from skeptical scrutiny, the feeling that God is out to get us. But the fear that pervades the very Spirit of the Messiah is a delight to him. This fear gives pleasure. It satisfies from the inside out. It awakens a desire for more of the LORD so that delight in fearing him can be magnified. 
 
The verses that follow amplify the qualities and actions that flow from the Messiah’s delight in the fear of the LORD. The Messiah will see to the heart of the matter and judge by the truth, not the appearance, that someone exhibits. He will be so resolute in fairness that the poor and meek, so often overrun by the powerful, will feel lifted up by his impartial judgments. The wicked will not get away with dominating. The Messiah will battle the evil spiritual powers and confront the way they manifest in earthly powers. He will be sustained by his innate righteousness. His resolute faithfulness to his Father will make him a uniquely integrated, incorruptible, through-and-through human being. 
 
Our brief excerpt from Psalm 130 takes us deeper into how fear and delight go together. The psalmist speaks the stark truth: God, if you should keep a comprehensive account of everyone’s sins and repay us accordingly, who could ever survive your presence? No one would willingly draw near to you. We would try to avoid you at all costs. But. But with you, gracious LORD I AM, there is more than just judgment. You are not known for exacting every ounce of punishment. You are known for bestowing everlastingly steadfast love. With you there is “plentiful redemption.” Not begrudging acceptance but overflowing remedy and relief for our sin. All of this divine kindness, which has been passed to the Messiah, has a purpose: “that you might be feared.” God does not undertake the reconciliation of the sinfully broken to delight in humiliating us. He seeks the fear that respects and reverences so we can relate to God in a relaxed, rejoicing return of love replying to love. 
 
Stitching It In
 
Of course, we know now that this Christ figure foreseen by Isaiah is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God who became the Son of Man for us. All his life, Jesus’ very “food” was doing the will of his Father (John 4:34). And, of course, the Father delights in his Son for at Jesus’ baptism even as the anointing Holy Spirit descended upon him, the Father’s voice from heaven declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). In Jesus’ fear of the LORD, whom he knew intimately as Father, he received and expressed delighted love. 
 
This reality is crucially important to us. Paul identifies Jesus as “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45). He is one of us yet also the beginning of a new human race. Risen from the dead, he is no longer subject to death. Jesus is humanity outfitted for everlasting life. He is man participating joyfully in the triune life of God. When we are joined to Jesus, we also receive the Spirit. We become part of his new humanity. As Paul tells us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). 
 
The essence of being in Christ is a joyful fear of the LORD, grounded in confidence in his abundant redemption. We live every day now realizing that since we are spiritually raised with Christ, we can “seek the things above, where Christ is” (Colossians 3:1). The Spirit within us impels us to “put on the new self” (Colossians 3:10). We get dressed in the new-humanity attire of compassion, forgiveness, kindness and love (Colossians 3:12-14). As the first quality of healthy fear, we refer every situation to Jesus, modeling our actions after his perfected humanity. It looks like this: “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). 
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Lord Jesus, in your days among us,
You wanted nothing more than to do the will of your Father.
You only did what you saw him doing.
You only acted according to his character.
Your mission every second was his mission for the world.
That’s what it meant for you 
To delight in the fear of the LORD.
It filled you with faith, purpose and joy.
 
You are the anointed one, our new Adam,
Our hope of resurrected life in communion.
You are our hope that broken trust,
Shattered love and lost integrity
Will be mended and made whole. 
Everything will come right at last.
 
So grant me the filling of your Spirit
To live this day like you
In a delighted fear of God,
Seeing you as the reference point
For every decision and action.
 
Grant me the joy of trusting you completely.

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 32: Songs of Loving Fear

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Psalm 19:7-10
 
The law of the LORD is perfect,
     reviving the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure,
     making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right,
     rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
     enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean,
     enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
     and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
     even much fine gold.
 
Psalm 25:12-14  
 
Who is the man who fears the LORD?
     Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
His soul shall abide in well-being,
     and his offspring shall inherit the land.
The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him,
     and he makes known to them his covenant.
 
Picking Up the Thread
Dread of God arises from wanting to do my life my way. I succumb to the serpent’s ancient temptation to think I know better. My fear of God is not healthy, but rather it’s full of resentment that he might thwart my dream of how life should be. By contrast, in Psalm 19 David exults in the healthy fear of the LORD. In his law, God has made known who he is and how he wants us to live. His ways bless both his people and the world. So, David offers a string of superlatives: God’s commands in the inspired Scripture are perfect, sure, right, clean, pure and true. They undergird justice and harmony. 
 
Would anyone want a house built according to measurements that were mere conjecture? Would we want electrical wires crossed at the junction box? Drain pipes that were too narrow to carry out the waste? Doors that didn’t close all the way? Would anyone cry out that it is unjust that we require proper building practices that accord with the physics of the world? We rightly fear the power of water and electricity, wind and weather. Ignoring their reality leads to ruin. Accommodating their reality leads to safety and comfort. 
 
In Psalm 19, David extols the beauty of God’s word, and he describes the benefits of adapting ourselves to its truth. The precepts of the LORD revive us in our very souls, make us wise, enlighten our view of the world and gladden our hearts. They do not make us servile, weak, or diminished. Just the opposite. The fear of the LORD, the five “r’s” of always being aware of his reality, creates beautiful, grounded lives.
 
In our excerpt from Psalm 25, David expands on the benefits of the fear of God. He finds the relief of confessing his sin. Rather than proudly holding on to his personal choices even as he falls into ruin, David confesses that his own way has been a bad way. He knows life can only be found in fearing the LORD. In verse 12, that means being open to the instruction and guidance God will give those who give their lives to him. This leads to a state of continuous well-being deep in the soul, a peace that circumstances cannot steal.
 
But there is one more extraordinary aspect of fearing the LORD for us to see: “The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him” (Psalm 25:14). Fearing God does not make us cowering slaves! When we rightly regard the LORD as the center of all reality, the source of all good and our highest goal, and we constantly refer every situation to him, we are granted access to a beautiful intimacy. The high king of heaven shares his own fatherly heart with us. We know Jesus as our brother. We know the Holy Spirit as our companion and advocate within. We join God in carrying out his good purposes for the world. Jesus told his disciples, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14). Obeying God is not like getting bossed around by a controlling friend. It’s syncing up our lives to the heartbeat of love at the center of reality. 
 
Stitching It In
 
Though better known from Proverbs 9:10, Psalm 111:10 expresses the heart of healthy Biblical fear: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” How do we start to live a life that is balanced, flexible, prudent, energized, fruitful, other-centered and, in short, wise? We demonstrate respecting, relating and rejoicing fear towards the true God. There is no way around this. The only alternative is to decide we can do better and to forge our own path to life. It sounds so brave and freeing. But in reality, my personally planned path makes me smaller, less loving, less interested (and even less interesting), and more prone to bitterness, panic and anxiety. God made us for himself. The wise person aligns with this reality.
 
Finally, from Psalm 33, we read how healthy Biblical fear of God is a more reliable resource against suffering than earthly power:
 
The king is not saved by his great army;
     a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
     and by its great might it cannot rescue.
 
Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
     on those who hope in his steadfast love,
that he may deliver their soul from death
     and keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the LORD;
     he is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in him,
     because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
     even as we hope in you. (Psalm 33:16-22)
 
The loving watchful eye of God upon us creates more security than alarm systems, personal guards and great armies. We cannot hold back the advance of time or suspend our inevitable mortality. We cannot protect our loved ones from all heartaches, accidents or mishaps. We’re going to go through life’s trials. Of course, it’s not wrong to take proper precautions. But far better is the security that comes from acknowledging the LORD’s sovereignty and trusting him to be with us in whatever we must endure. Railing against this reality of God and striving to save ourselves from what we wrongly fear God might cruelly impose leads only to angry despair. My favorite part of the five “r’s” of healthy fear is “relaxing and rejoicing.” I trust in the triune God as my help and shield. Even amid pressures and problems, I can find gladness of heart. His eye is upon me. And you. That is the gaze that sustains 
the universe.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Your word is truth, sovereign God.
Your word reveals your heart.
Astoundingly, it is open to me.
You forgive sins. 
You accept returning prodigals.
You respond to my prayers for help.
 
I would trust in you alone.
I would fear you so that 
I do not wreck my life striving against
How you have made the world. 
 
I would fear you so that I may love you.
I would bask in your approving eye,
I would find peace that passes understanding,
I would find joy in being part of your plan,
I would offer your light in the dark world.
 
Your word promises that these desires
Are from you. 
So in good hope, 
I offer my life to you this day,
And I will go forth under your watchful care. 
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 31: The Fear That Inspires Prayer

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-28, 38-43
 
Context Note: King David longed to build the LORD a temple, a “home” for God’s worship where his special presence, his name, could dwell. The LORD told David that the temple he envisioned would be built not by him but by his son Solomon. It would be a house of prayer that would draw people from all nations. Today’s passage is from Solomon’s prayer dedicating the Jerusalem temple in about 960 BC. 
 
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.”
 
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you 
this day.”
 
“[W]hatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind), that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers. Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name’s sake (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.”
 
Picking Up the Thread
What a beautiful prayer offered in front of the thousands assembled for the opening of the temple! In this prayer, Solomon so clearly acknowledges that God could never be contained in a building. But he also knows how gracious God is to locate his name, his special presence, in that temple. People near and far can now visualize that sacred location as they make their praises and petitions to the LORD I AM. Today we highlight the connection between this ardent prayer and the life-giving fear of God. 
 
Solomon speaks first of the LORD’s particularly called people, Israel. As a whole or as individuals, the people of Israel may pour out their hearts to God with hands stretched toward Jerusalem where his name resides. Solomon asks God to 1) hear their heart cries, 2) forgive any sin, and 3) act in response. Then he makes a beautiful connection. When the LORD replies to prayers in a way we can discern, our fear of him deepens. Immediately, we remember the five “r’s” of healthy fear that we noted in the introduction. Fearing God involves referring all situations to him, respecting his powerful reality and steadfast character, remembering his mighty deeds to us in the past, relating to him in trust based on all God is and has done, and relaxing joyfully in the care that we anticipate receiving. 
 
Later, Solomon prays for people who are not Israelites. He entreats the LORD to hear the pleas of those who have heard about our God and have come to petition him for help. Again, he asks the LORD to hear and to do for the foreigner who seeks the true God’s intervention. Solomon reminds God that if he does answer, the five “r’s” fear of him will spread to other people. This is a major way people come to trust in the triune God. They call out to him in desperation with great need but perhaps faint hope. Then they become believers as they recognize God’s answers.
 
Stitching It In
 
Of course, we know that God’s hearing of our prayers does not obligate him to answer in exactly the way we would like. The LORD of creation is not a vending machine or a genie. He is after a relationship with us that weaves us into participating in his massive redemption plan for the world. This is where Biblical fear comes in. The more we come to revere the God of Scripture through noting and praising his mighty deeds recorded there, the more we can notice how he answers us. The more we relate to him and relax into trusting him, the more his unexpected answers appear wonderful to us.
 
To me, answered prayer very rarely seems like rabbit-out-of-the-hat magic. It’s not usually splashy. It never feels like I have manipulated or charmed my heavenly Father into giving me something he wouldn’t have given me otherwise. I surrender a situation to him, asking that his will, not mine, be done even as I tell God what’s worrying me and what need I have. I thank him in trust and take on the demands of the day. 
 
Later, upon reflection, I realize that his unseen hand has moved in a way that could only have been God. These gifts occur even as the Father does not spare me the troubles of life, the sweat of work or the messiness of relationships. He just shows up in ways beyond hope. And so I grow to fear him more. That means realizing I dare not try to live without him but that I can confidently place my hands in his. Sharing the loving care of this God in thankful praise draws others to pray to him this way as well.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Dearest heavenly Father, with the psalmist, I pray,
“Teach me your way, O LORD,
That I may walk in your truth.
Unite my heart to fear your name” (Psalm 86:11).
 
I know that I often have a divided heart.
I want what I want without regard to your will.
And so often that leads me away
From the love, grace, hope and joy I seek.
 
I try to ignore your reality and make my own.
I walk in my distortions along the way I choose,
As if you did not exist or care,
Then I get angry when you do not intervene
According to my demanding plans!
 
Forgive me. I do fear you. You are reality.
You are the one who holds and shapes all things.
You are Creator and King and Savior. 
Entrusting myself to you is the way of joy.
 
So please unite my fragmented heart
To the single heartbeat of Jesus,
Who lives for your glory and the world’s salvation.
Guide me in your way of truth,
That you and I might stay close all this day.
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 30: The Fear that Leads to Wellness

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Deuteronomy 4:9-10; 5:28-29; 6:1-3
 
Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children—how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, “Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.”
 
And the LORD said to me, . . . “Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!”
 
?Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
 
Picking Up the Thread
After his people languished more than four hundred years in Egyptian slavery, the LORD brought them through the parted waters of the Red Sea to freedom. But the journey to the Promised Land did not go smoothly. Often the people doubted and rebelled. Consequently, their wilderness wanderings took forty years. On the eve of finally entering Canaan, Moses gave the people final instructions. Deuteronomy means “second law,” and so this book contains the restating of God’s mighty acts and the laws he gave his people. Moses reminded them of the precious gift of the LORD’s commandments. He urged them to remember all God had done for them as inspiration to trust his promises. Fearing God lay at the heart of this faith and obedience.
 
But as we have seen, healthy Biblical fear of God is not abject terror. It is the path to flourishing. In our passages, remembering who God is and what he has done and commanded engenders this fear. For by fear, God means the constant reference to his reality and loving purposes. He means respect for his sovereignty and regard for his good laws. All this is not so we can be automatons or trembling slaves. This fear is “so that it might go well with [us]” (Deuteronomy 5:29). Fearing God means knowing that his commandments are not arbitrary but crucial to a meaningful, fruitful life. Indeed, we have seen through history how the morality given in Scripture has led to stunningly just, free and flourishing cultures. God has our best interests in mind!
 
Stitching It In
 
What creative and saving acts of God can you recall from the Bible? Start from the beginning of Genesis and see if you can come up with ten events. They might impact many people or be focused on just one individual. Feel free to jot notes on this page!
 
Now see if in looking back over your own life, you can name ten creative or saving acts of God. These could be healings, opportunities, spiritual awakenings, relational gifts, mission endeavors, answers to prayer or experiences in worship.
 
Next, can you remember two or three times when you experienced how “God’s way” is better than the way you chose at first? Or can you recall a time you realized that God’s moral laws actually lead to good outcomes?
 
Now, let these memories of God’s goodness guide you in the coming week. How might remembering God’s earlier work and respecting the truth of his laws apply to a situation you face in the near future? How might a healthy fear of God influence your plans? 
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Our Father, Moses asked a question of your people,
“What great nation is there that has a god so near to it 
As the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 
And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules 
So righteous as all this law that I set before you today?” 
(Deuteronomy 4:7-8).
 
I answer with the ancients, “No one! No people! No nation!
Has a god so near as you dear Father of Jesus Christ.
None has a Word so beautiful and life-giving
As the Scriptures you have revealed.
None as a path to life so real and reliable
As you set forth in your law.
None has ever conceived of a redemption
So complete and a future so hopeful
As the atonement Christ made
And the renewed creation of his return.”
 
When I recall what you have done and given me,
I know I am blessed, given riches beyond imagination.
You have shown me the path of life.
Indeed I fear to stray from this path.
I fear to try my own way contrary to your will.
I fear departing from your truth,
For I desire the well-being you have planned.
Oh set my heart wholly upon you this day
And send me to shine your light for others.
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 29: Fear That Leads to Integrity and Forgiveness

WEEK FIVE
FEAR GOD!

 

 


 
Sara Granados. Photograph. www.sara-sees.com.
Phrases involving the fear of the LORD or fearing God occur more than 150 times in the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. Yet this idea of fearing God troubles us. Are we supposed to be scared of God all the time? Do we fear divine wrath at our slightest infraction of his laws? Is God out to get us? 
 
Contemplating the fear of God reminds me of the time I visited the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. This nine-mile line of sheer cliffs rises from 400 to 700 feet above the sea below. Where we stopped, there was no guardrail. As I walked toward the edge, I could see the endless sea out beyond me and far below. I stopped and dropped to continue on my knees, but I could not go on until I army-crawled on my belly. As I peered over the precipice, I laughed out loud in simultaneous fear and delight. I was but a tiny speck that could be blown by a wind into the abyss below. However, in that moment I felt part of something wondrous. The grandeur awoke awe. I love these cliffs. I fear these cliffs. I long to return to them and again give myself to this beauty. But would I dare the edge again? 
 
My experience at the cliffs revealed the more ordinary and constant fear I have of gravity. That doesn’t mean I wake up trembling at the thought of the force that tethers me to the earth. But it does mean I watch my step. I am careful on ladders, and I certainly don’t jump out of the windows in my office. Gravity is real. Necessary. A constant reality for earth dwellers. Fearing gravity means taking it seriously. Being on a cliff’s edge reminds me of how truly awesome is this force.
 
Similarly, fearing God means to take the reality of God seriously. He is the reference point for everything. We constantly account for the truth that God exists and has a character for us to know and a will for us to follow. I ignore the gravity of God at my peril. He’s not hostile, but, like gravity, he is a real, constant force with which I have to align my life so that I flourish. 
 
As we begin these two weeks, we can describe five activities, all conveniently beginning with “r,” that the healthy Biblical fear of God requires of us. 
 
Refer. In the Bible, someone who belongs to the LORD refers all experiences and choices to God’s reality. When something pleasing occurs, I give thanks to God from whom all blessings flow. When something upsetting occurs, I bow to the sovereignty of God. What seems like chaos is actually not out of his control. Even the abyss of the sea and the reach of the stars are bordered by God’s control. Therefore, my circumstances are under his care as well. When I have moral choices to make, I refer to the revealed character of God. I seek to act according to who God is. Referring to God in all things is a key component of healthy fear. 
 
Respect and Revere. Referring to God leads to respect and reverence. The LORD is God. I am not! The triune God carries out his will for the world over time. He weaves his respect for human choices into the inevitable outcome of his eternal plan. My best life means respecting the way God has made the world, human beings and me in particular. There are both natural and revealed laws of God. When I respect those laws, I align my actions with them and find a better path to flourishing than I could invent. On the Cliffs of Moher, only a fool would dance along the edge heedless of the height, the winds and the reality of gravity. A wise person respects what is greater than us. 
 
Remember. God acted in history to call a people to himself to bless the world through them. Through the centuries, the LORD intervened to save those people from slavery, enemies and exile. We find that the LORD’s prophets repeatedly called the people to remember what God had done for them. To forget what God has done is to rush headlong into life repeating mistakes and missing out on participating in God’s plan and will. A healthy fear of the LORD causes us to recall God’s saving acts, to give thanks for them and to draw upon them for guidance for living now.
 
Relate. The very point of calling us to fear God is that we might relate to the LORD. “The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him,” says David in Psalm 25:14. When we know who the true God is, we lose any kind of servile fear. We discover that we are not pawns or playthings for God. He desires to make us his beloved children, and he sent his own Son to be one of us so that we might be taken into intimacy with the Father through Jesus Christ. As Augustine said, “You have made us for yourself, O God, and our heart is restless until it finds rest in you.” (Saint Augustine, The Confessions of Saint Augustine, 1.1.1.). Healthy fear inspires us to relate intimately with God. 
 
Relax and Rejoice. Oswald Chambers writes, “The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else.” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest. London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1927, July 8.) When we have a healthy fear of God, we find peace amid everything else. The fear of God means acknowledging his rule and reign. We put our trust in his kingship. But this also means that we don’t have to fear what other lesser forces may do to us. Nature, disease, mortality, autocrats, bureaucrats, dominators, manipulators, and hustlers all lose their threatening power when we know we are in the hands of the sovereign God. Even more, when we fear God we discover we don’t have to create, sustain or fulfill our lives on our own. God gives us meaning and purpose. We can relax and rejoice in the triune God of grace. 
 
As we explore the fear of the LORD this week, we will discover, to our delight, how closely related joyful love for God and the healthy kind of fear are. I am grateful to acknowledge the strong influence Michael Reeves’ book Rejoice and Tremble has shaped my understanding of the healthy fear of God. (Michael Reeves, Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear of the Lord. Wheaton IL: Crossway, 2021.
 

FEAR THAT LEADS TO INTEGRITY AND FORGIVENESS

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Context Note: When he was an arrogant young man, Joseph’s envious brothers sold him to traders who brought him to Egypt as a slave. Through the decades, the LORD caused Joseph to rise to be second only to the Pharaoh over the country. In this scene, Joseph’s brothers have come to Egypt to buy grain during a famine. Joseph recognizes them, but they do not realize that this powerful man in Egyptian attire is their long-lost brother. Although he greatly desires to be reconciled to his brothers, Joseph needs to test them. So Joseph demands that they return to Canaan to bring back their younger brother Benjamin leaving behind another brother as collateral. As they discuss this proposal, the brothers reveal that they feel remorse and guilt over what they did to Joseph years before. 
 
Genesis 42:18-25 
 
On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so. Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” 
 
And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.” They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. Then [Joseph] turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them. 
 
Picking Up the Thread
Here is the first instance in Scripture of someone saying, “I fear God.” Joseph says this to his brothers as a way of swearing that they can trust his word. What is it about fearing God that gives a person integrity? It’s as if Joseph says, “If I were only relying on my power and position, I might be lying and ready to kill your brother in captivity. But I know I am accountable to a God of steadfast love. In keeping with his character, the LORD requires that I keep faith with you.”  
 
How might Joseph have come to this dignified fear of God? As a cocky boy in a colorful coat, he learned that being a favored son did not exempt him from his brothers’ ire. He experienced how “God opposes the proud” and only years later learned as well that God “gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). Serving in the house of the Egyptian officer Potiphar, Joseph kept his faith, worked hard and rose in stature. His healthy fear of God was apparent: “The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man. . . . His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD caused all that he did to succeed in his hands” (Genesis 39:2-4). 
 
However, God’s favor and sovereignty do not necessarily spare us from suffering. In fact, his plan may include our hardships. Joseph maintained his integrity against the seductions of Potiphar’s wife, but he was unjustly accused and then put into jail for years. Even after successfully interpreting a dream for Pharaoh, he remained imprisoned for two more years. 
 
All along, Joseph kept a healthy fear that, on the one hand, God never left him, but, on the other hand, God did not immediately answer every prayer just as Joseph wished. Ultimately, Joseph rose to be Pharaoh's closest advisor. Even with great power, his early trials kept him grounded and kept his heart open to reconciliation with his brothers. Only a man who had feared the LORD all his life could utter the words Joseph said to his brothers, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. . . . So it was not you who sent me here, but God. . . . As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Genesis 45:4-8, 50:20). 
 
Stitching It In
 
The fear of the LORD is awareness that God alone is sovereign, that God is active in our lives and world, and that God can make even the worst that happens to us redemptive for ourselves and others. Only this fear, this radical trust, reverence and constant reference to God, can enable us to process the events of life in this fruitful way. Without fear of the LORD, we may see only the sting of tragedy. With the fear of the LORD, we see his gracious hand in a myriad of ways even in times of struggle or uncertainty. Joseph had every reason to be bitter. He could so easily have taken revenge on his brothers. But when he declared, “I fear God,” he had determined to act with integrity and forgiveness.
 
The fear of God that Joseph affirmed involves looking beyond ourselves to the higher power and the bigger picture. In particular, we trust in our Creator to make all things right. And we commit ourselves to being part of that rectification especially when it’s hard. We carry on in faith that the triune God rules and reigns. 
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Wise Jesus, you taught us to fear God the right way. 
You put the word “Father” on our lips.
You coached us to ask first for the Father’s glory,
For his holiness to be acknowledged 
And his will to be done on earth as in heaven. 
 
You lived this radical trust that your Father’s plan
Is truly, despite appearances, the way the world is going.
Evil will not have the last word. You will.
 
So, in faith, in right fear, I align my will with yours.
May I with Joseph, say in every decision this day,
“I fear God, therefore. . . .”
 
And so may people know you through me.
May my respect and reverence for your reality,
My healthy fear, reveal your love to the world. 
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 28: The Fullness of the Promise

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Revelation 21:1-8
 
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 
 
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
 
Picking Up the Thread
Of the Christian gospel, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, “There is no tale ever told that men would rather find was true.”10 Indeed, no higher hope for humanity and the world has ever been expressed than in Revelation 21. Here we find out the full meaning of the phrase repeated from Genesis onward, “I will be your God and you will be  my people.”  
 
What is a world like where this relationship is lived out completely? Nothing is lost. No hurt goes unaccounted for. No wound, slight or grievous, goes untended. Nothing that matters to us is discounted. All the bumps and bruises from infancy to old age matter to the God who has claimed us utterly and devoted himself to us entirely. Indeed, as we read in Psalm 56:8, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” The Creator God himself stoops to notice our tears, daub them with divine care and dry them into joy. 
 
For there will be no more death. From the moment our first parents chose “my way, not your way,” death entered the world. It spread rapidly in all its sickening forms of brokenness, decay, abuse, greed, disease and neglect. But sin has been atoned for. The sinful hearts will be transformed. Evil will be called to a halt, and death will no longer invade the good creation. 
 
All that wrenches sorrowful tears from us will cease. The abrupt leave-takings, the silenced voices, the stabbing betrayals, the pitiless overlooking, the dismaying misunderstanding—all mended. Creation will be restored beyond its original goodness to something more glorious. We will discover that through the incarnation and redeeming work of Jesus, we have gained more in Christ than we ever lost in Adam! Love wins. The world works once more. As Lady Julian of Norwich wrote, “But all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” (Julian of Norwich, Enfolded in Love: Daily Readings with Julian of Norwich, ed. Robert Llewelyn. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 2004, 5).
 
Stitching It In
 
This vision is widely invitational: “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.” Cooling, restoring water flowing unto everlasting life can be had by anyone. It’s just a matter of saying, “I’m thirsty” and asking for a drink. We don’t have to earn it, cajole it or try to demand it. Our money, like our résumés, our charm and our manipulative skills, are no good in the new creation. We just have to respond to the summons the LORD spoke through Isaiah long ago:
 
“Come, everyone who thirsts,
     come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
     come, buy and eat!
 
Come, buy wine and milk
     without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
     and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
     and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
     hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
     my steadfast, sure love for David.” (Isaiah 55:1-3)
 
The offer stands. The choice is open. But once again, we see how the triune God will not force us into this glorious new Eden. There will be those who remain outside. The partial list reads, “the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable . . . murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars.” These may not enter the new Jerusalem. Rather there remains a second death, a spiritual dying that goes on and on, described in frightening images of burning fire. 
 
But wait. I am guilty of several items on that list. And I’m just thinking of today! How does this work? I think this passage makes a contrast between those who are willing humbly to say, “I’m thirsty” and those who proudly persist with, “I’m fine.” All sins can be, indeed have been, forgiven by Christ’s sacrificial work. But the choice remains for me to agree that I have sinned and desire reconciliation. Perilously, I can insist that I have done nothing but what seemed good to me, and I simply won’t go into such a city where God must be my all in all. That raises the haunting possibility that the triune God may quietly reply, “Very well. Your will be done.”  
 
Revelation 21 goes on to declare that the gates of the city in the new creation will never close. Even great kings of the earth will stream in with the offering of all their earthly glory to the true God. But those who cling to their uncleanness in the pride of wanting to be self-possessed, to be one’s own god, cannot pass. This to me, is the warning in verse 27, “But nothing unclean will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
So you want me to empty my pockets?
There’s nothing of much value in them.
Oh, I realize there is security at your gates.
Trinkets can be as dangerous as weapons.
But it’s just little stuff I want to keep.
Surely it doesn’t matter. Please let me in.
 
I step forward and discover it’s more than
“You may not.” It’s “You can not.”
The very gate resists me.
 
Behind me are the years of futility,
The desert wanderings, the losses,
The damage done, the tears cried,
The pleasures seized, the false steps followed.
I don’t want to go back.
 
Ahead I see the tree of life 
Leaves dancing in the wind,
Branches laden with healing fruit.
I crave a taste. 
 
I hear the splashing of the fountain
From the springs of living water,
Bubbling forever from your heart.
I’m parched for a drink.
 
I step forward. “Empty your pockets,”
Says the Voice.
Really, you’ll stop me over this little stuff?
Silence.
The choice is stark, urgent.
All right.
At last I strip naked and dance 
Into the clothing of new life. 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 27: The Church Belongs to Jesus

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
1 Corinthians 3:21-23 
 
For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
 
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 
 
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
 
Romans 14:7-9 
 
For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
 
1 Peter 2:9-12 
 
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
 
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
 
Picking Up the Thread
Written five centuries ago, the Heidelberg Catechism opens with a very contemporary question, “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” In other words, “How do we make our way in hope through toil, suffering and mortality?” We all seek some consolation along life’s weary way. The first sentence of the radical answer speaks to our deepest yearning, “That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.” The highest claim on my life does not come from within myself. “You are mine,” says the LORD in Isaiah 43:1 (See Day 4). “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price,” writes Paul in today’s readings. 
 
Christ Jesus has staked his life for me. He claims me now. The way parents nurture, guide, protect and lead their own children. The way a Marine never leaves behind a brother. The way a true friend stays close to us, not just privately but publicly, even when we have failed, been shamed or disgraced ourselves. He speaks to us, “I am for you, and you are for me. I am not my own. You are not your own. Our relationship is a fundamental part of 
our existence.” 
 
This contradicts the myriad of messages we receive that affirm my right to choose my identity and express it through living out my dreams and my desires. Those who market this message seldom tell us how much pressure that puts upon us. My need to constantly create my own meaning in life may make me an ideal consumer of products and experiences, but it also makes me chronically anxious. Nor do we reckon with the loneliness such pretensions of independence create. The “me-on-my-own” approach to life moves us from bravery to sadness to despair.  
 
However, in calling us to himself, Christ Jesus incorporates us into his very body. The people of God individually and together are members of the body of which Jesus is the head. We are his church, and we belong to each other even as we belong to our savior and Lord. 
 
The Heidelberg Catechism’s answer continues boldly: “He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”
 
Being the “possession” of someone else sounds so constraining. Moreover, we rightly fear being controlled by a dominator who uses us. We resist tyrants. We rebel against being discardable pawns in the games of the powerful. The idea of belonging not to ourselves but to someone else can trigger memories of the most heinous abuses. 
 
But the triune God does not seek to consume us. The LORD I AM is not a tyrant whose ownership of us sucks away all life and hope. Our God is the creator and recreator of our lives. He is the Father who adopts orphans and gives them an honored seat at his bountiful table. He is the Son who joined himself to our humanity as our brother forever. Being first bound and beaten, he laid down his life, so that we could be set free from the power of sin and death. He is the Spirit who takes residence within us, not to steal our wills but to restore our capacity to choose the good, the true and the beautiful. Being the triune God’s prized possession, the people to whom he gives his name and inheritance, brings us alive as never before.
 
Stitching It In
 
The realization that we belong to Jesus creates peace deep within us. Accepting that we are not our own frees our energy to live for a higher purpose than ourselves. Being part of Christ’s own people makes us part of his mission to the world. It engages us in the fight against the old life, the sinful self that wants to remain its own. Therefore, Peter tells us to “abstain from the passions of the flesh,” these impulses that always put us back on the throne of life. Sometimes it’s a struggle. We labor to resist going backward. This is not only for ourselves but for the sake of those still lost in the darkness. By our loving conduct in the world, others can see what it means to belong to the triune God. They will be drawn to listen to us as we “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
 
We realize that the church of Jesus, his redeemed people, takes up the original creation mandate to be fruitful and multiply throughout the earth. We take up Israel’s original vocation to be a kingdom of priests. We have the news that connects lost people to a home in Christ. We have the map that leads to new creation and anchors us in the hope of all God has promised, a vision we will consider tomorrow. 
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
How much better to belong to you! 
 
I have spent too many years running
A course that I designed to bring me fullness,
But always led to barren waste places.
 
I have picked up dead things
And coaxed them to give me life.
They made me sick and distorted. 
 
I have made myself the center
And always ended up lonely.
 
How much better to belong to you!
In your service is indeed perfect freedom,
Dying with you, dying to sin,
I get to rise with you to wholeness.
 
Dropping my own claims and demands,
I discover the deep fellowship of your church,
I find richness in giving away love,
I find purpose in caring for your lost world.
 
Oh how much better to belong to you! 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 26: The Spirit Locates Us in the New Covenant

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Ezekiel 36:22, 25-29a
 
“Thus says the Lord GOD: . . . I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses.”
 
Galatians 4:4-7 
 
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. 
 
Romans 5:5b 
 
God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
 
Picking Up the Thread
The other side of the Son’s work in embodying the new covenant is how God the Holy Spirit joins us to Jesus. Last week (Day 20), we considered Irenaeus’ idea that the Father stretches forth two hands to save us. He sends the Son to take up our humanity and create reconciliation through his faithful sacrifice. Then he sends the Spirit to unite us to the Son. Through his Spirit, the Father relocates us out of the domain of darkness and into the kingdom of the beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). 
 
Astoundingly, God foretold this through Ezekiel. The prophet builds on Jeremiah’s recording of a new covenant to be written in the heart. Now we hear specifically that God’s own Spirit will come to dwell in us. This will transform our inner being. The image is of a heart of stone being turned back to a heart of flesh. From frozen to warm. From stubbornly unresponsive to awake and willing. From the heart’s exile to home again in God. In such restored humanity, we come to the realization that the God we once feared has given himself fully for us. We who belonged miserably only to ourselves now belong to the God who made us and redeemed us.
 
This Ezekiel passage tells us that it is the Spirit whom God sends us who makes us able to walk in the life-giving ways of God. By deigning to dwell within us, the Spirit makes our spirit, the core of us, new and alive. 
 
Putting together Jeremiah and Ezekiel, yesterday’s readings and today’s, we see that the transforming new covenant occurs through action by all three persons of the one God. The Father sends the Son who enacts the new covenant through his faithful obedience unto an atoning death. The Father sends the Spirit who joins us to Jesus. He unites us to Christ, so that all that Jesus has and is becomes ours. Then the Holy Spirit directs us upward to the Father with whom we have been reconciled by Christ. He cries out within our hearts, “Abba, Father.” 
 
There is a wonderful loop occurring. The Father sends the Son who enacts our redemption and then returns to the Father bringing our new humanity into the triune life. The Father sends the Spirit who joins us to the ascended Jesus and impels our worship upwards to join the Son’s praise of his Father. We become included in the love being passed between Father, Son and 
Holy Spirit! 
 
Now the Spirit works in us steadily to make us more and more like Jesus our brother and redeemer. Paul describes this in terms of the fruit of the Spirit growing through us. Of course, the Spirit’s fruit in our lives is exactly like the essential qualities of Jesus: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22). 
 
And the same Spirit who empowered Jesus in his ministry now empowers us for our participation in both building up the church, Christ’s body, and then following Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). He gifts us for particular works of service, some very unobtrusive and some very noticeable. Each one works together in the sending of the church to the world. 
 
Stitching It In
 
The old gospel hymn “In the Garden” still speaks powerfully to us. The singer imagines walking quietly with Jesus in a garden: “And He walks with me, and He talks with me, / and He tells me I am his own.” I feel drawn to this imaginative scene. I’d love to be there hearing Jesus himself tell me that he is mine and I am his. This intimacy actually happens to many believers through an internal experience of God the Holy Spirit!
 
In Romans 8:15-17, Paul expands on the inner cry of the Spirit that is in today’s Galatians passage. He writes, “[Y]ou have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God, and if children then heirs.” The Spirit promised way back in Ezekiel has been sent by the ascended Jesus into our innermost being. 
 
One of the Holy Spirit’s most beautiful works is to testify to us that we really, truly do belong to Jesus. We absolutely are beloved children of the Father and heirs to all Jesus has received in his humanity. The Spirit as a witness to the truth speaks a contrary word to the Accuser who reminds us only of sin, doubts and failures. In his quiet assurance, which we hear in prayer and worship, the Spirit affirms our eternal adoption into Christ. All that Jesus is and has done is our inheritance. And all we are belongs to him forever.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Thank you great Father 
For undertaking so mighty a redemption.
You know I cannot make myself
What I was meant to be.
So you send your Spirit to work a change
In my core beliefs, my inner thoughts
And deepest soul meditations.
You impart an identity: I am in Christ!
 
Thank you for softening my heart
To the things of God and love for others.
Thank you for making old sins
No longer so appealing.
 
Thank you for enabling me to want
To please you because I trust that your love
Has already and forever been granted to me in Christ.
 
Abba, Father! I am yours and you are mine.
I would this day walk as a child of light
And extend your kingdom 
Through all the ways you send me to love. 
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 25: Jesus Embodies the New Covenant

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Luke 22:19-20 
 
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
 
Hebrews 2:10-12, 14-15 
 
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” . . . Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
 
Picking Up the Thread
We saw yesterday how deeply we require a new covenant from God. We read that the LORD has promised to write his law into our hearts. Moreover, he desires to restore us to communion with himself and one another. 
 
But how would our triune God do that? What is required to create such a change from within rebellious and wandering humanity? This is what was revealed in Jesus. For us to be able to say to God, “We are your people and you are our God,” the Son of God himself had to become one of our people. He had to be made like us in all respects except sin. In that way, the new covenant between God and man gets inaugurated in the man Jesus. He embodies a pure heart for God. He does so as the Son of God who becomes the Son of Man. Jesus lives a covenant relationship out of the first and only human heart wholly devoted to his Father. Such filial love expresses itself most fully in his complete offering of himself on the cross. 
 
How beautifully Jesus signals the depth of his sacrifice during the Last Supper! As we read, the bread he breaks foretells and forever conveys the giving of his body once and for all in crucifixion. The wine poured into the Passover cup foretells and forever conveys the expending of Jesus’ blood as an atonement for sin. He lifts the cup and signs forth the new covenant that would be sealed in his literally poured-out blood. Jesus himself, incarnate, crucified and risen is the new covenant. He is the joining place of reconciliation between God and humanity. 
 
The triune God’s plan all along involved this most astounding gospel. Jesus brothered us by taking up our flesh and blood. Our Hebrews passage implies that now Jesus is cut from the same cloth as we are. He is truly human. And now we are cut from the same cloth as he is. We are truly made sons and daughters of his Father. Jesus accomplished this by living in the obedience we could never give. His perfection grew as his faithfulness in suffering required his ever deeper, “Yes.” Ultimately, then, he defeats death by dying. He takes away forever the power of the Accuser’s condemnation and the stinging fear of our mortality. 
 
Stitching It In
 
The story of course does not end with Jesus’ gruesome sacrificial death. He rises on the third day. The very same flesh and blood he shares with us, the body that died, lives again. He does not shed his humanity. He is still one of us, though now Jesus already has what we will have in the future: a body fitted for everlasting life. He earnestly desires to share this glorious humanity with us.
 
In John’s account of the resurrection, we witness a lovely encounter between a grieving Mary Magdalene and the risen Jesus who calls her by name. Her tears change from despair to joy when he reveals himself to her. Then Jesus gives her a mission. We read, “‘[G]o to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’—and that he had said these things to her” (John 20:17-18). All that Jesus has with his Father now belongs to his disciples. Our brother in the flesh has restored our relationship with the Father. 
 
The promise woven through the Hebrew text finds fulfillment in Jesus. The LORD vows, “I will be your God.” Jesus declares that he goes “to my God and your God.” The Scriptures promise that we will be God’s people. Jesus assures his disciples that his Father has claimed them as his own. Men, women, boys and girls who are joined to Jesus are his brothers and thus sons of the Father with him.
 
As Paul writes, “[I]n Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.” Jesus made the way. Now he calls us to join him by faith. Paul continues, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20). 
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Today let’s pray with 17th century scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal as he reflects on the day of his conversion. This prayer was found inside his vest pocket after his death. Perhaps hold in mind the memory of your own realization that Jesus has made his Father to be your dear Father:  
 
The year of grace 1654, Monday, 23 November. . . . 
 
From about half past ten in the evening until half past midnight
FIRE
“God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,”
not of philosophers and scholars,
Certainty, certainty, heartfelt, joy, peace.
God of Jesus Christ.
God of Jesus Christ.
“My God and your God.”
“Thy God shall be my God.”
The world forgotten, and everything except God.
He can only be found by the ways taught in the Gospels.
Greatness of the human soul.
“O righteous Father the world had not known thee, 
But I have known thee.”
Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy. . . .
 
“And this is life eternal, that they may know thee,
The only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent.”
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ.
 
Blaise Pascal in The Oxford Book of Prayer, ed. George Appleton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), 264-5. 
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 24: The Promise of a New Covenant

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Jeremiah 24:5, 7; Jeremiah 31:31-34; 32:39-41
 
“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel. . . . I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.”
 
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
 
“I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.”
 
Picking Up the Thread
Today we have in context the verses from Jeremiah we have been saying every day. We’re right at the center of the tapestry of Scripture, and the essential pattern flows from core passages like these. God promises a new covenant agreement. It will be written not on stone but inside our hearts. From within, we will experience what it means to be people who belong to the LORD. We will live out what it means to make our way through the world knowing in our bones that God has given himself to us forever. This is the restoration to what humanity was meant to be.
 
And how we need it! Through the centuries, the people of the LORD experienced deep frustration with their human frailty. God gave them the law that makes for an abundant, just life in the world, and he made and enacted clear promises of external blessings for obedience. He also declared explicit warnings of external punishments for disobedience. And the relationship between these two was not subtle! But despite their most earnest attempts, consistent obedience was impossible. 
 
Like God’s people, we cannot do the good we intend. And we keep doing the bad we promise to avoid. Paul sums up our dilemma:  
 
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. . . . Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:18-20, 24).
 
For Israel and for us, just trying harder has never worked. 
 
Jeremiah wrote on the eve of Israel’s exile to Babylon. These seventy years of captivity in a foreign land came after decades of warning from the prophets. The idolatry and injustice within the people of God triggered the enacting of judgment. Once God took away his protective hand, his special nation fell. Their political prowess, their military might, their dedicated temple worship and their flourishing culture could not save them from the stronger Babylonian army. They lost their temple, their homes and their land. They could not generate the holiness required to save their nation.
 
But amid this tragedy, news of hope also came through the prophet. The LORD spoke through Jeremiah of a new covenant that was coming. New terms of relationship would be enacted between God and his people that would create a change from within. In this new “deal,” sin would be forgiven. Hearts would be changed. The Creator would restore intimacy with his creation. Reconciliation would occur. 
 
This was more than just the promise that the seventy years of exile would end. That did indeed happen on schedule. The people returned and rebuilt their temple and their land. But the full enactment of the new covenant would still be some centuries away. As we will see tomorrow, the eternal Son of God himself would have to come down to establish this new relationship.
 
Stitching It In
 
The centuries of Israel’s life under the law reveal that it is impossible for us to create our own righteousness. We cannot save ourselves. The very system of the old covenant of the law given through Moses perpetually shows us our inadequacy. Perhaps one reason the LORD allowed this system to continue for so many centuries was to reveal definitively that no one can generate right standing before God. Nor can we solve the problems of our lives by ourselves. As humans, we have no choice but to seek a savior. The core issue is not other people nor difficult conditions nor bad turns of fortune. My deepest problem is within my own heart. To own that reality is to reach a place of fundamental surrender to our need to live on God’s terms not our own. The very frustration we undergo can open our eyes to welcome the deep change God desires to make within us.
 
We see all the way back in Deuteronomy how the LORD reveals this long-term plan. God sets the right path before his people and urges them to choose the way of life. But he knows they will disobey and what will happen when they disobey. Therefore, he speaks to them of a time far in the future when he will restore them. God will apply the external sign of the covenant, circumcision, to their heart: “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart . . . so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6). Tomorrow we’ll explore how God does it.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Oh my Father, I need a new lease
On the terms of my life.
I have tried living only for my every want.
I have tried being good enough in myself.
I have tried proving my value to you.
 
Even when others have rewarded me,
Awarded me, applauded me, thanked me.
I know inside I am not enough.
I cannot pay the rent.
I cannot make a worthy return.
 
Only you can make a new arrangement.
Change my heart. Cleanse me. Purify me. 
Create in me the will and way
To love you and others truly. 
 
Write your law in my heart
And put me on the path of life. 
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 23: Covenant Promises to Israel in Bondage

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Exodus 6:2-8
 
God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.”
 
Picking Up the Thread
Most of us reading this Lenten guide will be at least a generation removed from feeling like we don’t belong in this country. Our families have been in this country long enough that we are citizens and claim the heritage and history of the nation as our own. 
 
But perhaps we can remember stories of grandparents who had to learn a new language to fit in among people who may well have been suspicious of them. With a bit of imagination, we can feel for the Syrians uprooted from their homelands by ISIS spending months in transit and trying to start life anew among ethnic groups who treat them like “the others” rather than “our own.” We can imagine what it’s like for a nine-year-old Hispanic boy who entered our country last spring and is now in school struggling to learn English and overhearing the other children whisper, “He’s an illegal.” 
 
In fact, such imagining reminds us of what it’s like to be part of the group of kids that neither team wants to select for kickball. What it’s like to have to introduce ourselves as unemployed, or alcoholic or left by a spouse. What it’s like to get the letter suggesting we reconsider our academic career at this institution. Or what it’s like to be ghosted by a recruiter shortly after we submitted a full resume. 
 
The people of God spent centuries being cheap, disposable labor to the Egyptians. Their LORD was mocked. The covenant promises to Abraham seemed more and more remote. Their future promised only more grinding misery. For years, they cried out to God. Although he always heard them, at last he answered them by raising up Moses to be the leader through whom he would free his people.
 
To this day, the annual Passover celebration commemorates this deliverance. The sacred feast includes four cups of wine attached to the LORD’s four-fold promise in Exodus 6:6-8. The first three cups concern freedom: 1) I will bring you out from the Egyptians, 2) I will deliver you from slavery, and 3) I will redeem you with great acts of judgment. But the fourth cup references the long-promised future of their own land and God’s abiding presence: 4) I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God. The Jerusalem Talmud version translates to, “I will marry them taking them as my people and I will be their God.” This is the covenant relationship so close that it requires an intimate picture of enduring marriage to describe it. 
 
Stitching It In
 
We don’t know why God allowed his people to languish for 400 years in slavery, but we do stand in wonder that the most life-giving ethics on the face of the earth came through a people who endured generations of slavery. Scriptures’ teaching about what makes for flourishing life did not come from comfortable or pampered people, but from those who suffered in centuries of servitude before decades of wilderness wanderings. The huge faith and long endurance required of Abraham gets multiplied for God’s people in the Egyptian years. How can this be God’s favor?
 
Here we come up against a bracing Biblical reality. Chosenness means serious service, not privileged comfort. The election of a people by God calls them to be a prototype of what he intends for the world. There is no escaping mortality nor the struggles that come from making our way through hardship and toil in a world that fell through sin. The LORD takes his people through the same hardships that everyone else endures, sometimes even worse ones. But through his people, Christ shows how love, growth and even healing can come out of suffering. He shows through us, especially in our hard times, how he is keeping his promise to make all things new. Until Christ returns to set everything right, we remain sojourners in this world, depending on God for daily bread at every level. We are pilgrims on a mission to show forth God’s love for his lost world, especially through the way we deal with life’s struggles.
 
God calls us to abiding trust and, to use the title of Eugene Peterson’s classic book, “a long obedience in the same direction.” (Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980). The blessing that comes to such faith is a mysteriously satisfying intimacy with Christ Jesus. The witness of those who have found it can be simply stated: “I wouldn’t wish these hardships even on my worst enemy. But neither would I trade them for anything the world can offer. So precious is the closeness to Jesus I experience.”
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
How I want to live in the circle of your grace.
Inside the womb of your covenant love,
I find safety even when days are chaotic.
 
Within the magnetic field of your promise,
I find security even when everything is changing.
 
In the freedom of your service,
I find vibrant creativity released.
My mind opens to higher plains.
Even menial tasks get charged with purpose.
 
I cannot fall an inch outside your oath,
Grounded in your own eternal character.
You have spoken to my soul,
“You are mine.”
 
You have sworn before the heavenly powers,
“I am your God, your God.
Your faithful, loving Father,
Your savior still in flesh and blood,
The very Spirit within your spirit.” 
 
How I find the fullness of life
When I know I am held as a beloved child
In your everlasting arms.

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 22: I Will Be Your God

WEEK FOUR
I WILL BE YOUR GOD

 

 


 
Daniel Gerhartz. In the Shadow of Your Wings. Contemporary.
Last week, we considered God’s promise to dwell with us as the central strand around which his dealings with us are woven. Actually, this shimmering truth is most often shown to us as a double promise. From Genesis to Revelation, the triune LORD I AM pledges, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” The God who comes to dwell with us and within us has bound himself to us. 
 
Here we bring in the essential Biblical idea of covenant. We will see this week how the LORD makes promises toward us and has an expectation that we will reply. We will return his covenant loyalty with our trust in him and our faithfulness to the commands in his Word. We will believe, worship and obey, not to gain his favor, but to respond to the grace he has already given us in Christ. 
 
This is a claiming, gathering and keeping kind of love. God’s covenant promises indicate that he is Father to his children, brother to humanity in Jesus, friend to those who trust and obey him, king over those who shelter in his realm, and guarantor of eternal life to come. 
 
In this week’s painting, Daniel Gerhartz imagines a woman taking shelter in the warm, surrounding feathers of God’s presence. “In the Shadow of Your Wings” finds inspiration in several psalms that compare the LORD’s  intimate, protecting love to a mother bird’s enfolding wings. 
In Psalm 61:4, David prays, “Let me dwell in your tent forever. Let me find refuge in the shelter of your wings.” Such a plea leans into the reality that we belong to our God, and he has committed himself irrevocably to us. As a people and as unique individuals, our Father relates to us as his family. Like a mother bird sheltering her chicks, he surrounds us with protective warmth of his everlasting presence.
 
In Psalm 63:7, David finds that joy rises from realizing such a relationship with his creator. “In the shadow of your wings, I will sing for joy.” When we know that we belong to God always and forever, we can sing even in the most difficult circumstances. Because nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38).  
 
As we meditate this week on the triune God’s covenant commitment, may you feel the feathery warmth of his wings around you.  
 

COVENANT PROMISES TO ABRAHAM

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Genesis 17:1-8  
 
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
 
Picking Up the Thread
Abram and Sarai had waited twenty-five years for the LORD to keep his promise to make this childless couple forebearers of a great nation to bless the world. They weren’t getting any younger. We read later, with classic Biblical understatement, that at ninety “the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah” (Genesis 18:11). However, once more the LORD appeared to Abram calling for his faith. This time God used the language of a covenant, a solemn agreement that bound a ruler and his people together. In those days, a king would set the terms of the covenant for both parties, making his pledge of protection over a people and declaring what he would expect in return. Here, the LORD even changes Abram’s name to reflect the promise. Abraham means “father of a multitude,” and this new name signifies that God’s pledge is not a conditional or temporary covenant but an 
everlasting one. 
 
The most meaningful part of this pledge was not the land or the offspring, but the relationship: “to be God to you” (Genesis 17:7). Ever after, the LORD promised Abraham’s descendants, “I will be their God.” The Creator of all things covenanted to be in particular relationship. All of his divine attributes would be inclined toward the children of Abraham. His ears would always be open to them, and his protective power would always be over them. Though they would go through trials, their God, this true God, this covenanting God, would go with them. The LORD I AM, the sovereign King of kings would take these people as his own. 
 
Stitching It In
 
One way to understand the significance of this covenant is to reflect on how the LORD would state it decades later to Abraham’s grandson Jacob: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Genesis 28:15). When we enter this covenant with God, we are never alone. We can turn to God and find him there, listening, caring and answering. Our lives are never out of his control; he never loses his grip on us. Our days are never meaningless because we have been taken into the center of God’s very purpose for his people. 
 
This golden thread, “I will be your God and you will be my people,” gives us a great sense of belonging. It’s the underlying bond in all our relationships, the deep connection for which we yearn. So many memories of the profound ties I have had come to me: 
  
Watching the moon rise over the ocean after we’d talked for hours, we clinked glasses and each declared, “I’ve never had a friend like you.” 
 
Making a deal with my aging terrier, I said to her, “I know you’ll stay with me as long as you can, even when you don’t feel well, because you’re my loyal dog. And I’m the one who cares for you. So, I won’t let you suffer. You don’t ever have to worry about that.”  
 
Playing hide and seek with my little son, I searched for him crying, “I’ve lost my boy! Where’s my little boy? I need my boy!” He couldn’t wait to be found but ran out assuring me, “Me here! Me here!”  
 
Bopping along to an old pop tune, I sang “Hey, hey baby, I wanna know-o-o, will you be my girl?” Instantly my little daughter ran from her room with outstretched arms, “I’ll be your girl, Daddy!” 
Looking at a photo of this beautiful woman in a flowing wedding dress, smiling up the aisle toward me, I felt the wonder in the old Temptations song, “Out of all the fellas in the world, she belongs to me!” 
 
Roll all these into one and multiply by eternity, and we get some idea of what it means that God pledges himself to us forever proclaiming, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” 
 
This is what undergirds us for the long haul of life in the world. Abraham was called to huge faith and long endurance as the fulfillment of the promise took decades. Yet every step along the way, he relied on the intimacy of God’s covenant love. 
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
I can see so little of what’s coming ahead,
So I find it hard to trust your promises.
 
Will you really not leave me when 
The weakness comes, the skills slip,
The pain overwhelms, the losses mount?
 
Are you really working all things together for good
Even through the accident, the diagnosis, the failure?
Will I have faith when it comes to the crunch time?
 
O gracious Father, the future is such an unknown,
But I can look back and see your hand.
You have not spared any of your children
Difficulties, pain, trials, and challenges.
But you never left me,
You never failed to make a situation
Draw me closer to you, 
Push me further towards love,
Pull a greater faith and richer worship
From my heart and soul. 
 
You are my God. I am yours.
Your covenant faithfulness is everlasting.
I choose this day to trust you
With whatever awaits in the future. 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 21 God Will Dwell in Our Midst

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Revelation 21:1- 3; 22:1-5
 
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
 
?Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
 
Picking Up the Thread and Stitching It In
This past Tuesday, Day 17, we read Solomon’s prayer as he dedicated the temple, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth?” (1 Kings 8:27). He knew the LORD could not be confined to a human-made structure. But today, we learn that Solomon’s rhetorical question will, surprisingly, be answered with a glorious, “Yes!” 
 
The vision of the last two chapters of Revelation is not only of creation but of creation made gloriously more. The earth was intended to be a garden temple in which God and humanity could meet in intimate communion. And the triune God will fulfill this intention! John sees a strange sight: a new earth descends into the old one. The return of Jesus means the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21). Therefore, this is not the end of our having an embodied life in a good creation but its fulfillment. A booming voice from the heart of reality, the throne of sovereign God, commands attention as if to say, “Look! See! This is what I planned all along. My dwelling place is with humanity. We will be together forever. The whole creation will be a splendid meeting place between my image bearers and me.” 
 
If we read closely, we notice that the imagery has shifted from a garden to a city. Revelation does not speak of a new Eden but of a new Jerusalem for there are no longer just two people, but vast multitudes. Exchanges of love are everywhere. All our commerce, though we seldom realize it, anticipates this vision. In this new city, we give and receive from one another. We trade gifts, words, services, ideas, skills and artistry. But all greed, swindling, jockeying, undermining and hoarding have disappeared because all sin has been done away with. Yet human industry remains in the worshipful, enlivening service of God and one another. We’re not floating ghosts or automated worshippers. We are rippling with life, never bored because this renewed world is endlessly interesting. This is what God has always wanted. As Irenaeus writes, “The glory of God is man fully alive” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4.21.7).
 
Down the middle of the city flows a river. Its source is the throne of God and the Lamb. This is the time Isaiah foresaw, “With joy your will draw water from the wells of salvation. . . . Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters” (Isaiah 12:3, 55:1). This is the fulfillment of what Jesus promised, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink, Whoever believes in me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38). Here the mighty vision of Ezekiel 47 comes into focus as he sees water flowing from within the temple out into the streets of Jerusalem. So much water comes forth that it is “deep enough to swim in” (Ezekiel 47:5). Wherever the water flows, it brings teeming life, and the flourishing of fish and trees is specifically described. Moreover, because the trees are sourced from this temple water, Ezekiel is told that their fruit will be a source of food, and even their leaves will be a source of healing.
 
Revelation 22 takes Ezekiel’s vision further by specifically revealing that it is the tree of life itself that grows along the riverbanks. After our fall, the tree of life in Eden had been sealed away. God would not let us eat and thus live forever in our sin-broken condition. Before granting eternal life, he had to recreate us from the heart out, which he did through Jesus. So in the new earth, the tree of life appears again. Now it continuously yields its varied kinds of fruit. These heal the fractured nations of mankind according to their needs for varied applications of truth and grace. Everything is coming into harmony. 
 
The presence of God will be the light of this new earth. Human beings will once again see our Creator directly. We will each be known and claimed by name. We will be known and loved uniquely yet placed in communion with everyone else. This returns us to what it means that the Word came to dwell with us in Jesus: “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:9) and “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). 
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Oh Jesus, reading the promised future,
I know that one day I will sing with Isaiah,
“Behold, this is our God: we have waited for him,
That he might save us.
This is the LORD; we have waited for him;
Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isaiah 25:9). 
I love this vision of communion, 
Feasting with you in joy and harmony,
In a world restored and made right.
 
I love to think of being in the garden with you,
With the words of the hymn coming true,
“And he walks with me and he talks with me,
And he tells me I am his own.”
Oh to be where everything feels right,
In the company of a savior who 
Dwells with us forever,
To know communion with you,
No longer interrupted by my sin,
To know communion with others: 
Families reunited, enemies reconciled,
Wounds healed, offenses forgiven
And joy returned.
Oh come Lord Jesus and make it so!
 
The Good Shepherd. Photo by Shea Firnberg, Dunham Chapel, First Presbyterian Church, Baton Rouge.

 

The Good Shepherd comes to seek and to save the lost. He does not leave his flock, but stays with them in the field. He lays down his life for the sheep.
 
Posted in: Lent

Day 20 God Dwells in Us by the Spirit

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
John 14:15-17
 
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
 
1 Corinthians 3:16 
 
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 
 
Ephesians 2:17-22
 
And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
 
Picking Up the Thread
God came to dwell with us in Jesus. He took up permanent residence in our humanity. From within a true humanity, Jesus did what we could not do for ourselves. He lived a life loving the Father with all his heart, mind and strength. He laid down his life for us. Jesus lived fully focused outward in love. He is the new humanity, the last Adam, the restart of the human race. His resurrected body in heaven is the pledge of all that awaits those who partake of him in faith.
 
But how do we become connected to him? How does union with the new Adam occur for us in our old, sinful humanity? Jesus sends his Spirit to dwell in our hearts. We hear the gospel, the Spirit creates faith, we yield our lives to Christ, and the Spirit comes to dwell within us. He creates an enduring link between each believer and Jesus and between all believers. As we read on Day 6, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Spirit re-locates us into Jesus. The center of our lives changes from self to Christ. This is the mystical but essential dimension of our faith. Christ dwells in us through his Spirit indwelling us. At the same time, however, the Spirit causes us to dwell in Christ. 
 
Way back in the second century, the Greek bishop Irenaeus likened our re-creation to God the Father extending his two “hands” into the world (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4. Pref. 4). One hand is the Son of God sent to the world in love. That is Jesus who came to be the new, faithful human, the atoning savior and the Lord of all. The other hand is the Spirit sent after Jesus ascended to the Father. The Spirit places us in Christ so that we partake of all that he is and has accomplished. Just as Jesus’ resurrected body in heaven is a pledge of what awaits us, the Spirit in our hearts is the pledge that we truly are in Christ right now. If we are betrothed to Christ the bridegroom, then the Spirit is our engagement ring! 
 
We must not overlook the communal dimension of this indwelling of the Spirit. The “you” in our Corinthians passage is plural. It’s a “y’all.” The same Spirit indwells each believer making us together the temple of God on earth. Now the meeting place between God and his people is no longer any one building. It is his church. Wherever two or three or ten thousand are gathered in the name of Jesus, there he dwells by his Spirit. We are now each of us members of the mystical body of Christ. We are as vital and interconnected to one another as each part of a body. 
 
The Ephesians passage assures us that we now have an identity as family members of the triune God. We are full citizens of his kingdom. Thus, we are ambassadors from heaven to earth. We are both built into Jesus by being spiritually joined to him and built upon all Jesus did and the witness to Christ from the apostles down through the ages. The church is one temple across all space and time. We partake of the worldwide communion of the saints where humanity can meet the living God. Therefore, this temple is perpetually increasing as more and more people are built into Christ until the day he returns.
 
Stitching It In
 
Paul tells us that the Spirit in our hearts urges us toward prayer and worship. By the Spirit we cry out the intimacy of “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6). Indeed, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). This means there is a feeling dimension to genuine Christian faith. It is normal to feel the Spirit stir within our hearts. Especially when we read the Bible in order to know Christ better. Especially when we voice praises through psalms and other songs. Especially when we pray together with other believers. Especially when we share in the Lord’s Supper together. Jesus’ disciples on the Emmaus road reflected, “Did not our hearts burn within us while . . . he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). 
 
We’re almost halfway through this Lent study, so now might be a good time to ask ourselves some important questions. Have you felt your heart moved when encountering Jesus through this cascade of Scriptures? That’s the Spirit moving in you! If not, it’s crucial to consider some causes. Have I ever truly surrendered my life to Jesus? Is there an area of unrepented, known sin to which I am clinging? Is there a bitterness of unforgiveness that I am not taking to Christ for healing? Is there a bodily ailment or the effect of medicines that is dulling me? Am I fracturing my focus with too much time spent on devices, apps and media? Is worry and stress overloading me? 
 
When my prayers feel muted and I feel distant from Christ, I go back to basics. I say aloud “Jesus is Lord,” and I recall that only by the Spirit can I sincerely speak that (1 Corinthians 12:3). I ask myself if I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and recall that I have said before others that the man Jesus is Lord of all and Lord of my life. By these confessions, Paul says, we may know that we are in Christ, saved by him and given the indwelling Spirit (Romans 10:9). I invite the Spirit to speak to me as I read the Word and rejoice that when the verses move me, that is the Spirit’s work. 
 
There is joy, of course, but also conviction. Exposing sin is the Spirit’s work (John 16:8). Sometimes the Word he brings to us is sharp, revealing the truth of my heart (Hebrews 4:12). It hurts, but that very conviction assures me that I am in Christ. He is working in me. I know that if I desire to increase love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness in me, that is the fruit of the Spirit forming in me (Galatians 5:22-23). I remember how I have felt peace in grievous circumstances, and I know that is God’s work in response to my prayers (Philippians 4:7). I pray with Psalm 143:10, “Let your good Spirit lead me,” and I know that guidance is his gift. Usually, as we develop the discipline of noticing what he promises, we are moved by gratitude for the indwelling of the Spirit.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Lord Jesus, you left this earth
But did not leave us alone.
You are with us always,
By the gift of your Spirit
Poured from above, 
Poured into our hearts.
 
I marvel that you have relocated your temple
From a structure to a community.
You, Jesus, are the true temple,
And we are built into you, 
Rising into a living house
Whenever we gather in your name.
 
Let me not forsake your temple
By failing to pray for others,
By failing to notice the living stones
With whom I am joined to you.
Give me joy in the connection.
 
Dwell in us by your Spirit this day!
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 19 God Dwells with Us in Jesus

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
John 1:1-5, 14, 18
 
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 
 
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
 
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
 
Colossians 2:9 
 
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.
 
Picking Up the Thread
Two weeks ago on Day 5, we looked at John 1 in connection with the mystery that God created all things through his Word. And his Word turns out to be Jesus! God has ever existed in a relationship of eternal love between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the fullness of the triune God’s “time,” the Father brought forth all things through the Son and in the Spirit. Today we go further in John 1 to discover that the Word entered his own creation as one of us! The ancient promise that God would dwell with his people was realized individually and particularly in the man Jesus. 
 
For centuries, Israel had been awaiting the day of the LORD when God would come to earth to set all things right. Their unwavering hope was that evil would be subdued, the world remade and God could once again dwell with his people. A new age would dawn. I think it was a total surprise that God came so quietly, as a baby born in a little town to a virgin. He fulfilled his promise to dwell with us by actually taking up a flesh-and-blood humanity. The word John uses for “dwelt” could just as easily be translated more religiously as “tabernacled,” giving a connection to the LORD’s presence in the holy temple. Or it could be translated with an earthy feeling of “pitched his tent.” God bivouacked in a body! His dwelling among us was not as a spirit that could be felt but not seen. It was not as a mysterious bush that flamed but never burned up. He came in skin that could be smelled, touched, sunburned and even nailed to a cross like any other ordinary body.
 
At the same time, our Colossians passage tells us that “the whole fullness of deity” has taken up permanent bodily residence through the incarnation. Jesus is not just a man so holy and faithful that God later adopted him to be his special son. Rather, Jesus came to us from conception as the already Son of God now taking to himself a real body. Yes, he laid aside some of his divine prerogatives in order not to overshadow that humanity. Jesus depended on the Holy Spirit to do as a man what is beyond a man. By the Spirit, he performed miracles or received supernatural insight. But he was ever also the Son of God enacting his divine, eternal faithfulness and love for his Father. The pure heart of his true divinity beat through his true humanity. 
 
In the drama of human history, we discover that we cannot make the story turn out all right. As we saw yesterday, we needed God to come down. And so he did. Jesus the Son of God knew where the narrative needed to go. A human needed to enact unique faithfulness to God even unto death. But only God could accomplish that feat. To turn the human tale from tragedy to comedy, the author entered his own story about us as one of 
the characters! 
 
Jesus, inside our story, risked being co-opted, subverted or taken over by his fellow humans and their dysfunction. Of course, he remained faithful, but he was killed by the other characters in the narrative. In our world, Jesus trusted the heavenly script that would lead through his grim death to his joyful living again. So all the characters could, if they trusted him, have their personal stories redeemed. Now Jesus, the “author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2 KJV), continues by his Spirit to rewrite the story of each person that calls upon him. And, as Paul celebrated, “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
 
Stitching It In
 
I love realizing that the incarnation was not a temporary state for the Son of God. He wasn’t just slumming with humanity for a few years. Taking up a real humanity was a decision that will last eternally! Jesus remains forever wedded to us through his resurrection body that has been transformed and outfitted for everlasting life. This is the pledge and preview of the embodied life we can expect in Christ. As Paul writes, Christ “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). Jesus will forever be fully divine and fully human. And we who are joined to him by the Spirit through faith can expect to receive all that he has received in resurrection.
 
Our humanity has been taken into the triune life into eternity. Think how much this means he wants us—enough to include us always! We image bearers who fell from grace will be restored to a glory surpassing what our first parents had in Eden! Think how he values us that he would desire that we are to be wedded to him always. No wonder Scripture speaks of Christ as the bridegroom and the church as his bride (Ephesians 5:32, Revelation 19:7). 
 
I love the thought that even if there had been no sin, God would still have become incarnate (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theological, Pt. 3, Q.1). He always intended such a close union. He came not only to undo our sin, but he came for love of us. He wants us with him now and always. He does not disdain our bodies even in our frail state. He cherishes the flesh of his bride both now and in the resurrected state. He knows how it is with us, and he cares. He feels in his own body our joys and sorrows, our creations and our losses. He sets his desire upon us; we are the apple of his eye (Psalm 17:8).

 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Lord Jesus, Son of Mary, Son of the Father,
You are the joy of our desiring.
Humanity longs for you to dwell with us.
And you came! 
You came as this man and not another.
You came in the fullness of time, and not another.
You came saying these words and not others.
You came to live, die and live again,
In faithfulness, cross and resurrection.
There could be no other way.
 
Lord Jesus, no one has seen the Father,
But you came from his side,
And you have made him known.
Seeing you in Scripture by the Spirit,
I see all the way to the heart of God.
I discover that you have joined yourself
To your bride the church forever. 
 
This day I will go forth beaming
In assurance of such love
That you dwell with us as man forever.

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 18 The Promise of God in Person

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Isaiah 64:1
 
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down. . . . 
 
Isaiah 59:15b-17
 
The LORD saw it, and it displeased him
     that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no man,
     and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
     and his righteousness upheld him.
He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
     and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
     and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.
 
Zechariah 2:10-11
 
“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD. And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”
 
Picking Up the Thread
Shortly after the temple dedication, the LORD appeared to Solomon. God reiterated the promise of dwelling with his people in the temple. However, he also issued a warning: “But if you turn aside from following me . . . and . . . go serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them . . . and this house will become a heap of ruins” (1 Kings 9:6-8). Indeed, within a few years, Solomon would forsake the LORD for the gods of the many foreign wives he took. Within a century, the kingdom would split in two. 
 
Through the centuries even after periods of renewed faithfulness, idolatry and injustice seduced God’s people. Finally, after decades of warning through the prophets, in 587 BC the LORD allowed the Babylonians to capture Jerusalem, destroy the temple and carry off the people for seventy years. During that exile, they cried out to the LORD to purify their hearts and restore them to Zion. They clung to the promises that accompanied the prophets’ warnings. The LORD had declared that in the end, he would have to come himself to save his people. God’s plan resonated with their deep desire, “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1).
 
The whole history of Israel becomes a paradigm for the human race. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot clean up our act. We cannot change our hearts. We may strive to create a good life apart from God, but we always fail. We clash with each other in self-pursuits. The stronger dominate the weaker. The crafty cheat the simple. The greedy take all they can. As a human race, we bring destruction and chaos upon ourselves. 
 
Our verses from Isaiah 59 portray God’s coming to the same conclusion: “The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was . . . no one to intercede” (Isaiah 59:16). God knew that to save us he would have to take responsibility for those he made. He would have to avert his own wrath against our corruption of his good creation. Without taking away our free will, God would enact a way to change the human heart from the inside out. 
 
In old movies, we might see the hero take off his coat and then roll up his sleeves. He bares his arms for the fight, revealing his prowess and his preparedness. This signals that he is ready to take on the villain. We see this same intention when Isaiah writes, “The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations” (52:10). God promised to come down here and by his own “arm” dispatch the enemy, both within and without, to make things right. As we see in the Zechariah passage, the LORD promised to dwell in the midst of his people in a greater, more intimate way than ever before since Eden (Zechariah 2:10). 
 
Often Biblical promises are multi-layered. A people in exile would have rejoiced just to get back to Jerusalem, rebuild the temple and return to how the LORD used to meet his people there. Indeed, that happened. But they realized it wasn’t enough. A greater arrival of God in their midst was needed. For centuries more, they watched for the LORD to come as a mighty redeemer. They focused on the passages about a warrior savior who subdues enemies. However, they overlooked the surprise arrival of a suffering servant who could remake not just the nation but the human heart.
 
Stitching It In
 
The decisive change that leads to spiritual transformation involves the humility to say, “I can’t. But God, you can.” This fundamental insight from Scripture is embedded in the first of the “Twelve Steps” of Alcoholics Anonymous: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.” No one goes there easily. One of my toddler’s first sentences is the heart cry of every human, “I can do it myself!” Oh, how we try to live managing our own lives. How we don’t want to need God! Or, for that matter, anyone else. 
 
Once more, Isaiah cuts straight to the quick: “You were wearied with the length of your way, but you did not say, ‘It is hopeless’” (Isaiah 57:10). Instead, each morning, we regather our self-strength and try once more to solve our lives in our own wisdom and strength. If we are blessed, we come to the realization of how helpless we are before too much irreversible harm has been done. We finally call out, “O that you come down to save me!” (paraphrased from Isaiah 64:1). It is then we discover how the LORD has been waiting to hear this. He knows there is no one to intercede, so he has bared his holy arm in order to save us.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
I have been missing you with an ancient longing.
Since Eden, we have felt the inconsolable loss.
For so long I did not know how to say it.
There was just a missing piece,
Something more I knew was supposed to be there.
 
But I did not want to ask you for it.
I feared what I might lose if you came down.
Yet all the time the pit in me deepened.
I kept trying to fill it with more of myself,
And only fell further into nothingness.
 
In your mercy, you let my misery go on,
Until at last, but not for the last time, 
I said, “I can’t. You can. Oh my Father, 
Would you come down? Would you
Bare your holy arm, scatter the darkness
And dwell with me once more?”

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 17 God Dwells in the Temple

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
1 Kings 8:22-24, 27-30 
 
Context Note: This passage presents Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem.
 
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day.
 
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, 'My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.” 
 
Picking Up the Thread
The LORD’s people carried the ark of the covenant through the forty years of wilderness wandering. They arrived in the land promised to them, yet for more than 400 more years, the tabernacle of the LORD’s presence remained in a tent, not a permanent structure. Around 1000 BC, King David desired to create a magnificent temple for the LORD. Through the prophet Nathan, God commended David for this vision but also told him the temple would be a work for David’s son to complete. This news came wrapped in the promise of steadfast love to the line of David. There would always be a king on the Davidic throne (2 Samuel 7:4-17). In today’s passage, we see how the word of the LORD came true. David’s son Solomon oversaw the construction of the temple and then held a huge dedication service.
 
In his magnificent prayer, Solomon acknowledges the paradox that the uncontainable Creator God could live in a human-made structure: “Behold heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house” (1 Kings 8:27). Surrounding religions might well have thought that their gods actually dwelt in the temple humans built. But the Hebrews knew better. The one true God transcends earth and even the cosmos. God is beyond and independent of the universe. He does not require his creation. His power does not wax and wane according to the levels of devotion of his worshippers. Yet by his own choice, the LORD is also immanent. That means he can accommodate himself to our capacity. He can get down on our level. Without restricting himself at all, the LORD can choose to be particularly present to his people in one place. How can it be that our God can be everywhere all at once and still in a particular place at the same time?
 
The key is relationship. Unlike the capricious gods of Israel’s neighbors, the LORD of Israel remained steady in his freely chosen care for his people. Solomon grasped this in praying, “[T]here is no God like you . . . keeping covenant and showing steadfast love” (1 Kings 8:23). The God who is beyond time and space enters the place and time of worship in the temple without at all compromising his omnipresence. Through his relationship of love, he stoops to make his name, his essence, especially present in the temple. For centuries following Solomon’s prayer, the LORD would be faithful to his promises to meet his people there. 
 
Stitching It In
 
From childhood, I was taught that the answer to the question “Where is God?” is always “Everywhere!” Indeed, I love the Isaac Watts hymn “I Sing the Mighty Power of God” in which we sing, “And everywhere that man can be / Thou, God, art present there.” In that sense, no one place is holier than another. Wherever we are, we have access to the God who made us and loves us.
 
However, we also know that in the way we experience the world, it’s easier to find God in some places more than in others. Do a quick diagnostic. Do you find God’s presence during stop-and-go traffic on an interstate as easily as when looking at a mountain view? Of course not. Our awareness of the God who is everywhere gets enhanced not only by environment but also by familiarity and history. 
 
I am moved to pray when I go into the Dunham Chapel where I have worshipped with a beloved community for twenty years. I feel the resonance with all the moments I’ve met Christ there at his table. Even in silence, I hear the instruments tuned to his praise. The hymns we have sung there echo in my soul. In that room, I’ve led two of my children to take sacred vows of marriage. I’ve claimed the resurrection of Jesus for my father. I’ve taught Bible stories to children and experienced being “inside” the story of Jesus through the stained glass windows. Sure, God is just as present on the burning pavement of the parking lot, but I make connection much more readily in that little temple. 
 
What are some of your favorite meeting places with the God who dwells with us? Perhaps there’s a chair where you meet the LORD daily in prayer and Scripture. Maybe there’s a place you visited only once, but it still inspires you. Maybe the “place” is a song you return to or particular passages you keep reciting. Visit these temples in your prayers today. Give thanks that though the reaches of interstellar space cannot contain our God, he still visits you consistently in particular places where you seek him.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
You are faithful, O God our Father!
You show up when we gather in your name.
You let yourself be found when we seek you
Where you have given yourself to be known:
In Scripture and the breaking of the bread.
 
I thank you especially today for
The sanctuary and chapel at our church,
For the tree I sat in daily in high school,
For the chair where I meet you now,
With coffee and a Bible before the street lights 
Blink off in the dawn. 
 
I thank you for passages from which 
You spring from the page into my heart.
I thank you for walks in the woods,
And Christmas Eve services,
For midnight contemplations and sunrise Easters,
For the awareness that around the world
In every hour prayers rise and you reply.
Blessed are you, God of steadfast love. 
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 16 God Dwells in the Tent of Meeting

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Exodus 25:8-9; 29:41-46
 
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you, concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and all of its furniture, so you shall make it. 
 
The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as in the morning, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.
 
Picking Up the Thread
Several key depictions of God’s dwelling with his people appear in these verses. Although a tabernacle is simply a dwelling, the word usually has spiritual associations meaning the place on earth where a god chooses to be known to a people. In that sense, “the sanctuary” is another way of saying “the tabernacle.” For us who worship the one true God who is everywhere all at once, the tabernacle is the place where God adapts himself to our limitations. He covenants to show up in a particular place. The people would go to the tabernacle to worship and to offer sacrifices for sins or make offerings of thanksgiving. They would go to offer their prayers to the LORD. Again, God can hear us from any place, but he accommodates himself to our need for a consistent place set apart where we can count on connecting with God. Thus, the tabernacle was a symbol of God’s dwelling with his people, a symbol of a reality they experienced.  
 
After they left Egypt and were on their way to the Promised Land, the people first had two such holy places. The tabernacle was set up in the center of the camp. Inside it was the ark of the covenant containing the Ten Commandments. On top of the ark was the mercy seat, the place where the blood of atoning sacrifice could be offered. The tabernacle reminded the people of what the LORD had done in the past, assured them of a future in the promised land of Canaan, and became the focus for present relationship with the God who dwelled with them in the tabernacle in a special way. 
 
In the early days after Egypt, the tent of meeting was separate from the tabernacle. It was erected outside the camp, and Moses could go there to speak with the LORD. The people could see Moses and God were talking when the pillar of cloud came down to the tent. But not only Moses prayed there for “everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting” (Exodus 33:7). Eventually, the tabernacle was set up inside the tent of meeting. Whenever the people moved ahead in the wilderness, they carried all the pieces of the tabernacle and tent of meeting, setting it all up in each new place. In this way, the dwelling of God with his people went wherever his people went. Israel’s God was never confined to one geographic location. But in every place, these accouterments of worship affirmed one central desire of the LORD: “I will dwell among them.” God passionately and persistently longs to be in the midst of his beloved.
 
Stitching It In
 
The free intimacy between Adam, Eve and the LORD in the Garden of Eden was severed. The tabernacle in the tent of meeting allowed the people to enter into relationship with the God who had redeemed them from slavery. But the very holy nature of the ark, the jar of manna, and the mercy seat, all kept veiled behind the curtains, reminded the people that God was not safe. His holiness was dangerous. Their mission to become a people of his own possession in Canaan was serious business. The LORD intended to bless and redeem the world through their distinctive worship and witness. However, many times in their history Israel would yearn for a more manageable god. They would grow weary of all the sacrifices. They would long for freedom to be more like their neighbors. Being the chosen ones placed a heavy burden on the former Hebrew slaves. The world depended on them. Their God expected much from them.
 
Thus, these symbols and rituals of worship played a crucial role in maintaining their distinct identity. The ark with the tablets of the law, carried for forty years through the desert, reminded the people of what God had done for them. As Moses would say, “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?. . . Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders . . . by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm . . . all of which the LORD your God did for you before your eyes. To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other beside him” (Deuteronomy 4:7-8, 34-35).
 
The LORD God was reweaving his tapestry of humanity flourishing as his image makers and remaking the earth into a Garden temple again. He honors us by asking for our participation. We have a new pattern to present to the world, and it is glorious. But it is not natural to our inwardly focused wills. To live within God’s new pattern, we require the rhythm and ritual of worship, both personal and corporate. We need the signs that remind us of all God has done. The story of his Word rehearsed and pondered over and over. The sacraments enacted. The clear teaching that propels us to live and show a more beautiful pattern. For what news we have to share! God dwells with his people!
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
I confess Lord Jesus Christ that sometimes
I wonder if it really matters that I tell your story.
Aren’t there many ways and many gods that work for people?
Can’t people just choose and find their own way?
Won’t it all work out in the end?
 
But then I remember the story of what you did.
I recall why you commanded me to rehearse it.
For when a son asks,
“What’s the meaning of these laws God gave us?
Why do they matter anymore?”
You told fathers how to reply, 
“We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And
The LORD brought us out with a mighty hand.”
 
You are no abstract set of ideas.
You are not a philosophical option.
You are the God who saves,
Ever since we were made and until time ends,
You are the God who reaches in and pulls us out.
 
I was blind, but now I see, at least a little bit.
I was lost, but now I have tasted home.
I messed up, did some damage,
But found the real atonement of grace.
I was alone as alone could be, but now
I know that you are with me.
 
Who has such a God as this!
You dwell with us forever. 
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 15 God Dwells in the Garden Temple

WEEK THREE
GOD WILL DWELL WITH US!

 

 


Chas Hathaway. I Will Help. ChristianArtExpo. Etsy.
In these next two weeks, we will reverently contemplate what I believe to be the Golden Thread of Scripture. The very heart of the story is God’s intent to dwell among us in communion so intimate that we will know that we are his people and the LORD I AM is our dear God. Simply put, the LORD I AM wants to be with us. He refuses to be without us. And so no matter how we have torn the pattern, he has a plan to reweave his tapestry of created life. No matter how much we have run from him, the triune God has a way to come find us and sew us back into his story. The Golden Thread of Scripture’s tapestry is God with us forever. This is also the priceless thread with which our lives are stitched together in hope and joy.
 
God’s dwelling with us weaves through the whole narrative of Scripture. A means for our relating personally and lovingly to our Creator was established in the beginning. We were meant to walk with God in the Garden sharing sweet communion. But through our rebellion, we lost access to Eden. The rest of the story of Scripture reveals God’s plan to re-establish connection. To be with us. To be in relationship with us. In our metaphor of the tapestry, the golden central strand was frayed by human sin. But God is enacting a plan to repair this connecting strand of his presence with us. He intends to reweave the whole tapestry of creation around this thread of his dwelling once again with us. 
 
This dramatic painting envisions a Jesus who has traversed the lowest valleys and highest peaks reaching out to us. He wants to gather us to himself and come alongside us for our journey through the ups and downs of life in the world. He is the God who simply will not be without us.
 

GOD DWELLS IN THE GARDEN TEMPLE
 

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Genesis 2:7-8, 15, 19, 22, 25; 3:8
 
[T]hen the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 
 
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 
 
Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
 
And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 
 
And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
 
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
 
Picking Up the Thread and Stitching It In
I love this “hands-on” account of the creation of humanity. In Genesis 1, we read how God brought forth everything by the creative authority of his Word. In Genesis 2, we see the tender, personal interaction between the Creator and his image bearers. This version is “anthropomorphic,” showing God who is eternal spirit in terms descriptive of how a human would act. Therefore, some might say this account is primitive and merely metaphorical. But that would be to miss its profound depths. A metaphor is always meant to show something real through comparison. We take in its word pictures in all their evocative specificity to receive an understanding of what they point to. If we try on these verses according to their own terms, we will experience how they take us to some intimate truths about our Creator. We will discover how rich, how deep and how true these words are. Let’s look closely at a few threads.
 
Personal Engagement. We witness the LORD God creating the first man with personal shaping. In God’s “hands,” Adam was made from the stuff of earth. But that’s not all. How intimate is the picture of God’s breathing his own breath into the man’s nostrils! When we recall that the Hebrew word for “breath” is the same word for “spirit,” we feel the intended communion. God’s own personal Spirit brings the physical body to life. We live as God’s image by his breath, his very Spirit, respiring within us. 
 
Participation Planned. Genesis visualizes the LORD as the great Gardener who prepared Eden for his supreme creation. With an artist’s anticipation of showing his beloved his work, God takes the man—how? By the hand. In his own divine hand! He places Adam in the Garden as a participant in its shaping and growth as if to say, “Here, I created all this out of nothing, but I left some work for you to do. I want you to bring your mind and creative spirit to bear through your hands and muscles to tend this creation over which I have placed you.”
 
Then, in a playful, touching scene, the LORD of all fashions the animals and shows them one by one to the man: “Take a look. Give each a name, and I will call it by that name too.” We cannot create out of nothing. But our God made us to participate with him in ordering all life.
 
Communion Completes Us. The very life of the triune God is a communion of love. Father, Son and Spirit ever dance in and out of one another. Creation came from the overflow of this love. Thus, God made his image bearers for relationships of love with him and one another. Again, we see deep intimacy and direct involvement as the LORD takes a rib from Adam to form the woman. The word translated here as “helper” means one called alongside to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. To fully be who we were made to be, we need to be in relationship with others. In the beginning, nothing stood between the man and the woman. They were completely exposed to one another. All was known and no shame provoked hiding. 
 
To Be With Us Directly. Nothing stood between our first parents and the Creator. Eden was made to be a meeting place between God and humanity. The LORD withdrew enough of his radiant omnipotence that his creation could meet with him directly without being destroyed. Scripture has always portrayed the one true God as being mighty enough to create all things yet tender enough to relate personally and truly to his creation. He accommodates himself to our frailty and does not chide us for our limitations. In the beginning, God dwelt among his people.
 
Daily Meeting. Finally, and sadly, we learn so much about what was intended just as all was lost. Scripture tells us that after Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, the LORD came walking in the Garden in the cool of the evening. We get the sense that this was part of the rhythm of life in Eden. God did not beat down upon the man and woman with a constant, inescapable, overwhelming presence. He withdrew so that they could enjoy and tend the Garden. At the end of the day, he walked to them. That is, God accommodated himself to a form that was recognizable and relatable to them. He came to be with them. The Garden was a temple, a meeting place between God and humanity. That has always been the plan!
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Father, these words make me ache!
For what is and what is lost.
 
I hear how personally you shaped us.
The uniqueness of my body, 
The one-of-a-kind information in my cells,
These are your fingerprints upon me! 
 
I feel the closeness of your breath,
As I breathe the life-giving air.
My very respiration in all its necessity
Is but a sign of how you blow life into me.
 
I have known the goodness of work,
When the effort expended seems to flow
From a great desire to do, make, or shape,
To join you in ordering creation.
 
Now I know why sunset makes me sad.
Not just the ending of another brief day.
But ancient memory that this is when 
You walked with us in sweet communion.
 
Oh come again to make this tired earth
An Eden where we can be close as breath,
Close as voice, close as heartbeats
With you and one another. 
Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights. c. 1500, Musea del Prado, Madrid.

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 14 The Lamb on the Throne

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Revelation 7:9-17
 
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
 
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
 
“Therefore they are before the throne of God,
    and serve him day and night in his temple;
    and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
    the sun shall not strike them,
  nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
   and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
 
Picking Up the Thread 
Today’s scene before the Lamb enhances a theme begun in yesterday’s passage. Let’s go back and explore it in more depth. The angelic beings proclaim the worthiness of the Lamb to open the scroll of God’s future for creation. In their praise, they declare, “[B]y your blood, you ransomed people for God from every tribe . . . and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10). 
 
This harks back to one of the LORD’s original purposes for his people. Uniquely gifted with consciousness, speech, reflection and capacity to relate to our Creator, we were made to give voice to all creation in praise. When the world fell, humanity’s intimacy with God was severed. We lost our deep connection with each other and with all creation over which we had been placed. Each person became imprisoned in the loneliness of self. God’s long-term plan of salvation, however, included calling one particular people to be a light in the dark for all people. We hear this in Exodus when the LORD speaks to his people after the blood of the lamb saved them from the angel of death and his mighty power led them through the Red Sea:
 
You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. (Exodus19:4-6) 
 
God’s people are set apart as a community that reflects the harmony and justice of his design for human flourishing. We who belong to the LORD have always had a priestly function. We represent to the world the one true God who has revealed himself in mighty acts of salvation recorded in his Scripture. We speak and show the truth of the triune God. We also represent humanity to God. We intercede for the lost, taking their side as we ask God to send his Spirit into their hearts. We strive against the darkness as we pray for peace, goodwill, right ordering and true justice to prevail. 
 
Above all, we are worship leaders. We put into words the praise of the one who sits on the throne and the Lamb who has redeemed us by his blood. 
 
In today’s passage we see a vast multitude called out from every ethnicity standing before the Lamb in worship. Though their native languages are many, they speak in one worship voice: “Salvation belongs to our God!” 
 
All these people of various tribes share striking similarities. They are each dressed in dazzling robes and holding palm branches that represent both victory and the peace that follows. These are the witnesses to the truth of who Jesus is and what he has accomplished, both in them and in the world. The same Greek word underlies not only “witnesses” but also “martyrs.” This multitude includes the martyrs who lost their lives under persecution. They have discovered that though we die, yet shall we live. 
 
Curiously, their dazzling robes have been made white by the blood of the Lamb! Nothing stains quite so stubbornly as blood. But the Lamb’s blood is so strong in its atoning power, it washes away all that is dull, soiled, muted or compromised in us. Covered in the blood of the Lamb, we shine in a glory that is not our own yet makes us most truly who we were made to be.
 
Stitching It In
 
It’s crucial to note the communal nature of this scene. We are often very individualistic in our faith. We can mistakenly think that all that matters is my personal, private response to Christ. But a true reply of faith to Jesus means being united to him. United to the body that is his person, but also, and just as truly, united to his body that is his bride, the church. Yes, we were redeemed for communion with the triune God. But we were redeemed just as surely for communion with the worshipping community of saints. We are not monads, a word that means solitary, self-contained, self-fulfilling creatures. That isolation leads to idolatry of my wishes and way. And so leads to the loneliness of hell! Rather, we are members of a body, a body with myriad members of all types and functions yet united by the praise of the Lamb. 
 
When we reach up and out from ourselves to worship the Lamb who alone is worthy, the heavenly beings make a reply! Our hesitant songs and feeble croaks evoke a symphony of angelic music. Seeing and hearing us praise as redeemed creatures, the immortal spiritual beings fall before the wisdom of God who could work such a mighty redemption. They take up the strands of our worship and magnify them in celestial worship.
 
Moreover, we discover that there is no more unifying act than raising hearts and voices in praise. Do you ever feel that in worship as you glance around at the people whose stories you know, as you marvel at the work of love done in their lives? Sometimes when I am singing to the Lamb, I have held in my mind’s eye people, even loved ones, who have hurt me. I have imagined those who have wounded me singing praise next to me, all of us discovering the power of the Lamb’s blood to atone. In Christ, we enter communion with God and one another.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne
And to the Lamb!
Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and
Thanksgiving and honor and power and
Might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.
 
Yes, Lord Jesus!
You are the Lamb who was slain yet lives.
You are the Lamb in the midst of the throne.
You are both the Lamb and our Shepherd.
You guide us to springs of living water,
You promise to wipe away every tear from our eyes.
 
So unite us in imagination and worship
With the all witnesses who have gone before us,
With the angelic beings even now praising you,
With the communion of the saints 
Who are all around us and whom we will meet this day.
 
May this heavenly vision bring
Reconciliation with all from whom we are estranged,
And may it unite us ever more to your church,
And propel us into the world as witnesses to your glory. 
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 13 Who Is Worthy?

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Revelation 5:1-14
 
Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
 
And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, 
 
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
     and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
     from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
     and they shall reign on the earth.”
 
Picking Up the Thread 
The book of Revelation recounts a vision John was given. He saw through the veil into the heavenly throne room of God. Christ Jesus himself commissioned John: “Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after that” (Revelation 1:19). John would behold the present reality of worship around the throne. He would also see unfolding what was to come, the foreseeing of God’s redemptive plan for the earth. Early on in his vision, John sees a scroll sealed up with unbreakable seals in the hand of the Creator on the throne. He is dismayed because no one is found worthy to break those seals and discover what is within. His sorrow only dissipates when there appears the Lamb who was slain and who alone can open it.
 
Christopher Powers. Revelation 5:5. October 2019, https://www.fullofeyes.com/revelation-55/ 
The artist Christopher Powers rendered this image of the Lamb with the scroll. In his blog, Powers comments on the meaning of this event: “The context of “weep no more” in Rev.5:5 is that the “scroll” seems unable to be opened. . . . And what does that mean? Well, I think—and there are many interpretations of it—I think the scroll represents God’s purposes in history. In that sense, we might say that it represents all the hopes, all the longings, all the anticipations of God’s people. It is God’s kingdom coming and His will being done in heaven and earth. Therefore, the inability for this scroll to be opened is the worst thing imaginable. If it were not opened, it would be worse than hell itself, it would be the failure of God . . . the thwarting of His purposes . . . beauty devoured in chaos, hope swallowed up in despair, light extinguished in darkness . . . that is what the unopened scroll would mean.”
 
The scroll represents God’s future purposes for creation. His plans. The possibilities of what lies ahead for the flourishing of humanity on the earth.
 
What does it mean that no one in creation was found worthy to open the way to God’s glorious future? It means that creation itself cannot sustain its own existence. Beings of finite capacity cannot manage or shape a universe so vast and complex as ours. Created beings, no matter how mighty, cannot forge themselves a future of everlasting life. 
 
Simply put, we cannot even keep ourselves alive. We cannot reconcile warring humanity, nor fill in each empty heart. We cannot stem our high propensity to foul everything up, nor can we lift the weight of guilt from our attempts to have life on our own terms. We cannot make everything turn out all right. That discovery is an occasion for sorrow. This job can’t be done. This knot can never be untied. Left to itself, the universe will spin out to its ending. It will expand to nothingness. The stars will burn out. All life will cease. And on our own, there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it. As it is, existence is a tragedy that cannot overcome its own entropy. Grasping this, no wonder John wept loudly.
 
But then. Then comes the news. One of the heavenly elders tells John, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah . . . has conquered.” Expecting to see a mighty lion, John, however, sees instead a lamb. Strangely, the lamb stands but appears as if it had been slain. It is wounded mortally yet standing triumphantly. The contradictory imagery attempts to portray the paradox. The Lamb of God is simultaneously victor and victim, conquering king of the universal jungle of chaos and pierced lamb of a complete sacrificial offering. 
 
Stitching It In
 
Powers goes on to suggest what this heavenly scene might mean for our daily lives in a broken world:
 
When the elder says to John, “weep no more,” he means that John should not weep over the prospect of the scroll being forever sealed . . . and yet . . . if the scroll is not forever sealed, if it in fact will be opened—if God’s good purposes will be achieved, if the “happy ending” will be invincibly secured—then are not the elder’s words to John also words to us in all of our sorrows? If the Lion has conquered, if the Lamb has overcome, is not all weeping overshadowed in the light of coming and sure joy? Is not all weeping, then, set in its rightful place, enduring for the “night,” while joy is sure to come with the blood-bought morning? (Christopher Powers, “Revelation 5:5,” Full of Eyes.)
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Today, let us pray with the angelic beings and indeed all creation as depicted in John’s vision. Upon seeing the Lamb who alone is worthy to open the scrolls of creation’s future, they cried out in worship. Revelation 5:11-14 records it this way: 
 
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, 
 
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
 
And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, 
 
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
 
And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 12 Redeemed by the Blood of Jesus the Lamb

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
John 1:29
 
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 
 
1 Corinthians 5:7b-8
 
For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
 
1 Peter 1:13-15, 18-19, 22-23
 
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct . . . knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. . . . Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.
 
Picking Up the Thread 
The first Christians quickly connected the Passover Lamb and the Suffering Servant with Jesus. We see this clearly in today’s passages. John the Baptist exclaimed over his cousin at the Jordan River, “Look, there is the Lamb of God. There’s the one who takes away the sins of the world.” In encouraging love and purity among the Corinthians, Paul uses a term about Jesus as if it were already commonly understood: “For Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” The lamb whose blood turns away the angel of death is Jesus. Now God passes over our sins by the atoning blood of Jesus marked on our hearts through the Spirit in faith. 
 
Peter makes the connection between the blood of Jesus the Lamb and the motivation and means of our changed lives. He urges his readers to consider ever more deeply the price Christ paid so that we do not take our forgiveness lightly. Something has happened that changes everything. It propels us into a renewed future.
 
Peter reminds us that once we did not know better than to follow our passions. We were clueless about the way of life that flows from sacrificial love. We did not know who God truly is, and so we were ignorant of how to live as created image bearers for the glory of God. He speaks of  “the passions of your former ignorance.” We used to act on our first impulse on base desire, only making a bigger mess of our lives. Indeed, our whole way of life before Christ was “futile.” We were in bondage to lies about what makes for fulfillment and meaning. We couldn’t help ourselves. Appetites and pride locked us into an endless cycle. Consumption then regret. Offended then angry. Spending sprees then debt collectors. Revenge then wounds that remain. Greed then emptiness. Taking not giving and afterwards feeling like we had even less. Habits, addictions and compulsions in the name of our freedom to do what we want that left us more enslaved than ever.
 
But Christ ransomed us from bondage. A person taken as a slave might be redeemed, that is bought back, by a friend or relative who would pay the price of freedom. It took more than money to set us free. It took the precious blood of the unblemished lamb. A Passover lamb that was the eternal Son of God in human flesh. The only man who ever lived in full faithfulness, perfect obedience and consistent love. His holiness was condemned by human malice, but that was the plan. To take sin upon himself. To ransom us from ourselves. To buy us out of bondage to our own corrupt hearts. The price was Jesus’ precious flesh and blood. He who so loved his Father had to experience the horrifying hell of God-forsakenness. Only by that searing sacrifice can we be regathered into the Father’s everlasting arms.
 
Stitching It In
 
Peter reveals that Jesus as the Lamb of God is not just a lovely theological concept. The Lamb who sheds blood has redeemed us for a purpose. Our freedom from sin’s consequence and power brings about a life of renewed relationship. Now we can live out our creational calling to walk in the image of our just, loving, sacrificing God. Jesus did not pay such a ransom so that we could keep trying to live the life of our own selfish dreams. No, he has something much better for us.
 
Now in gratitude for our freedom, we can love others the way Jesus loved us. Pope John Paul II loved this insight, “Man cannot fully find himself except in a sincere gift of self.” (3 Pope John Paul II, Gaudium et Spes, 24.) We find the meaning of our lives only by giving ourselves away in service to our Redeemer. This service takes the form of loving one another. We expend sweat, tears, and sometimes even blood to care for those God gives us to love. 
 
To put it more pointedly, did Christ the Lamb of God ransom me from slavery so I could stay glued comfortably to the couch for one more episode? Did people give their lives to preserve the Bible so I could know more football statistics than Scriptures? Or rather, did Jesus pay such a price to free me so that I could join him in gathering lost lambs back to the fold? Did he not reveal the futile ways of life offered by a consumer culture precisely so I could expend more time, money, effort, attention, humor and kindness to share his love?
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Lord Jesus Christ, Lamb of God 
Who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on me.
 
Christ our Passover, sacrificed for us,
I will keep the feast of remembering
Your mighty acts of redemption.
All you did for the world of lost people,
All you did for me.
 
Your dying frees me from sin,
Your rising frees me from death,
Your return frees me from fear. 
Your rule frees me from falling back
Into the chaos of self.
 
You are the new and living way,
You are the better path forward.
 
Jesus the Lamb of God,
Christ our Passover,
I will keep the feast of love
To which you call me.
Sincerity, initiative, true speech, 
Earnestness, obedience, purity,
Affection and welcome,
These I offer you today,
 
With the heartfelt request that you
Continue to free me, cleanse me,
Restore me and send me. 
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 11 The Suffering Servant

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Isaiah 53:3-12
 
He was despised and rejected by men,
     a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
     he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
 
Surely he has borne our griefs
     and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
     smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
     he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
     and with his wounds we are healed.
 
All we like sheep have gone astray;
     we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
     the iniquity of us all.
 
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
     yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
     and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
     so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
     and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
     stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked
     and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
     and there was no deceit in his mouth.
 
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
     he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
     he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
     make many to be accounted righteous,
     and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
     and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
     and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
     and makes intercession for the transgressors.
 
Picking Up the Thread 
Fast forward from the exodus from Egypt to the days when a disobedient Israel went into exile in Babylon. Through his prophets, the LORD convicted his people of idolatry and injustice and called them to repentance. Still, they continued to rebel, and the consequences were dire. However, although God banished them to Babylon for seventy years, he threaded hope through Isaiah’s words. A redeeming servant of the LORD would appear. The one true and faithful Israelite. The one who could live, suffer and die on behalf of the many. While elsewhere God had promised a mighty Messiah who would conquer all enemies, in the servant songs of Isaiah he promised a suffering Savior as well. 
 
Once again, a passage from the Hebrew Bible would have remained baffling to the people until Christ came. With the arrival of the Son of God in Jesus, we see that Isaiah 53 makes a clear connection between the unique servant of the LORD and the Lamb of God who takes away sins. This beautiful poetry forms the bridge from the lamb in the stories of Abel, Abraham and Exodus to Jesus the Lamb. The offerings of lambs in sacrifice were always pointing towards a greater reality. Actual lamb’s blood could never fully and finally atone for human sins. The animal offerings foreshadowed a reconciliation with God we desperately needed. But a true restoration to right relationship required a redeemer who could actually represent us as one of us. 
 
Yet the sacrifices were by no means a waste. The centuries of offering animals accustomed God’s people to understanding that one can take away the sins of another. The tracks were laid down for us to apprehend how the servant of the Lord could substitute for us. This one faithful man bore our sins in himself so that he could “make many to be accounted righteous” (Isaiah 53:11). 
 
It is extremely difficult to work out just how the suffering of the Servant could heal us and bring us peace (Isaiah 53:5). But the centuries of the sacrificial system made it possible for the people to realize intuitively that “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” and “with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:6, 5). But only when Jesus came could the glorious truth crash in upon human understanding. Jesus is the vicarious man. The faithfulness he has lived, the atoning death he has died, the very life-giving power of his resurrection can be ours! We become joined to Jesus by the Holy Spirit as we put our trust in him through faith. 
 
Stitching It In
 
Isaiah 53 draws us in magnetically. Life in this world is full of seasons of loneliness and sadness. Much we love falls away. Beauty gets marred. Evil steals joy. But hope awakes when we read about “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (verse 3). This one does not suffer only for himself. Rather, “surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (verse 4). Jesus takes the weight of the world upon himself. He experiences human suffering in a way that makes him our companion. Even more, he helps us bear the load, to make sense of the pain and have hope in the loss. Though he was the eternal Son of God who could not die, he took up a humanity that could indeed be pierced, crushed and killed. We are sheep that go astray, turning destructively to our own paths (verse 6). But Jesus is the Lamb innocent of all sin who gives himself wholly up even to death, as a sheep led to slaughter (verse 7). In the mysterious exchange of God’s love, he offers up himself to take our sin. Then he gives us his righteousness. Jesus undergoes our suffering in such a way that no sorrows of ours are ever again borne alone. And all our suffering gets folded into his redemptive plan. 
 
Today, come to him with your sins and seek confidently the forgiveness for which he gave his life’s blood. Offer to him your sorrow and see how Jesus takes it just like he did a crown of thorns. Show him your wounds and see him press his nail-scarred hands into yours bringing the warmth of healing love. Go to the Lamb this very hour!
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
What wondrous love is this?
The mighty redeemer arrives as a gentle lamb.
The conquering king lays down his arms.
He takes our rejection deep into himself
Until it kills him.
In this is my life. 
 
He is jeered and slapped,
Scorned and condemned, 
Nailed and pierced,
Buried and sealed away.
He becomes the most despicable.
In this is my life. 
 
Faces turn away from the shame.
All our venom and rage heap upon him.
Our twisted justice, skewed desires,
Fierce projections of damning blame
He drinks down the last sponge of sour wine
In this is my life.
 
Surely. Weirdly. Wonderfully.
You Lord Jesus have borne my griefs
Carried my sorrows,
Atoned for my sins 
And set me at peace with your Father.
In this is my life. 
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 10 The Passover Lamb

Francisco de Zurbarán. Agnus Dei.1640, Prado Museum.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
 
Daily Scripture
 
Exodus 12:1-13
 
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. . . . Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old . . . and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
 
“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. . . . In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”
 
Picking Up the Thread 
Centuries after Abraham, the LORD’s people were enslaved in Egypt. God raised up Moses to demand that Pharaoh set his people free. The ruler of Egypt continually refused even after God sent the plagues upon the land. Finally, the time had come for the tenth plague which would break even the will of Pharaoh. The angel of death would pass through Egypt slaying every firstborn animal and human. But the LORD provided a way to protect his own people. Each household was to sacrifice a lamb and then do three things: 1) place blood from the lamb over the doorposts of their homes so the lethal angel would see the mark and “pass over” the firstborn within, 2) feast on the lamb eating all of it as a sign of participating in the sacrifice, and  3) dress ready to depart as soon as Pharaoh released them. 
 
Once more, we are reminded of the gravity of the lives we have been given. We were made to be in relationship with our Creator. This is a joyful and fulfilling purpose. It is also serious business. Consequences follow rebelling against the love by which and for which we were made. Human willful sin invited death into the world. Open defiance of God’s will continues to open a channel of deathliness. Often we may not see the connection clearly, but the event of the first Passover reveals the stakes plainly to us.
 
Death is due to defiance of the LORD’s good will for humanity. Through the course of our lives, God patiently endures with us. But when the time for judgment is at hand, an account must be given. The lamb at Passover symbolized the offering of a pure, undefiled and precious substitute for the firstborn. The life is in the blood, and the blood of the lamb was placed over the entrance to the house to act as a covering for the entire household. Moreover, everyone within the house willingly and fully participated in the offering by partaking of the lamb. There was communion with the sacrifice and with one another. They also prepared to be responsive. The grace of the angel of death passing over their houses was but the prelude to the obedience of the people in departing swiftly from Egypt, leaving behind the old life and heading for the Promised Land.
 
Stitching It In
 
Once again, we see the offering of a lamb at a crucial moment in the history of God’s people. We can readily see the spiritual significance of this event for us today. Christians, above all people, remain acutely aware that death is a reality. The only variable is time. Hebrews 9:27 starkly says, “[I]t is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment.” The angel of death interrupted normal Egyptian life in a unique, cataclysmic act of judgment against the enslavers of God’s people. Yet in a depressingly ordinary way, the angel of death visits everyone who lives in the world until the final day when Christ returns.
 
We are not our own. We will all give an account to the God who made us. The question becomes, “Do I plan to appear before the LORD on my own merits? Will I direct God to look at the good days I had doing kindness and showing mercy?” Sometimes we may imagine our résumés will be sufficient. But when the all-seeing God looks into our hearts, I dare not depend on my own purity. Even my best works are laced with self-interest. Greed, lust, pride and self-protection are woven through all I have done, said or thought. 
 
I can only pass safely through death to the presence of God through the blood of the Lamb of God shed for me. This means that by a definite act of faith, I accept that blood over the house of my life, conceding that Jesus alone can save me. And I enact the visible signs of my union with him by partaking of the Supper he provides joined in reconciling love to the community of Christ. There is no salvation without such acknowledgment that I am insufficient on my own. And that I agree to participate in the community, worship and mission to which he has entrusted me. As I make that decision, once and for all and continuously, I discover the wonder of being included in the lifeblood of the Lamb of God. 
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Jesus, you are the new and living way.
Your blood alone brings eternal life.
For I know the truth of your Word
That the wages of sin is death.
 
I would rather it not be so.
I wish you could just overlook everything,
Just be nice and make it all right.
But my bent mind, my wandering heart,
My toxic estrangement from you and others
Requires a more costly solution.
 
I need the blood of the Lamb over me.
I require partaking of you in faith,
I must come back into community
From the isolation of myself
In my stubborn independence. 
 
I dare not appear before your throne
Dressed in the rags of my own righteousness,
Made up with the cosmetics of my pride.
 
I come with the blood of your cross
Signed upon my forehead.
Its sticky, staining, vivid red
Alone washes me clean.
 
I know that the angel of death 
Still comes to us all,
But pass over my sins, 
See, your blood is on the door 
Of my life-house.
I partake of you with the entire
Household of faith, 
No longer aloof, but 
Singing and serving the Lamb. 
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 9 The Lord Will Provide the Lamb

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Genesis 22:1-14 
 
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
 
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
 
Picking Up the Thread 
To me, this is the most disturbing story in the Bible. Just as he promised, the LORD gives a son to childless Sarah and Abraham. Then God commands Abraham to ignore the primal instinct we have to protect our children. Instead, Abraham is to make a burnt offering of his beloved only son. How this must have baffled God’s people through the centuries! What kind of God demands such a horrific sacrifice? It is only with the coming of Jesus that the story at last comes into focus. Let’s look at three of the many connections to Christ.  
 
1. Abraham hears God call his name, and Abraham’s literal reply is, “Behold!” which means “Look, here I am, ready to do your will.” This is the paradigm for responding to God. Immediate and radical availability. Hebrews puts this same word on Jesus’ lips: “Behold, I have come to do your will O God” (Hebrews 10:7). The text goes on to tell us that this means “the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).
 
2. Isaac also foreshadows Jesus in that he obeys his father and undertakes the journey up the mountains. He carries on his back the wood that will become the burning altar of sacrifice. Similarly, Jesus carried up the hill of Golgotha his own wooden cross, the altar of sacrifice on which he offered himself for us.
 
3. Along the way, Isaac astutely asks where the lamb for the sacrifice is. We hear Abraham’s faith as he replies, “God will provide for himself the lamb.” Hebrews 11:19 explains that Abraham “considered that God was able even to raise the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, [Abraham] did receive [Isaac] back.” Abraham advanced toward the ghastly act trusting that God would keep his promises even if it meant doing the impossible to raise Isaac. Every listener breathes a huge sigh of relief when at the last second Abraham sees a ram caught in the thicket.
 
Jesus himself would reflect on this event in John 8:56 when he says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” Jesus understood that he was the true Isaac. The eternal Father himself would offer his only Son to redeem the world.
 
Stitching It In
 
This story is hard. Indeed, Biblical faith is hard. We have often made Christianity softer than it is, expecting Jesus to cushion any sacrifice we might have to offer. We think he who took away our sins must also smooth the way of discipleship. But Scripture speaks of a tougher realism. We recall verses from Romans 8:35-36 that we often skip:
 
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
 
Here Paul quotes from Psalm 44 to make sense of Christian suffering and to affirm that God calls us to expend our lives in his service. That may well mean we experience overt persecution or the more subtle tribulations of life in a dangerous and fallen world. Our model, of course, is Jesus who lived as a sacrificial lamb. He calls us also to pick up our cross and follow him (Mark 8:34). It is only in accepting this charge that we can truly know the comfort of the verses that follow: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).  
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
You are my gracious Father,
Yet ever you have called your people to hard things.
You called your beloved Son Jesus
To be the forerunner and pioneer of our faith,
Forging through the horrible cross
In faith of the joy that lay far ahead. 
 
I wish that had been the end of it.
But I know your Word tells me otherwise.
You call and I am roused to reply
With Abraham and Jesus, 
“Behold, here I am!” 
Even when the path is marked with pain,
Even when I cannot see,
Can only barely imagine,
The glory on the other side.
 
For your sake, I pass through 
The deathliness of life,
Praying sometimes with clenched teeth
“The LORD will provide,”
For you do and you have,
And there is no other way. 
 
I offer this day what has come to me that is hard,
As a sacrifice of praise to the Lamb
Who offered himself on my behalf.
 
Sacrifices of Abel, Melchisedec and Abraham. Mosaic from the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna, Italy, 6th century. Wikimedia Commons.
In this 6th century mosaic, we see an artistic link between three stories about offering. On the left, Abel offers his lamb as the acceptable sacrifice. On the right, Abraham offers Isaac in obedience. In the middle, the mysterious Melchizedek, a prefiguration of Christ, offers bread and wine.
 
Posted in: Lent

Day 8 The Offering of Abel

WEEK TWO
BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD!

 

 


Lamb of God. 18th century, Florence, Italy. Alamy.
 
The joy of being created in the image of God has been corrupted by the reality of human rebellion against our Creator. Our disobedience invited death into the world. Everything since has been disordered. We are now, by nature, separated from God and one another. We require reconciliation. We need to be made one with God again.
 
The image of the lamb has long been a sign of such reconciliation. We find mention of a lamb from early in Genesis to the end of Revelation. This is an image that grows in meaning as the Bible unfolds. We associate important Biblical concepts with the lamb. Purity. Offering. Sacrifice. Blood. Substitution. Atonement.
 
In all these cases, the lamb has a vicarious function in Scripture. Here “vicarious” means something done on behalf of another. In Bible terms, a lamb without blemish could stand in for me the impure one. Offering that animal in sacrifice, I offer my life vicariously through the blood of the blameless lamb. In turn, I claim its innocence for me. I count on its life as a payment for my sin. I give up this lamb to God as a symbol of giving my heart and life to the LORD. In all these ways, the lamb stands in for me. I participate in a sacrifice for sin, a gift of thanks and a dedication of myself vicariously through offering the lamb. 
 
Of course, we know that these sacrificed animals were but a foreshadowing of the true Lamb. They only point to the reality beyond comprehension. In Jesus, the Son of God gives himself to be a vicarious atonement. He lives out an eternal faithfulness as a man, a faithfulness in which all men and women, boys and girls can participate. And, as it gloriously turns out, the Lamb who was slain is the Lamb who reigns and will joyfully be worshipped into eternity. 
 
The beautiful colors in this stained-glass window convey the joy and majesty of the Lamb who is our king. We feel both the sweet attraction of this kindly Lord, and the deep eternal mystery that the one who reigns is the one who was slain.
 

THE OFFERING OF ABEL

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Genesis 4:1-10
 
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.
 
Hebrews 11:4; 12:22, 24
 
By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. . . . But you have come . . . to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
 
Picking Up the Thread 
At first, this story baffles us. There was yet no law prescribing sacrifices. So why did both young men make an offering to the LORD? Does God really need stuff from us? Underlying this whole account is the reality that we were made for communion with God. That profound relationship finds expression through worship. And worship involves offering. We give ourselves back to the God who “gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). Songs, prayers of praise, gifts and service all express the offering of our whole heart, mind and strength to our God. 
 
This story reveals how deep within us is a yearning to make a return to the LORD. A child may offer a parent a crayon drawing of the family. In terms of mature art, it may not be very much. But the child longs for it to be accepted. A loving parent rejoices in the offering. That drawing may stay on the refrigerator for years! Similarly, we long for God to accept, even treasure, what we can bring forth from the life he gave us. Great satisfaction fills us from the inside out when we make such an offering. And we ache for this symbol of our very lives to be accepted. Through Scripture, we discover that our sincere act of worship pleases God as a sign of love. 
 
Both young men made an offering. But why did God reject Cain’s gift of grain? After all, farming is what he did! We note in the text a subtle but important difference. Cain made “an offering.” Abel sacrificed the firstborn of the flock. There is a sense that Cain offered just part of what he had while Abel offered the best, the firstborn that represented his whole flock. His offering cost more; his worship ran deeper; his heart expressed a more whole-hearted faith. 
 
This story establishes the importance of blood offerings. We learn in Leviticus 17:11 that “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” Through such a substitute, animal sacrifices would come to represent the offering of a person’s very life to the LORD.
 
Moreover, Cain’s envy led him to murder his brother. Here was the first act of lethal violence between humans. A primal wound in our relationships opened. The LORD confronted Cain with the words, “His blood cries up to me from the ground.” The very earth called out for justice for the taking of a life. 
 
Our passage from Hebrews 12 links Abel’s sacrifice and his unjust death to the sacrifice of Christ. Jesus’ blood “speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” The murder of innocent Abel points to the abject alienation in even the best of human relationships. Something is wrong, very wrong, in a world where brother sheds the blood of brother. The wound in humanity remains open. We see it oozing all around us. But paradoxically the murder of innocent Jesus creates the grounds for healing. Jesus’ intentional offering of himself to his Father in an obedience unto death atones for sin and reconciles us to God and each other. 
 
Stitching It In
 
Paul gets right to the heart of our need to make an offering: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (Romans 12:1). We no longer need to make an animal sacrifice. As we shall see later this week, Jesus the vicarious Lamb of God makes a sufficient and once-for-all sacrifice for sin. But as humans made to worship the triune God, we still need to make an offering. We are only fulfilled when we offer up our lives to Jesus. We don’t have to shed blood. Jesus did that for us. But we must release control of our lives to Christ. We present ourselves to him: “Lord, I am yours!” In this way, we become a living sacrifice giving our lives to God through the obedience shown in every moment of faithful living. 
 
What might this look like today? Perhaps you could:
 
View the first interruption of your plans as an opportunity God has ordained for you to show love, compassion and service. 
 
Ask God to move you to initiate one text, email, card or call to someone who needs encouragement.
 
Give up for this day a habit or vice to which you are prone.
 
Make an over-and-above financial gift to God as a token of love. 
 
Make a list of ten things you love about Jesus, then read those to him.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Oh my God, oh my God, I am yours.
Now I make a return of praise and thanks.
All that I have comes from you.
Only your own of your own do I offer to you.
 
Yet you have given me discretion over so much.
I have thoughts that can be directed.
I have a voice that can form words and songs.
I have enough agency to make choices.
I can move out of myself towards others. 
And I can wait in silence and stillness
Until your Spirit stirs me 
With ways to offer all of these to you.
 
Oh my God, oh my God, I am yours.
Receive this offering of my life,
Through all these gifts returned to you,
Expressed today as you direct,
That you might know I mean it
When I say “I love you.”
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 7 God Will Recreate Everything

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Isaiah 65:17-25
 
“For behold, I create new heavens 
     and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
     or come into mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
     in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
     and her people to be a gladness.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
     and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
     and the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
     an infant who lives but a few days,
     or an old man who does not fill out his days. . . . 
 
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
     they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
     they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
     and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain
     or bear children for calamity,
for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD,
     and their descendants with them.
Before they call I will answer;
     while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
     the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
     and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
     in all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.
 
Revelation 21:1-2, 5a
 
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. . . . And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” 
 
Picking Up the Thread 
In the 6th century BC, God’s people prepared to return from seventy years of exile in Babylon. They longed to rebuild Jerusalem and especially to restore the temple of the LORD. Being home in their own land and worshipping in freedom seemed a grand enough dream. But then the LORD spoke a vision through Isaiah that was even more wonderful. He promised to create once more: to create a world recognizable as earth, but yet remade at the very heart. New because the chilly stripe of sadness that runs through everything will be replaced with joy. Gone will be the sorrow over an infant’s dying. No more frustration over a life’s work left incomplete. Injustice and strife, tragic accidents and sudden disasters will vanish. People will live and work in harmony. Peace will reign to such an extent that a child can play safely near a serpent. A lamb can nuzzle up to a lion. Everything will work as we have ever dreamed. No more hurting or destroying. 
 
Isaiah’s prophecy looked well beyond the time when he wrote it. As he did in so many ways, Isaiah foresaw the coming of Jesus. Something new would interrupt the world. God would enter his creation. The new creation would begin in the womb of Mary. As we noted yesterday, Jesus was humanity made right again. His faithfulness through life and death reconstructed the very life of man. His return from death in a resurrection body became the pledge of all creation being made new. That Jesus returned to heaven still joined to our humanity now restored means that he is the guarantee of the new creation reworking the old. 
 
The book of Revelation picks up this theme of re-creation. In John’s vision, the new heavens and earth descend into our present world. In other words, there is continuity. It’s the earth we know. But made right. Healed. So vivid with rightness and harmony and peacefulness that we might hardly recognize it. Revelation depicts “the throne of God and of the lamb” in the center of a new Jerusalem. Echoing Eden, a river of the water of life will flow from God’s throne right down the middle of the city. The great tree of life will grow on either side of this river. Its fruit will no longer be forbidden. But all will eat of it, and the once-warring nations will find their healing. We will be reconciled to God, to one another and to all of nature. The Garden will become even more than it had been (see Revelation 22:1-5).
 
Stitching It In
 
Andrew Peterson wrote a worship song that has deeply moved people across the world. “Is He Worthy?” asks the questions of our yearning for God to recreate the world. The song answers our questions with a tearfully joyous affirmation of Jesus as the Lamb of God up to this task:
 
Do you feel the world is broken? (We do)
Do you feel the shadows deepen? (We do)
But do you know that all the dark won’t Stop the light from getting through? (We do)
Do you wish that you could see it all made new? (We do)
 
It takes some attentive time to rediscover that the world we live in isn’t supposed to be like this. The fact that we know that means we have, deep inside us, a sense of what a rightly ordered world filled with recreated lives could be. Take a few moments to consider what parts of the world you most long to see restored. Imagine what such a new creation would be like.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Extravagant God and Father,
Your promises of new creation
Release a thrill of anticipation.
 
I’d love to see the trees of Eden restored,
And climb their branches without fear.
I’d love to put my cheek against a tiger’s,
And scratch his ears until he purrs.
I’d love to swim underwater for hours,
Then catch a current and glide on air.
 
I’d love to meet someone new
Without questioning motives and intent.
I’d love to delight in someone without envy,
To behold beauty without wanting to possess it,
To dream without lurid and putrid images. 
To speak without overtones and undertones.
 
I’d love to work with effort but not frustration,
To make what I love because you love it.
I’d love to see everyone with enough,
Eager to create and then to overflow in giving.
I’d love to quest deeper and deeper into your Being
And then join the chorus of ever-rising praise.
 
Even so, come Lord Jesus and make all things new! 
 
Atlas Lifting the World. Contemporary. Alamy.
The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this. . . .
 
In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity . . . down to the very roots and sea-bed of the Nature He has created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him.
 
One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders.
 
C. S. Lewis, Miracles (New York: Macmillan, 1947), 112, 115.
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 6 God Creates Me in Christ

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
2 Corinthians 5:17
 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
 
Ephesians 2:4, 8-10  
 
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. . . . For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
 
Ephesians 4:21-24
 
You . . . were taught . . . to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
 
Picking Up the Thread 
This week we have been meditating on the triune God who created the heavens and the earth. Today we consider that God continues to create. And we know why. Creation has been marred by the rebellion of the LORD’s image bearers. From our first parents onward, we in a myriad ways try to be our own gods. We want to do life our way, mistakenly believing we can create for ourselves more fulfillment than comes through following the will of our Creator. From such choices decay, dysfunction and death enter God’s good creation. In short, humans have made a mess of it. We require more than an improvement plan. We need to be created anew.
 
That’s a wonderful theme in the New Testament. The old creation can be remade through Christ. By his faithful life, his atoning death and his triumphant resurrection, Jesus became the new Adam. He is the man the Father always planned humanity would be. In Christ, a man lived out oneness with the Father. Now we can get in on that harmony by being joined to Jesus. How? He sends his Spirit into our hearts, and we become a new creation. In faith, we bow the knee of our hearts and call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. This transformation is dramatic. In Ephesians 2, Paul puts it starkly. We were dead in sin. But we become joined to the spiritual power of Jesus’ physical resurrection so that together with Jesus, we come alive. 
 
This new life is wonderful. Some have said it’s like going from black and white to full-color vision. We become more ourselves than we ever knew we could be. Our hearts open to God’s reality. Purpose propels us. Joy flows even in sorrow. Peace pervades in trial. Hope springs anew that all is well and all shall be well in Christ. As we read, “The old has passed away and the new has come.” 
 
We also discover that being a new creation in Christ is not just for ourselves. Paul says to the Corinthians, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation . . . entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). We were made new in order to offer that new life of Christ to the world. We are now emissaries from our King. We have a message of reconciliation to share. 
 
In Ephesians, Paul reminds us that being Jesus’ representatives means we live out the character of new creation. We were “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” Good works don’t recreate us. But good works are the way God wants us to express the new life he has wrought in us through Christ’s death and resurrection. 
 
This gets very graphic. Don’t ever pick up that stinky dead carcass of a life without Christ! We know now that the impulse toward revenge leads to shame, not satisfaction. We know now that pursuing pleasure, power or prestige over the glory of God leaves us with baskets full of nothingness. We know that undermining, gossiping and lying ruin love. That dead stuff is so yesterday! 
 
Now we have been given the power of the Spirit to live out of the new creation Christ has already made us. We’ve been created in the image of the new Adam, Jesus. Now we can live following this pattern: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). 
 
Stitching It In
 
The television series The Chosen beautifully depicts the re-creating power Jesus exercised in his days among us. Early on, we meet the character of Mary Magdalene, driven to despair over the darkness she cannot escape. But then Jesus calls her name. He sees her as one who knows her, and he knows her as one who loves her. She becomes one of his earliest followers. When someone notices the change in her, Mary replies, “I was one way and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was him.” (The Chosen, season 1, episode 2, Netflix, 2019.)
 
This line has resonated with thousands of people. Jesus’ power to make us new did not cease when he stepped out of our time and space. By his Spirit, millions have become recreated all across the world. The story of Jesus gets told. Yearning awakes in our hearts. I want to know more about that man. I want to hear him call my name and free me from all these strangling entanglements. I’ll follow him forever if he would just see me, if I could just see love in his eyes, just feel him look me out of my old life and into his new creation humanity. 
 
Perhaps you need to remember the feeling of being made new in Christ. Revisit what it was like to yield your heart to his great heart for you. Recall when you cried out for him to save you from all that you cannot save yourself from. And he did!
 
As the pace and routine of daily existence overwhelms us, we can lose awareness of that new life. We can slip back into the habits of the old life and lose the freshness of the new life. But in reality, it is not far from us. Not far at all. His Spirit is in your heart. Jesus looks upon you this moment in the love that brings life. Just go to him there. Ask him to awaken you.
 
Wait upon his gaze. Attend to his Spirit’s breeze upon you. You’re not what you once were. What happened is him.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Apart from you, I have no good.
But in you is life, abundant life.
You came to be the new Adam
And to share that recreated life with me.
By your Spirit you are fruitful and multiplying,
Bringing multitudes to vivid faith.
 
You rescue us from darkness 
And bring us into your light.
You change us from children of wrath
To beloved daughters and sons.
You call us from death
Into resurrection that begins now
In a change of heart and spirit,
That makes us ready for eternal bodies.
 
You send me forth with this news,
“God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself,
Not counting our sins against us.
Be reconciled to God!”
 
Kindle in me anew the wonder
Of being a new creation
So that I cannot help but 
Live, speak and share the new humanity
You have made. 
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 5 God Created Through Jesus

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
John 1:1-3
 
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
 
Colossians 1:15-20
 
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
 
Hebrews 1:1-3a
 
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
 
Picking Up the Thread 
God is love. As far as we know, no one in the history of the world ever wrote that before the apostle John penned 1 John 4:8. So simple, yet so endlessly profound. God is love. Love means relationship. God exists in an eternal relationship of love. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have loved each other from all eternity. Out of that love, the one God who is three persons created new life. Life meant to be lived in relationship. In love. We humans loving God and one another. Because God first loved us. 
 
How did we come to know this? Because the Son of God came to us as the man Jesus. The first disciples constantly reflected on just who they had followed for three years. They thought about a man who could walk across the sea and still the waves with a word. They knew the man born blind who was made to see by the touch of Jesus. They felt the peace emanating from one tortured by and delivered from demons cast out by the command 
of Jesus.
 
This Jesus ever talked of God as his Father, the two being so close that Jesus could say, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), he told a grieving Martha. But more, this man from Nazareth, who had been a baby in Mary’s arms, said, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” (John 5:26). They saw Jesus die and then saw him alive again so that Thomas, touching the wounds of the once-dead Jesus, would declare the astounding truth, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). The man Jesus is the eternal Son of God who took up a real humanity.  
 
Following Jesus’ death and resurrection, it did not take long for his followers to think through all this meant. Within twenty years of Jesus’ time on earth, Paul could write, “[Y]et for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1 Corinthians 8:6). The one LORD God of Israel is Father and Son. Creation comes from the Father through the Son. God spoke creation into being, but God’s Word is a person. In time, Jesus’ disciples put it together further: the one God is three! God the Father created through his Son in the Spirit, that same Spirit who hovered over the primeval waters. 
 
These complex insights underlie the glorious simplicity: God is love. As John’s epistle continues, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9). The triune Creator showed himself in Jesus. The man who walked among us, who gave his life on a cross, is no less than the Son of God through all things were made. And he is profoundly for us. For God is love. 
 
Stitching It In
 
The God to whom I pray is none other than the Jesus who cooked breakfast on a charcoal fire for his disciples (John 21:9). He walked the dusty roads of Israel, learned a carpenter’s trade, and noticed the farming and shepherding of his people. He loved children, received the touch of a sinful woman, and noticed and felt deeply the suffering of others. The notorious and compromised were drawn to him. This man is the same Son of God through whom all things were made!
 
And Jesus is the exact imprint of his Father. He is God’s face revealed to us. He shows us that God is this way, like him, and not another way. This is the best possible news. The Creator God is Jesus who came to us, cared for us and gave his life for us. The Maker to whom I pray is the man I meet in the gospels! He calls me by name. I know that voice and that I belong to him.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Jesus. Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus Christ.
You are a man, 
Yet I am moved to worship you as God. 
If you were but a man, 
My worship would be idolatry and
Like all idols, you would disappoint me.
No man could fulfill such adoration
As I am moved to give you.
 
Yet you do not disappoint!
I can praise you with my whole heart, 
With every skill or strength, and
Find that it is not too much, only never enough.
 
For you, Lord Jesus, are a man I could see and touch,
Yet you are the eternal Son of God.
You are not only alive, you are the source of life.
Through you all things came to be,
And you uphold the cosmos by your power.
You, the man whose arms were stretched on the cross
Are the God whose divine hands cup the oceans, spin the planets
Contain the galaxies in the eons of their journeys.
 
This God, you, Jesus, invite my prayers,
And send reply through your Spirit that stirs in my heart.
I praise you, the man Jesus,
And find that I am drawn into communion 
With the triune Creator God.
All my satisfaction is with you
And I will never reach the end of you.
 
So draw me up to you, draw me into you,
Even as you send me out to the world. 
 
Antonio Berti. St. Paul the Weaver. 20th century, Vatican Museums, Galleria d’Arte Religiosa Moderna.
A tentmaker by trade, Paul knew how to weave threads into a strong, coherent whole. After his conversion to Christ, Paul discovered that Jesus is the golden thread winding rhrough all the Hebrew Scriptures. In his letters, Paul wove this new revelation that Jesus is Lord and Savior into the Old Testament story. So he revealed the glory of what the triune God intended all along. This 20th century relief by Antonio Berti highlights Paul's skill as a weaver, not only of tents, but of glorious theological truth.
Posted in: Lent

Day 4 God Calls Me by Name in Love

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Isaiah 43:1-7
 
But now thus says the LORD,
he who created you, O Jacob,
     he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
     I have called you by name, you are mine.
 
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
     and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
     and the flame shall not consume you.
 
For I am the LORD your God,
     the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
     Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my eyes,
     and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
     peoples in exchange for your life.
Fear not, for I am with you;
     I will bring your offspring from the east,
     and from the west I will gather you.
I will say to the north, Give up,
     and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
     and my daughters from the end of the earth,
everyone who is called by my name,
     whom I created for my glory,
     whom I formed and made.”
 
Picking Up the Thread 
 
This passage begins and ends with the LORD’s mighty declaration that he himself made us and formed us. Within these bookends of our createdness, we discover God’s deep, specific personal love. 
 
I still remember my first intense encounter with these words. I was twenty years old and preparing for a long summer trip abroad. There would be deeper waters and hotter fires to encounter in years to come, but what I experienced from Isaiah 43 that summer would be a foundation for trusting God in more intense times.
 
I would be going first to a country where I did not speak or understand much of the language. My English major skills would be of little use. Then I would be meeting a whole new set of people in an academic environment that could be daunting. I feared making embarrassing mistakes, being shown up as inadequate, or just being lonely. But Isaiah 43 undercut those fears. Let’s pick up a few threads:
 
I have called you by name, you are mine. God knows me, not as a number but by name. He knows me particularly and individually. I belong to him. I may go far away from my earthly country, but I am never homeless. I never stop belonging to the God who made me and knows me.
 
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. I worried about getting from the plane to the train station. I agonized about keeping all my stuff together, buying a ticket and finding the right train. I feared being seen as a scared kid and rounded up by predators. Indeed, I did make travel mistakes and had embarrassing encounters. There were waters and flames that summer. But after reading Isaiah 43, I never felt abandoned.
 
You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you. The LORD spoke those words straight to my heart. He loves me. Me as me. Me in my uniqueness, quirkiness, fear and excitement. I matter to God. Knowing me completely because he is my Creator, he loves me truly.
 
I give . . . peoples in exchange for your life. I know this verse raises the question as to whether some people are more valuable than others in God’s sight. But that wasn’t what struck me back then. What I heard was that in a place where I would be unknown, God would not stop knowing me. Where I could be discarded as a foreigner, God would hold me up with his particular and personal care. He would not forget me when I was in a sea of people who would barely even notice me. 
 
From the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name. Not only did God know my name, he conferred his name upon me. I am his son. I was made, not for myself, but for his glory. I bear the mark of the Creator upon me, and his name is the guarantee that I will be brought home to him. Home from that summer abroad, yes, but also home in Christ forever. 
 
Stitching It In
 
Not just any old god made us. “God created” is a golden thread for us because of who the God of the Bible is. The LORD I AM is not a remote deity indifferent to our minuscule lives. He is not a tyrant god who made humans to be servile workers. Nor is he a capricious god prone to discard us if we do not amuse him. Ours is the God who knows each of us by name. We are precious to him. He honors us with his full attention. Humbling himself, the LORD risks our rejection by declaring his heart openly: “I love you.” Precisely because he created us in love, our God stays with us through all the twists and trials of this life. 
 
Isaiah 43 is all the more remarkable when we recall that these words were written to a people facing exile. Despite decades of warning through the prophets, the LORD’s own people remained disobedient. They, like we, chased idols and neglected to love. The exile uprooted God’s people from their homes. They lost their freedom, their land, their temple and their way of life. And they deserved it.
 
Yet God chastened them to change them. The exile was of limited duration. And the LORD never left his people even when they had to leave their homeland. So these affectionate words of assurance came to a people who explicitly did not deserve such care. 
 
God created us. In doing so, he bound himself to us in costly love. Even now, he looks on us with compassion as we encounter the various floods and fires of life. His pledge to be with us is not based on whether the circumstances we find ourselves in are our own stupid fault. What God makes he loves and never stops loving.
 
Choose a phrase from this passage and speak it directly into a circumstance you face. 
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
I spin and strive, bob and weave, never coming to rest
Lest I face the possibility that nothing I do can be enough
To warrant your acceptance, let alone your pleasure.
If I stop, I might fall into the hole of my nothingness.
 
But you catch me off guard with these words.
Just when I think I will get the exile I deserve,
You gather me to yourself. 
You are not embarrassed that you made me.
You say that I am precious, treasured, sought.
When you made me you committed to me.
You honor me now with your full attention.
 
You say, “You are mine.”
My heart replies in wonder, “I am yours.”
You call me by my name, you call me your child.
I respond, “My Father and my God!” 
 
I face the rising waters and feel your hand.
I make ready to walk into the flames
With your protective arms wrapped around me. 
 
You say, “You are precious and I love you,”
And my heart quiets. The spinning stops.
“I love you too. My Maker and Savior.”
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 3 It Is Good That You Exist

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Psalm 139:1, 13-18
 
O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
 
For you formed my inward parts;
     you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
     my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
     intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
     the days that were formed for me,
     when as yet there was none of them.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
     How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
     I awake, and I am still with you.
 
Picking Up the Thread
 
No matter how many times I contemplate it, Psalm 139 always refreshes and amazes me. I hope it will have a similar effect on you as we move today from considering that God made the world to the staggering personal truth that God made you. Specifically, intentionally, joyfully, particularly, God created you. And he remains vitally involved with you. His thoughts toward you outnumber the grains of sand in the desert. And even though you forget about God, or slip into sleep, or even lose your right mind, God is still thinking about you. His thoughts wrap you in love and sustain you with life. 
 
Today, I’d like us to consider this profound sentence: It is good that you exist. Say this aloud right now: “It is good that I exist.” Listen to those words. In the midst of the swiftly passing years, God speaks an eternal truth in this present moment: It is good that you exist. Amid all your stresses and your delights, your toil and your loves, your frailty and your strength, God declares his deep opinion of you: It is good that you exist. 
 
German theologian Joseph Ratzinger, who spent the last two decades of his life as Pope Benedict XVI, reflected deeply on this truth. He is worth quoting at length: 
 
Where does joy come from? . . . The crucial factor is . . . based on faith: I am wanted; I have a task in history; I am accepted, I am loved. . . . Man can only accept himself if he is accepted by another. He needs the other’s presence, saying to him, with more than words: it is good that you exist. . . .
 
This sense of being accepted comes in the first instance from other human beings. But all human acceptance is fragile. Ultimately we need a sense of being accepted unconditionally. Only if God accepts me, and I become convinced of this, do I know definitively: it is good that I exist. It is good to be a human being.
 
If ever man’s sense of being accepted and loved by God is lost, then there is no longer any answer to the question of whether to be a human being is good at all. Doubt concerning human existence becomes more and more insurmountable. Where doubt over God becomes prevalent, then doubt over humanity follows inevitably. We see today how widely this doubt is spreading. We see it in the joylessness, in the inner sadness that can be read on so many human faces today.
 
Only faith gives me the conviction: It is good that I exist. It is good to be a human being, even in hard times. 
 
Pope Benedict XVI, Address on December 22, 2011, Pt. 5.
 
Why am I here? Adolescents ask that question as they try to find their life’s path. Adults ask that question after a profession proves deadening, or a marriage falls apart, or the investment sinks to nothing. The elderly ask that question in the tedium of lonely days made of just getting through to the next. Why do I carry on? What is the point of my life? 
 
The extraordinary message of Psalm 139 is that God made me on purpose. He notices me. He accepts me. He attends to my emotions, thoughts and prayers. He cares. And he takes pleasure in my living, even if it should be confused or diminished or difficult. For much of my life, I will have, no matter my faults and flaws, the ability to reach up to God. To give thanks. To declare his praise. To share his love in word, work, or prayer. It is good that I exist. Because I belong to God and always will.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
You made me.
You do not forget about me.
You delight in my existence.
In every breath, even the labored ones.
In every heartbeat, even the rapid ones. 
In every muscle movement, even the sore ones.
 
You, Lord and King of all, 
Attend to me like a servant.
You await patiently my prayers,
Ever at the ready for the moment I turn to you.
Ever eager to hear from me what you already know,
Ever cherishing my halting praises.
 
You, gracious Father, see my whole life.
You see now in view of eternity
When my re-creation will be complete,
And all will be reconciled.
So you whisper anew, “It is good that you exist.”
And I feel with thanks your arms around me.
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 2 There Is No Other

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Isaiah 45:5-7, 12, 18-19, 22 
 
I am the LORD, and there is no other,
     besides me there is no God;
     I equip you, though you do not know me,
that people may know, from the rising of the sun
     and from the west, that there is none besides me;
     I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness;
     I make well-being and create calamity;
     I am the LORD, who does all these things. 
 
I made the earth
     and created man on it;
it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
     and I commanded all their host.
 
For thus says the LORD,
who created the heavens
     (he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
     (he established it;
he did not create it empty,
     he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I did not speak in secret,
     in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
     ‘Seek me in vain.’
I the LORD speak the truth;
     I declare what is right.
 
“Turn to me and be saved,
     all the ends of the earth!
     For I am God, and there is no other.”
 
Picking Up the Thread 
These words in Isaiah were first meant for Cyrus, the Persian king who would conquer Babylon and free the Jews from their exile. The LORD reminded Cyrus that neither the Persian gods nor their king ruled over the cosmos. Rather, the LORD I AM, the God of the Hebrews, reigns supreme. His very name means pure being, utmost power, unrestricted freedom and limitless potential. The great Cyrus would be but a servant in the eternal plan of the one true God. 
 
Of course, as we overhear this prophecy, we know its words apply to us as well. The God of Scripture insists that we worship him alone (Exodus 20:3, Deuteronomy 6:5). His declaration “I am the LORD and there is no other” resounds through our passage today. The LORD alone is creator and ruler. Let’s follow the implications:
 
God gave the world a real existence. The Creator withdrew enough of his presence that we have room to relate to him freely. He does not shine his reality like a never-ending, inescapable, noonday sun. We can close him out from our awareness. We can consider alternative reasons for the world. We can invent other gods. The LORD really gives us our own lives in a real world. He allows us to have time and space for our own thoughts for he truly wants us to reach toward him by choice and not compulsion. 
 
God created life to participate in the creation of more life. In our passage, we read that the LORD formed the earth to be inhabited. This occurs through reproduction. God could have made the world already filled with all the living organisms he wanted. But instead, he made life able to produce more life. Plants and animals with a real existence participate in making more life. God designed living creatures to share in his bringing forth. For us as his image bearers, this occurs through the myriad ways we cultivate life in the world. Though we are always only sub-creators, we know the joy of sharing in God’s creative work. 
 
Creation remains dependent upon the Creator. We depend on God for our very existence every millisecond of our existence. We cannot transcend or suspend the laws by which the physical world functions. Our very attempts to do so create dire consequences. Nor can we ultimately succeed in rebelling against God as if by a declaration of human independence, we could establish a sovereign world. 
 
Paul in his speech to the Athenians declared, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25). We continue because God upholds the world by his power. He maintains us with his constant thought and attention that undergirds everything. Paul went on to affirm the words of a Greek poet, “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). God is not dependent on us, but we require him constantly. 
 
Stitching It In
 
There is no higher vision of humanity than that revealed in the Scriptures because there is no higher, more dramatic understanding of the triune Creator God. He made the cosmos to have a real existence and yet be in relationship to himself. God is sovereign but not remote. Everything created is not God but reflects and glorifies God. All the diversity and complexity and beauty, both gentle and dangerous, attractive and frightening, adorns the majesty of the Creator. He gives every aspect of creation its own place. And we, as his image bearers, get to explore and express how everything gives glory to the Creator. 
 
The writer of Hebrews tells us how much it matters that we consider this unique vision of God and reach toward it in belief and trust: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. . . . And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:3, 6). As we exercise worshipful thanksgiving to the Creator, he reveals more and more of his gracious character to us. 
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
Everything that you made gives glory to you.
All that you brought into being with a real existence
Expresses your creative intent and so gives praise.
 
The light from a star that exploded millennia ago
Reaches us long after it ceased to be,
And yet across light years flares glory
To the intensity and endurance of your power.
 
The information within my cells praises your Mind,
Even as the same DNA somehow knows to keep making
Fingernail cells distinct from heart valve cells,
Making me always me, yet ever new. 
 
The broad forehead I see 
In my great-great-grandfather’s portrait
I also see in my grandchild,
Each person arrives utterly unique
Yet in continuity with the generations.
Each and all cry out your ever-fresh creativity
Expressed through ages of constancy.
 
Oh my LORD, all that exists
Adorns the majesty of the maker’s mind
Yet you give to humans alone a voice 
To articulate your praise.  
 
Making an Extra Stitch: Science vs. Scripture? Creation vs. Evolution?
 
How many of us have suffered the shock of childhood faith encountering evolution? A simple belief in creation suddenly smacks up against a theory that all things can be explained by evolutionary development. We become ashamed of our faith in God’s intentional creation for this theory seems to account for human life through the gradual change and development of species via a series of random mutations, worked out through the survival of the fittest over billions of years. It can seem that no super-intending by God was needed. This all just happened. The belief in creation seems childish and unnecessary. Suddenly it can seem that science opposes Scripture as if one has to choose creation or evolution, faith or reason. 
 
But what if this is a false dichotomy? An unnecessary contradiction? What if a six-day creation a few thousand years ago or unguided development over billions of years are not the only options?
 
Let’s take a moment to consider the crucial difference between physics and metaphysics
 
In its most basic, broadest definition, physics explores the mechanics of what exists. It explains the properties and phenomena of how things are in the cosmos. As such, physics considers the questions of “how” and “what.” How does gravity behave? What causes the Earth to spin?  
 
Meta is a Greek preposition that means “above.” In this sense, meta-physics means doing physics from above. In other words, it entails asking the “why” questions about “what” we observe. Why is there something and not nothing? Why did these forces that keep the earth spinning come into being? Metaphysics considers questions of meaning. 
 
When we talk about the hard sciences, we are not talking about metaphysics. Chemistry, biology and the specific physics of matter and energy do not address questions of meaning or purpose. Rather, these each consider the nature and function of the physical reality around us. That’s science. It has many strengths and also profound limits. 
 
However, when we talk about philosophy and theology, we think about metaphysics. All the “why” questions and the meaning statements come to bear. Theology may employ the beautiful insights of science about the “what” of this complex universe. After all, noticing creation leads to doxology, that is, praising God. But theology’s focus is on the purpose and goal of the creation being observed. For example, theology’s task is not to map the human genome, but it may draw important implications of meaning from the ordered intricacy science uncovered in our genes.
 
Physics (i.e. science) and metaphysics (i.e. theology) properly raise and answer different questions. But, of course, the two interact. After all, we think and feel on many levels. But when one discipline purports to take the place of the other, much is lost.
 
Scientism occurs when the physics of science begins to claim ultimate priority for its way of exploring the universe. In that case, scientists assume to answer the questions of meaning or lack of meaning in what exists. They claim metaphysical territory. Such scientism can offer safe harbor to those who would rather there not be a God to whom we are accountable. The human impulse to be our own gods finds a platform in a metaphysics that there is no other intent or purpose in life beyond what we give it. 
 
Similarly, believers in Scripture can create an unnecessary war with science if we insist that passages such as Genesis 1 and 2 can only be read like a contemporary science textbook. Then, for example, we expend enormous effort trying to explain, by today’s science, how daylight could be on the earth before the sun was created. But Scripture speaks with language higher and more enduring than any particular culture’s way of expression. After all, scientific theories are always updating or upheaving, but the meaning of the earth’s intentional creation by God speaks truthfully and transformationally across cultures and centuries. 
 
With all that said, having the metaphysical worldview of Scripture actually makes us better scientists. Believing in a purposeful, ordered and intentional creation ignites inquiry about how it all works. Trusting in a Creator also frees us to innovate because we are not enslaved to whatever theories are current. We can question the dogmas of scientism the way brave believers once questioned the assumed truth that the sun revolves around the Earth. Therefore, we can, as good scientists, pursue true physics. We can joyfully inquire about how the world actually works. For example, we can ask questions about literal six-day creationism, unguided macroevolution, and any positions in between. 
 
On the one hand, if we grant that Genesis 1 can still be true while speaking primarily about metaphysics, then we are free to ask questions about the physics of the world. The earth appears to be older than a few thousand years. Light comes from stars millions of light years away. The continents appear to have once been connected but are now separated. Spontaneous generation, organisms popping into being, does not seem to be occurring now. Did it once? 
 
On the other hand, we are also free to ask questions about evolution. For we know that it is profoundly not unscientific to ask, “If all this developed through random mutations surviving through survival of the fittest over long periods of time, where is the fossil evidence for the millions of transitional species there must have been?” Or “How does the rising development of complexity in species fit with the second law of thermodynamics, the reality of entropy that things tend towards decay?” Or “How do we account for the ‘irreducible complexity’ in such things as sight and blood coagulation if they developed mutation by mutation over time?” Or “Why do species that supposedly developed in different epochs appear all together in the Cambrian fossils?”  
 
If we grant that the purview of science is exploring the nature of what exists, not the meaning of why things exist, we can see that the existence of a Creator is not unscientific at all. In fact, the more we know about the cosmos, the more its complexity, unity and harmonious interaction all shout out the presence of a Designer. It is not unreasonable to assert a Creator. Rather, it is the better explanation for what we observe.
 
We need to understand the distinction between physics and metaphysics to face the reality of God and to explore openly the way God may have created.
 
To further contemplate the beauty of creation and the interaction between faith and science, you might enjoy downloading the app from Ken Boa Museum of Created Beauty or check out kenboa.org. You might also like the series of videos called "Wonder: The Harmony of Faith and Science" narrated by Jonathan Roumie.
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Day 1 In the Beginning . . . .

WEEK ONE
CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

 

 


Étienne Colaud. The Creation of the Animals and the Birds. 1525, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford.

 
On the question of creation, you can divide the world’s population roughly in two. One half believes the universe we see has always been; only the forms of energy and matter change. The other half believes that once upon a time the universe was not and that a creator brought it into being. You can whittle this second group down to those who believe a personal God intentionally created according to a plan. Christians uniquely take this even further. Alone among religions and philosophies, we connect a particular human being, Jesus, with the creation of all things. 
 
Paul writes in Colossians 1:16-17 that all things were created by Jesus and through him. Even now it is through Jesus the Son of God who became the Son of Man that all things hold together. This colorful icon depicts the man Jesus calling the teeming variety of life into being in our beautiful world. 
 
What we believe (or not) about creation profoundly affects how we view the purpose and value of our lives. To go about our days feeling like we are accidents is very different from considering ourselves to be intentionally and particularly designed. This week, we take up the golden thread of the triune God as Creator. We will see how embracing this wonderful reality can light up all our days with joy and purpose.

IN THE BEGINNING. . . .

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us. 
 
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 
when I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel. . . .
I will put my law within them, 
and I will write it on their hearts. 
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
They shall all know me, from the least of them 
to the greatest. . . .
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will 
remember their sin no more.
(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)
 
Daily Scripture
 
Genesis 1:1-5, 26-28, 31
 
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 
 
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
 
So God created man in his own image,
     in the image of God he created him;
     male and female he created them.
 
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
 
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
 
Picking Up the Thread 
God made everything. Is that too obvious? Do you take it for granted? Or do you doubt that it could be so? As our study opens, I long for us to be reinvigorated through realizing afresh that the LORD I AM, the triune God of grace, created and sustains all things. 
 
The beauty of the Bible’s creation account settles us in the peace of finding our proper place in the universe. Through creation, we realize that the very world we encounter is intentional, ordered and good. Let’s consider further:
In the beginning. Genesis tells us that the universe had a start. At one time, all that is had not come into being. God initiated creation. We exist because God thought of us and then made us. He created all there is out of nothing according to his plan and power. Our beginning was intentional. Therefore, our continuing to live is purposeful. Life has meaning because all things were made by God and for God.
 
God shaped his new world over time. We read that, at first, the earth was without form and void, and the chaos of primordial waters covered everything. Then we read that the Spirit of God hovered over those chaotic waters. That is to say, he superintended the ordered formation of all things. 
 
God spoke new things into being within his infant world. There was darkness. Then God said, “Let there be light.” And light occurred. Creation came about through the powerful word of God. What God speaks comes to be! 
 
God saw that his creation was good. So there was one day, and then there was another. The very cadence of Genesis 1 communicates a peaceful sense of rhythm. It feels right to us as we read. Everything happened as it was supposed to. Moreover, the LORD himself took pleasure in this work. All matter and energy, all forces, all solids, liquids and gases, all particles and waves, indeed everything is pleasing to the Maker. It is good that creation exists!
 
Humanity is the pinnacle of creation. We were made distinctly male and female so that such complementarity might together be the image of God in the world. Our consciousness, our speech, our capacity to relate to Someone invisible to our eyes, our urge to perceive and create meaning are all part of the mystery of humanity being created after the likeness of God. 
 
Stitching It In
 
We dare not lose the precious perception that the world is created. Skeptical, discouraging voices proclaim that life emerged from unguided and impersonal forces. To them, there is no purposed beginning and no intentional destination. Hence, depressingly, there is no reason to live because life has no meaning. If innate survival is the only essence of our existence, no wonder so many people live with gnawing despair!
 
But we have a better story. We can reclaim the daring declaration of Scripture that all things exist by the creative design and powerful action of our God. There is a meaning for everything. It all matters. Our purpose, joy and reason to live all have everything to do with a personal Creator. We recall that we have perceived since we were children that there must be a Maker. Paul writes, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:19-20).
 
But too often as we grow up we enter humanity’s endless struggle to make up our own independent meaning. We can lose sight of the Creator. We forge our own way and begin to believe that we ourselves are the source and goal of life. Paul continues, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21).
 
Sadly, we can lose the golden thread of our createdness. Sometimes the very pressure and busyness of daily life can keep us from honoring God as Creator and giving thanks. Sometimes our preoccupation with watching stories on screens or listening to voices in our earbuds deadens us to the beautiful and purposeful creation around us.
 
Recovery, though, can begin with the practice of “mindfulness.” That simply means intentionally becoming aware of what is around us, naming it and noticing it. This practice creates peace. Step outside. Take note. A dove sings alone on a wire. Crepe myrtles bloom again. Ants carry sand to their hill. Leaves wave in the breeze. Squirrels chase each other. This light rain smells fresh.
 
Then, as believers in a Creator, we turn mindfulness into gratitude. We give thanks for each thing we have noticed. And so we spring from peace into joy. Gracious Father, all this you intended and gave me to perceive! 
 
Take some time now to give thanks specifically for at least three aspects of creation that you find beautiful, mystifying, awe-inspiring or delighting.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
O God, my God, by your word all that is came to be.
By your gracious will, you gave me the perception of such wonders:
 
Morning sun lights the waves 
     that crest and crash over me,
A crawling, dull caterpillar liquifies, 
     then emerges to fly with colorful wings. 
Wildflowers in a forest bloom so briefly,
     yet return year after year in the same place.
An infant laughs with her whole body 
     at the silly faces her sister makes.
A dog grabs a shoe for a chase, head fakes,
     spins and sprints past me in triumph.
A Louisiana sunset turns 
     towering cumulus clouds orange and raspberry. 
 
Every day, every second, your bountiful mind
Reveals itself in the ordinary.
You are God. 
I thank you for the beauty that surrounds me
And the glory of all you make.
 

 

Posted in: Lent

Introduction to Golden Threads

Jean Bondol and Nicolas Bataille. River Flowing from the Throne of God. The Tapestry of the Apocalypse, 1377–1382, Château d’Angers, Angers, France. Alamy.
 
The goldwork embroidery in The Apocalypse Tapestry still shimmers 700 years after its creation. The actual gold metal wound into the threads evokes the splendor of this scene from Revelation 4. In Christian art, gold is the color of God’s glory, representing the hue through which God reveals his heavenly brilliance to earthbound creatures. Thus, this panel from the medieval French tapestry still elevates viewers into wonder. John beholds the Almighty One on the throne and the redeeming Lamb next to him. God is the shining reality underlying all creation. All things come from God and all things return to him. The golden threads stitch a bright home throughout the whole weaving.
 
We could also say that there are golden threads of phrases and word pictures running through Scripture from Genesis through Revelation that stitch the whole story together with glory. These golden threads reveal the deep underlying unity in the Bible and take us to the heart of God’s glorious narrative of redemption.
This Lent we will lift out six of these golden threads and spend a week exploring each: 
 
1. Creation
2. The Lamb of God
3. God Will Dwell with Us
4. I Will Be Your God
5. Fear God
6. Fear Not
 
Test of a Golden Thread
 
As I chose which golden threads to pick out for this study, I used these criteria. First, the phrase, image or theme had to appear in at least five key locations: 1) Genesis, 2) the history of God’s people Israel, 3) the poetry of the psalms or prophets, 4) the story of Jesus (gospels or epistles), and 5) Revelation. Then, tracing one of these golden threads had to be a way to tell the gospel. That is, the thread had to connect to God’s overarching story of love which climaxed in Jesus. A golden thread has to invite us to participate in Scripture’s grand narrative of creation, fall, redemption, mission and recreation. 
 
How to Use This Study in Twenty Minutes a Day
 
Jeremiah 31 Every Day: Don’t Skip This!
 
I invite you to pray aloud each day from the magnificent 31st chapter of Jeremiah. This passage takes us to the very heart of the Bible’s revelation. It contains the central golden thread which stitches together the whole story. We can look at any part of the Bible through the lens of this passage and watch it start to shimmer with God’s glory. Therefore, it’s spiritually formative for us to say this passage so often that we come to know it by heart and so possess it as a great treasure. Please do read it aloud every day at least once. 
 
Daily Scripture
 
We’ll read a selection of texts that contain the week’s golden thread. Take your time. You might want to read these once silently and once aloud. As the week progresses make note of how the thread appears in different historical events and poetic reflections. Try to stay aware of how this golden thread ties together the Bible’s whole revelation. 
 
Picking Up the Thread
 
These golden threads occur in a variety of places and forms in the Bible, so in this section, we will unpack the different contexts of each golden thread. Over a week, we might explore how the thread relates to the very early accounts of Genesis or how it appears in the teaching and events of the life of Jesus and the way the apostles reflected on Christ. We might consider what the thread means as it is presented in the poetry of a psalm or a promise in the prophets. Or we might contemplate what it means that this thread still shimmers with meaning in the Bible’s final book.  
 
Stitching It In
 
In this section, we will invite the Spirit to weave this golden thread into our daily lives. We’ll consider what the truth of the key phrases and/or images means for our growth in Christ and our carrying out his mission in the world.
 
Praying Along the Pattern
 
This is where we strive to internalize what we learn through this golden thread by praying it back to God. I’ve offered words through which you can press close to Jesus as you encounter him in these Scriptures. Of course, this is only a springboard for you to continue with your own prayers! 
 
Many centuries ago, a church father who became known as Gregory the Great realized that “Scripture grows with the reader.” This conveys that the Bible’s storyline is simple enough to teach to a child, but the depths of this narrative will occupy us throughout eternity. A lifetime of close and prayerful study reveals there is always more to find. The more we explore, the more we discover how profoundly the Bible holds together. Though written by more than 35 authors across a timespan of at least 1,500 years, Scripture tells a single story of the God who loves us enough to become one of us forever. I pray that daily tracing these golden threads will make your hearts glow from the brilliance of God’s priceless revelation to us.
 
Acknowledgments
 
It’s a pleasure to write with you in mind beloved congregation! Your thirst for God’s Word inspires me continually. Together, we’ve followed the Spirit’s leading to press further into the beauty of Christ. I’m also so grateful to work with such a skilled and dedicated team of staff members. In particular, this is the 14th Lent study Katie Robinson and I have worked on together. Her layout and design skills make the words so much more effective. And this marks Dr. Jean Rohloff’s third year editing the book for clarity and readability. Laura Shaw and others sacrifice their eyes for proofreading. And it’s such a treat to work with Lauren Honea, Scott Graham and Jacob Struppeck on the podcasts. One more time, then, let’s take 42 days to quest for more of Christ as we prepare to celebrate his resurrection.
 
Posted in: Lent