Lent Day 34: Thankful for sorrows

Jacopo Tintoretto - The Ascent to Calvary

I'm reading the familiar passage of Jesus wounded for us. The last week of Lent is coming and I'll be reading the gospels at least once more before Easter. I am astonished again by the love of Christ, his perseverance, and his focus on his Father's pleasure. No matter how intense the pressure to get distracted, no matter how oblivious his followers to his warnings of the cross ahead ... Jesus kept moving toward the cross.

If we had no sorrows or pains to bear, would we be as grateful that He paid the debt and lifted the burden of sin and hurt from us?

A speaker at NU reported on the view of China's government officials, that the United States was blessed because it followed Christian principles. They see the decline of America as a consequence of abandoning those values.

Yet we seem blind. We are full. So sated with our perception of "the good life" that we forget the Man of Sorrows. We are surprised and angry at any grief or hardship.

Outsiders often see what a culture misses. May we return to the cross and its wealth of pain and suffering this week––with grateful hearts that love God and love others as ourselves, no matter what the circumstances.Read more:

*He is despised and rejected by men,  

A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;

He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten by God, and afflicted.

But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:3-5 NKJV

*Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Psalm 105:3

*Why do you look for the living among the dead? Luke 24:5 

Moravian Prayer: Blessed Savior, hear our prayer of rejoicing for your gift of the promise of new life. Let us learn to trust in your path and lighten our hearts with joy. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. 

Sunshine and shadow

With grateful hearts we embrace the new day. Kirsten made it through the surgery yesterday; the doc said they did less work than expected. She faces another repair in a few months because the surgeon said it was too risky to do all the procedures at the same time.

We are thankful for skilled medical teams and hospitals with dedicated caring staff. That's the sunny part.

Some of the shadow is the illness that continues to rob our daughter of joint after joint.

The biggest part of the shadow for me as a Christian is believing God put all the diseases and illnesses of humanity on Jesus at the cross... yet that seems to do little practical good. People continue to suffer in spite of prayers and pleas to God for help.

I keep throwing responsibility for our daughter on God, who is her heavenly father. He alone can arrest the progress of her arthritis. If he chooses to make her endure this, we are thankful for his presence and must trust him to do what is right.

This morning, under a cloudy sky, my prayers for help mingle with thanksgiving. A few "if only"s mingle with a hearty, "Thank you for helping yesterday."

• If only... God would touch Kirsten and heal her whole system
• if only... she would never have to have another operation
• if only... sickness would be gone from our friends, our families, and those we don't know
• if only... people would have access to good care when they need it, without being nickel-and-dime-d to death by insurance (IF they have insurance)
• if only...

and "Thank you."

• Thanks for another day
• thanks for scriptures promising God alongside in the valley of the shadows, whether illness, deprivation, or other traumas
• thanks for friends and family who pray and are faithful companions on the journey
• thanks for warm shelter and plentiful food
• thanks for death, when we go to be with Christ and all the garbage of this life will be a distant memory
• thanks...

 Read more:

*Psalm 140:1-5 Amos 6,7; Revelation 9:12-21

*The Lord rewards everyone for his righteousness and his faithfulness. 1 Samuel 26:23

*Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 (NIV)

The Moravian prayer for today: Heavenly Provider, thank you for the seeds of hope, faith, and love you have planted within us. Just as the gardener tends to tender plants, may this season of Advent nourish our souls so that we may share our bounty. Amen.

To bring in the new, discard the old

After our granddaughter came blinking into this world yesterday, her mommy continued to push. The doc encouraged her, "Keep pushing! You're almost done! You still have work to do." The doctor held a plastic sack ready, then examined the afterbirth for missing pieces and deposited it for disposal. Any pieces left behind rot and poison the mother once the job is done. No longer needed, the afterbirth, so vital to develop a baby, was thrown out without a glance from mother or father. 

Baby Kinsey moved into her mommy's arms without a thought for the crucial organ that had allowed her to develop. I'll write more on the pleasures of lovely Kinsey and her young family another day. 

But in morning devotions, God impressed on me the need likewise to let go of any womb that nurtures new existence, depending on God's timing and hard labor to bring about a new thing.

We become so attached to the warmth, the dark safety, and closed-in walls that feed and shape us. New ideas, new projects, and new character are forged in the protection and comfort of a hidden, quiet season. When incubation is done, we are thrust into the glare of a cold room filled with watchers or cheerleaders. Our lungs suck in the first painful breaths of dry air and we may wail in terror as we clear our airways and announce our arrival. What was precious and safe becomes toxic and unclean, whether it is a relationship, church tradition, or business agreement.

This morning, I talked with a woman whose husband left her a year ago. She sobbed throughout the conversation, "It's like he left me five minutes ago. I don't want to change. I still love him. He was my best friend, my soul mate." Though she's asking God for help, her hands are still clenched in fear and sorrow against the reality that she cannot control another person. She is being poisoned by the past, not yet willing to receive the beauty and new life God knows plans for her future.

As I drove away from our meeting, I asked myself, "What am I holding, desperately clutching, afraid that future will not live up to the past?" 

Read more:

*I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.”Psalm 89:1-2 NKJV 

*A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleading, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.'

But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. 'Tell her to go away,' they said. 'She is bothering us with all her begging.'

Then Jesus said to the woman, 'I was sent only to help God's lost sheep—the people of Israel.'

But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, 'Lord, help me!'

Jesus responded, 'It isn't right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.'

She replied, 'That's true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters' table.'

'Dear woman,' Jesus said to her, 'your faith is great. Your request is granted.' And her daughter was instantly healed. Matthew 15:22–28 NLT

*Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8 NKJV