Daily Devotionals for the First Week of Lent

The depravity and fragility of our state as human beings should naturally drive us to comprehend the necessity of Jesus’ power in our world. More so, it urges us to witness and respond to the brilliant beauty of God’s power and love since the beginning. All creation shouts the humbling and eye opening truth: we are “dust, and to dust we shall return!” Our lives are marked by the sweat of the brow and toiling of the soil; the same soil from which we came and will return. Yet all this was necessary for the glory of God we find leading up to his resurrection.

When Job underwent great suffering for a season he was given the opportunity to have his heart and eyes opened to hear and receive from the Lord. When God revealed but a small fraction of His glory to Job (Job 41), the response from Job is sobering and perhaps what we would expect to see in ourselves upon hearing the voice of the Almighty. His ears had heard but now his “eyes have seen You.” The response from Job produces an image of nakedness and awe before God: “I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Many of us have moments where we might be able to relate to Job, falling flat on our faces in awe of the glory of our God. We know we are underserving of His grace. Yet, like the Israelites, even with this understanding we quickly to reorient the rightful praise of our Creator to the created; seeking glory for our mortal bodies. This is what Jesus encouraged his followers to stay away from.  He did not want them behaving like some of the Pharisees of their time who enjoyed the achievement of their own adoration.

Jesus knew how easy it was for man to hunger after his own glory; so much so that he continually reminded his closest followers how the “least of these” was greatest in the kingdom and they become like children, full of awe for their creator. As Christ was not only speaking to followers in His age, we must continually remind ourselves of God’s glory for our own good.

What we fail to comprehend is that God’s glory and our own satisfaction go hand in hand. The more time we spend in the Word, the more we understand that we are dust and that our life eternally is a testament to God’s abundant glory.

The passage in Exodus highlights a critical point in Moses’ time leading the people of Israel. As a young man, Moses saw the suffering of the Hebrews and tried to take matters into his own hands, killing an Egyptian who was beating one of the Israelites. As so often happens when we try to take matters into our own hands, Moses’ self-reliant attempt backfired and Moses had to flee for his life. Later, God called Moses to leadership and Moses’ fear of his past failures caused him to try multiple times to dodge God’s call with excuses of inadequacy – “No one will believe me!”, “I can’t speak to inspire a crowd”, and finally “Please Lord, send anyone else but me!” When Moses finally takes his first step in faith and obedience Pharaoh not only rejects Moses but punishes the people Moses is trying to free for Moses’ request to let God’s people go.

Moses must have felt like his worst fears were confirmed. Surely if he was good enough his efforts wouldn’t have blown up in his face and his past failures wouldn’t continue to haunt his present.We all know how Moses’ story continues from this low point. What must have seemed to be a derailing disaster to Moses at the time was but a momentary pause in God’s work through him. Fortunately, God promises He will never leave or forsake us but will cause all things to work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His Purpose.Unfortunately for Moses and for us, God makes no promises that the path He calls us to will handle with care our ego, our pride or our reputation. God will work through us and make big things happen but He will rarely let it happen without our humanity showing in the process.

Although it’s rarely the path we would choose, God receives the most glory when we can look at something incredible that God has done in our lives and recognize that we cannot take the credit for it. As Chaplain Purvis always says “Your past shapes you but it doesn’t define you.” What a blessing that even when our tarnished history resurfaces in our redeemed life God can do and does amazing things through His kids when they trust Him!

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say to the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.”

Psalm 91 is a psalm of exquisite beauty. Rather than looking at short segments we believe it should be read in its entirety to gain a full appreciation. It has been set to music in various forms. Mendelssohn used verses of this Psalm in his Oratorio, Elijah.  A contemporary use of this psalm is On Eagles Wings, written by Michael Joncas, a Roman Catholic Priest. Indeed, a demonstration of the universality of music and the Psalms in our common Christian universe. We were privileged and inspired, as we heard this piece two days before writing this devotion, at the memorial service for a close relative, song by his grandson. It is also strikingly done on occasions by our own Protestant Chapel Chorale. It was a favorite of a chorale member who found the gift of Eternal Life several years ago. 

During this season of Lent we believe there is a dichotomy—though we are penitent and reflective of our sins, we need not ask for anything. We are redeemed by the grace of our Lord. Redemption has been given to us, free to all who have faith and believe.  He is our refuge and fortress. Therefore-- Rejoice, in the LORD always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:4 NIV

Our Father Who Art in Heaven, We Praise You, We Adore You.

We Have Sinned Against You in Thought, Word and Deed.

We Give Thanks for Redemption Through Your Son,

That Those Who Have Faith and Believe Will Receive the Gift of Eternal Life. Amen! 

On this Friday in Lent, we meditate on scripture centered on trusting that the Lord is more than enough for our insufficiencies. He gives us strength that we know we don’t have on our own; He makes the impossible possible; He gives us the power to conquer our enemies. When we rest in Him, no harm shall befall us; nothing dangerous shall come near us (Ps. 91:10). He is our shelter, our shade, our refuge, and out fortress (Ps. 91: 1-2).

Resting in Him, we have no choice but to be used for unimaginably great things. Since we cannot do anything without Him, He gives us what we need to complete His will. No matter how stubborn we are, or how unworthy we may see ourselves of His great tasks, He will see his plans through. If we are slow in speech, His strong hand will supplement our lacking (Ex. 6:10-12). He will ensure that we are given His authority to carry out His will, regardless of our current earthly authority (Acts 7:35).

When we see Him working in our lives and using us for the furthering of the Gospel, give thanks and rejoice! Even if we perceive that we end up in a worse place than when we started, praise Him that we are being used for His will (Acts 6:40-42). Better is a day in His courts than a thousand elsewhere (Ps. 84:10).

Lord God, we call upon you and you will answer; You will be with us in distress; we will honor you; with length of days you will fill us with your saving power. In you we trust, and we supplicate for discernment of your will and for a listening heart. Amen!

We live in a works oriented society. We like to believe that the more we do or is “right” the more likely we are to get that promotion, to earn a better ranking, to have the good work reciprocated. But, what we often find is that no matter how hard we try, the works either do not produce the results we would like or we cannot even manage to be the good person we want to be. We spend so much time focusing on trying to “do right,” that we fail to notice that we have put God on the back burner. It is not necessarily intentional, but we say to God, “I believe in you, but I don’t trust you to take care of me.” In reality, this is contradictory.

When God promises Abraham that he would be the father of more children than there are stars in the sky, Abraham had a choice: either believe that God was faithful to His word, or reject God’s plan and take control of his own life. Abraham takes the leap of faith and believes. Due to his faith, verse 2 says that Abraham was justified by his faith, which means he was made righteous. Abraham did not have to do good works, he did not have to go through any rituals…he did not have to do a single thing, but believe. We so often take the beauty of this truth for granted because we try so hard to make ourselves righteous, when the whole time we could just turn to God, offer up ourselves to Him, and believe.

During Lent, people often take the chance to give up something or quit a bad habit. It is not wrong to do these things, but in light of this passage we need to remember that we are not required to give up something in order to be justified. Participating in Lent is just an outward way of expressing an inward change, it is a way to expresses belief in Christ and how you have been justified by that faith.

Lord, as we consider this passage of Scripture help us to wrestle with the idea that our works do not earn us anything. It can be so hard to see that in a society that promotes the notion that hard work leads to the American dream. Help us to place our faith in You and to truly believe that You are capable of taking care of us. As we transfer control of our lives over to You, allow us to realize that You have justified us by our faith. Lord, we love You and offer You all our glory, honor, and praise. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!

My father was a wandering Aramean.” That was the beginning of the first confession the Israelites were to make upon entering the Promised Land. They were to present an offering to the Lord and then recount how their father, a wandering Aramean, went down into Egypt, grew numerous over time, was enslaved by the Egyptians and was then delivered in the Exodus. In a word, the Israelites were to remember how far they had come with the saving help of Almighty God; not a bad thing to do at the beginning of their sojourn in the Promised Land; and not a bad thing to do during Lent.

My father wasn’t a wandering Aramean; he was a factory worker. Returning from World War Two he found work in low end labor jobs doing his best to make ends meet for a wife and four hungry children. He worked on the shipping docks when I was a child, loading and unloading boxcars by hand. As you can imagine, it wasn’t easy work. When I was five, he got a job at Alcoa marking great coils of aluminum as they came off the line and then sending them further down the way. I can’t imagine that he enjoyed it very much but it paid as well as any job would for a man with little education. He never attended church – too busy I suppose – but came to faith late in life and then went home to glory. I’m proud to be his son.

Standing on my father’s shoulders, I’ve come a long way with the help of God. As I said, my father had little education but he helped me through college. Today I have a Bachelor and two Master degrees. My father wasn’t a wandering Aramean; he was a factory worker who labored with his hands to make ends meet. I’m in his debt. I’ve come a long way because of his sacrifice and God’s blessing. For this I am very grateful. For what are you giving thanks in this holy Lenten season? Take some time to recount your history and give thanks for the help of others and the saving help of Almighty God. Amen.

Father, thank you for all those who have made me who I am and especially for your blessing and help all along the way. Forgive me for taking too much for granted and give me a fresh spirit of thankfulness in this sacred season. Amen!