Third Monday through Fourth Sunday In Lent

Third Monday in Lent: Ignorance Is Bliss

I’m grateful for what I don’t know. God in His goodness keeps all knowledge to Himself. Even after Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we still are blessed not to know some things. Jesus recognized that He could not tell the disciples all that He knew:

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now (John 16:12) and that it would be up to the Holy Spirit to fill us in.” (John 14:26)

Jesus, on the other hand, fully knew what awaited Him in the garden and on the following day of unjust trials ending in His being put to death in the most shameful and inhumane way on the Roman cross. His prayers for another way were genuine and evidence of His full knowledge of what God had asked of Him.

I’m grateful that God hides what He asks of me in a perfect way. As I re-witnessed Jesus walking the hardest part of His God-ordained journey, I became more grateful for mine. God did not tell me that I would say goodnight to my husband and then never hear his voice again in this life. God sustained me and prepared me all along the way, though I didn’t notice. I don’t think I could have noticed or would have wanted to notice. I think it would be harder to know what was waiting ahead. It was better for me that I just kept living each day focused on God and His love as much as possible and let the future be revealed.

After the fact, I can see that God was preparing me for what I would face. I have two friends who I trust greatly who told me back in 2010 that God showed them that I would face a difficult situation. Both of them were sickened by what they felt and didn’t want to tell me. Neither knew the other very well; but after I told them both, they became better friends and prayed for me. I don’t get too focused on things like that. I trusted their sincerity but kept my focus on loving and serving God, not on avoiding some tragedy. Besides their words could fit with the hard times I was experiencing right then. In fact, one of them had the word broken for me and when I fractured my tailbone on a mission trip (my first broken bone); I told her that I thought that her prayers were referring to that. Little did I know that their prayers for me would sustain and strengthen me for the greatest sadness of my life—living here without my husband.

God asks us to live in a fallen world, taking the blows this reality throws at us, and believing in His goodness and right plan for the universe. He doesn’t ask that we understand and be able to explain perfectly why things happen as they do. He does ask that we believe in His goodness in spite of what we can’t know. Jesus knew what would happen on Good Friday if God did not intervene. Jesus could handle the truth. Jesus is comfortable with not knowing and trusting that God knows the best time when it comes to His return. He told His disciples that only God knows the day and the time (Mark 13:32).

What I know is that the closer I get to God and the more I trust Him, the easier it is to live in the land of not knowing anything and be certain that He will see me through.

Third Tuesday in Lent: Forgive Me a Sinner

As the Lenten Season draws to a close approaching Holy Week, can you look back and honestly admit that you are the chief sinner? I hope so. There is no spiritual lesson as helpful as seeing your own sin as so hideous that it sent Jesus Christ to the cross. When you bundle up all the sins that others have sinned against you in this year—none compares to your lifetime of personal sin against a Holy God.

I attended the Forgiveness Sunday service at the Orthodox Church that precedes their Lenten journey. There is a special liturgy that is used for this service focusing on the reality that each of us are grave sinners. The closing of this time of prayer is when the clergy come out in their black robes (the beautiful purple is laid aside.) Then beginning with the head priests, and assistant priests each person in the church comes before one another, one at a time, and confesses Forgive me a sinner, to which they hear the response God forgives. After the assistant priest confesses, he stands to the right of the priest and the rest of the clergy follow suit. Then the congregation, row by row, begins with the priest, then moves to the right to greet fellow sinners who will make their way past until the whole congregation has confessed. I hardly knew anyone at this service so I had not directly sinned against any of them that I am aware. However, the repeated gesture had a huge impact on me.

I said: Forgive me a sinner, with conviction. And I received the response back that God forgives and that I should have a blessed Lent. The response to my repentance is quick and powerful as the reality of my sin hits home in my soul. I hope to attend this service again next year. It was both amazingly joyful and brutally honest.

Without the reality of your sin, Easter would have no meaning. It would be a horror story with a sci-fi ending. But you are a sinner, the chief sinner. Yet I can’t convince you of that; your own soul bears this news. When your soul faces the fact of the darkness of sin, it is drawn to the light of Christ that casts out all darkness and replaces it with a beam of joy and gladness!

Forgiveness of sin was not easy for Jesus. He told us that when some friends brought a paralyzed man to Him. Jesus saw their faith and told the man that his sins were forgiven. The church leaders took offense at His statement but did not speak it out loud in front of the crowds. Jesus responded anyway:

“Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, ‘Get up and walk”? (Matthew 9:4-5).

To be prepared for Easter Sunday you need to answer Jesus’ question in your heart. If your heart says it is easier to say, “get up and walk rather than your sins are forgiven,” then you have missed the whole point of Lent. Indeed, it was much harder, close to impossible to forgive your sins. Enter Holy week with a holy awareness of how hard it was. What rejection, torture, suffering, and humiliation did it take for God to forgive the sins of man?

Rejoice this Easter as you hear Jesus say to you as He said to the paralyzed man: Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven” (Matthew 9:2).

Third Wednesday in Lent: Soul Delights

At the beginning of Holy Week I heard a familiar scripture in a new way. When the reader recited Isaiah 42:1:

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.”

I thought about God’s soul for the first time.

Before really hearing that scripture, the words “soul” and “delights” seemed more applicable to describe something like dark chocolate candy. Thinking of the pride God the Father takes in presenting to the world God His Son to fix up the problem of sin in the world leaves me in awe. For the first time I let my mind conceive that God has a soul. He has a soul like me (or the other way around, He saw fit to give me a soul like His). His soul is capable of being delighted by Jesus! His soul longs to be delighted by me.

As I sat in that service, I began to think about the reality that how I live, what I think, the words I speak and write—all of them can bring delight or despair to the soul of God. Jesus always brought delight. I wish I could say the same.

This image of bringing delight to the soul of God encourages me to want to do what He asks of me and assures me of what I am capable. A personal, loving God has a soul that is impacted by the actions and affections of human beings. God’s soul is impacted by my behaviors, thoughts and words. I honestly want to delight His soul like Jesus did.

I pray that my Lenten journey has delighted God’s soul. It is not worth taking if that is not the result. I know that my soul has been delighted by Jesus’ journey to the cross. Though I felt overwhelming sadness at the reality of what it cost to redeem me, I feel extraordinary expectation that it means that, just as Jesus conquered death, so can I.

It’s easy to imagine that God’s soul delights in Jesus. It’s harder to think that His soul could be delighted by me. There is nothing in Isaiah 42 that would cause me to know that He does feel delight in me. The passage is about His Son—His soul’s delight. Just grasping that is enough to keep my mind, heart and spirit full. It was God’s will to crush Him (Isaiah 53:10), but not because He lacked delight in Him. He wanted to give Jesus more glory than He already had. At the name of Jesus, God delighted so much that every knee will bow and every tongue will proclaim that He is Lord (Philippians 2:10).

This relationship between God and Jesus, the love they feel and express for each other, is the delight of the world. It delights my soul to think of how they delight each other. Webster’s dictionary describes delight: “a high degree of gratification; joy; also: extreme satisfaction.” Amidst all the ugly realities that the Easter story brings out, underlying is the delight that is the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2) that motivated Him to endure the cross.

I want to live my life motivated by joy. I know it’s a longshot, but I want to be one of those in whom God’s soul delights. I want to live my life like Jesus, focused on delighting God!

Third Thursday in Lent: The Psalms of Holy Week

On Good Friday I want to take extra time to meditate on Psalm 88. I had no idea that I would discover harsher realities about Jesus’ journey to the cross than I already knew from the Bible. On my recent trip to Jerusalem, when we were retracing the steps of Jesus, we walked into a place I had never heard of before. It is not described in any of the Gospels. I walked into a cistern that served as a holding cell in Jesus’ time. Since it was right by Caiaphas’ home and there were crosses etched in the walls, it is believed that Jesus may have been held in this place in the dark of night while they waited for morning to bring Him before Pilate.

My experience in the cistern prison was a sacred moment. I didn’t fully comprehend where I was going as we walked down the stairs. When we walked in, I immediately recognized the crosses etched in the walls, even though others had a hard time seeing them. I stood still in the crowded space and looked up to the small hole above as our pastor started to explain the tradition associated with this place. I imagined Jesus being lowered by a rope into this darkness. Then the pastor read Psalm 88 and my soul was bewildered that Jesus could love me so much that He was willing to go through all He did for me.

The Psalms help us face reality with faith. This week, the holiest week of our year, we open our hearts, minds and spirits to the solemn love that Jesus has for us. We need the Psalms to help us digest and express what our souls take in from the realities of Holy Week. Here are a few Psalms that help us know what a miniscule part of Jesus’ suffering:

1. Psalm 41:9 Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me. (reality—Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss)
2. Psalm 64:4 They shoot from ambush at the innocent; they shoot suddenly, without fear. (reality—Jesus’ trials, crucifixion; He was totally innocent)
3. Psalm 35:11 Ruthless witnesses come forward; they question me on things I know nothing about. (reality—mockery of trials Jesus endured)
4. Psalm 22:18 They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. (reality—the guards gamble for his clothes)
5. Psalm 22:8 He trusts in the Lord, they say, let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him,
   since he delights in him. (reality—imagine the mocking and laughing from what is recorded at the cross)
6. Psalm 69:3 I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. (reality—when He knew that it was finished, He asked for drink from the cross)
7. Psalm 69:21 They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst. (reality—hyssop branch with a sponge soaked in vinegar was put to His mouth)
8. Psalm 22:16 -Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. (reality—cross)
9. Psalm 109:1-4 My God, whom I praise, do not remain silent, for people who are wicked and deceitful have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues. With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause. In return for my friendship, they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer. (reality—Jesus praying while mocked)
10. Psalm 38:11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away. (reality-Jesus is deserted by the disciples)
11. Psalm 109:25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads. (reality—Jesus is the object of mockery while on the cross)
12. Psalm 34:20 He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. (reality—Jesus’ bones were not broken as was the custom, rather a spear put to His side to prove death)
13. Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish? (reality—this is what happened to Jesus on the cross!)
14. Psalm 31:5 Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God. (reality—Jesus demonstrated and confessed these words from the cross)
15. Psalm 22:14-15 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. (reality—Jesus’ experience of death)
16. Psalm 118:15-17 Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things! The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things! I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done. (reality—the truth of the resurrection!)

The Psalms were so much a part of Jesus’ last experiences on the earth. He had sung them that night in the upper room with the disciples (Matt. 26:30). Traditionally, the songs they sang on Passover were from Psalms 113-118, 136. During this Holy Week, you may want to turn to these passages in the Psalms that guide you to open your heart more fully to what Jesus went through for your salvation.

Prayer:

Almighty and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the Cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: mercifully grant that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection. Through the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

 

May you be blessed by the kindness, forbearance and patience of God this Lenten season!

Third Friday in Lent: Celebrating Righteousness

Easter Sunday is a celebration of the righteousness that we have been given in Christ. When you finally own the gift of righteousness, what else can you do but explode with joy?

I’ve got to be honest with you. Although I have been writing about righteousness all these weeks of the Lenten season, I can’t say that I fully comprehend what righteousness is all about and why it is so essential to being in relationship with God. I can tell you that I know enough to know that I’ve been given it through Christ and that is one of the most precious and costly gifts that has ever come my way.
I realize that it is something that I would be without if it weren’t for Christ’s compassionate obedience. I know that since it came at great sacrifice it would delight God most if I received it with great joy!

Psalm 71:19-24 celebrates righteousness with these words:

Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens, you who have done great things. Who is like you, God?
Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once more.

I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel. My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you— I whom you have delivered.
My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long, for those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion.

Celebration of righteousness is a joy that could fill the heavens. Even though life is hard and bitter at times, the reality of righteousness causes a soul to sing praise to the Holy One of Israel. Lips sing praise for the righteous acts that God has done.

Imagine this world without God’s presence and righteousness. What would it be like if no one cared for the poor? Even the rich would become poor in their quality of life. It does so much good for our souls to love and care for others. Imagine if everyone was only out for himself in this world—that is, more than we are now. Imagine if there was no hope after earthquakes and tsunamis. That would be a world with nothing to celebrate.

Righteousness is mysterious and wonderful. It is completely unattainable by self-effort, yet wonderfully abundant through faith. It has inestimable value in heaven, while seemingly overlooked on earth.
There is no better day to fully celebrate the gift of righteousness than on Easter Sunday, --the day that Christ’s righteous life, burial and resurrection created the kind of righteousness that could be transmitted to all men who believe. Fill the earth with your celebration of your own mysterious, wonderful, abundant righteousness through Christ!

Third Saturday in Lent: The Twists of Easter

The Easter story is the greatest story ever told on earth. It is the most irrational story ever considered. The only sinless man willingly lays down His life and suffers for the sins of the billions of sinful humans. A holy God brings the essence of His being into the souls of humans who have rejected Him, and whose service and devotion to Him has been sketchy at best. The Easter story is the greatest paradox that has ever existed. It is a brilliant irony that settles the problem of sin.

The unexpected events of Easter don’t stop there. The Easter story reveals the illogicality of men who reject Jesus and the amazing love of God.

The religious leaders of Israel were caught in an ironic twist of Easter. They planned to kill Jesus so He would not change their system of worshipping God. They had worked their deals with Rome and did not want Jesus eliciting their followers to worship God the way He preached. John 11:49-53 tells about the statement Caiaphas, the High Priest that year, made that it is better for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish. Caiaphas didn’t say this on his own—this leader in the opposition to Jesus was a prophet of what he would lead the religious rulers to do to Jesus. Caiaphas and his friends determined not to kill Jesus at the Passover, but that was not for them to plan.

Another irrational reality of Easter was the trials of Jesus. Never was there such a breach of justice and mockery in a judicial system. The trials were doomed from the beginning. The people were asked to bring false accusations about Jesus (Matthew 26:59). There was no denying the purpose of these trials was to search for a rationale to kill Him. The truth was never a factor.

Judas rises as the most ironic of the characters of Easter. His loyalties easily swayed between the Sanhedrin and Jesus based on what he thought each could do for him. Jesus brought attention to Judas’ disturbing plan to betray Him to the Sanhedrin with a kiss (Luke 22:48). The greatest irony that Judas lived out was after he became aware of his grievous sin in betraying Jesus; he chose to go the priests to confess rather than God. Their response, What is that to us? They replied. That’s your responsibility. Their response to his sin left him without recourse. He threw down the silver coins and took his own life (Matthew 27:1-10).

The phrase that creates the greatest irony at Easter was made by the crowds in Mathew 27:25, The people answered, Let his blood be on us and on our children! They had no idea what they were asking. They were speaking truth because Jesus’ blood is on all of us. Every sinner takes personal responsibility for His death. At the same time, taking on the blood of Jesus is what cleanses us from sin. The people thought they were serving God by asking for the blood of Jesus and demanding His death. Did they ever understand what they said and receive His blood as a payment for their sin?

Easter is an invitation for us to examine our hearts and make our own commitments. The greatest paradox is that you, a sinner, are made righteous enough to meet with God because of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. May your Holy Week observances lead you to deeper wonder about the Easter Message.

Fourth Sunday in Lent: Celebrating Forgiveness

After a couple of weeks of repenting and facing the reality of our short lifetimes and numerous sins that we have participated in, our souls are moved to celebrate what the repentance has uncovered. Maybe we already knew we were sinners, that knowledge is nothing new. In coming to grips with the fact that we are more sinful than we ever let ourselves think, we learn how merciful, gracious and forgiving our God really is. If you haven’t discovered this one yet, you are actually more sinful than you can ever imagine-- The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

In the midst of a season focused on true repentance, spring bursts through. Even if you live in the north where the flowers are not budding quite yet, there can be a time of spring, a season of anticipation and joy on your Lenten journey.

True repentance leads to joy. There is no question about it. If your time of focusing on your sins has made you gloomier and more pessimistic about yourself, then you are not experiencing true repentance.

Judas and Peter are notorious for their sins against Jesus. Their sins happened the same night, and Jesus told about them before they happened. Both men experienced intimate encounters with Jesus in the midst of their sin—Judas—his famous kiss, and Peter—the eye contact that sent him to bitter tears. Both felt sorrow for their sin against Jesus: Judas experienced worldly repentance; Peter experienced Godly repentance.

Paul lays out the difference in 2 Corinthians 7:8-13.

Worldly Sorrow—what Judas felt:	Godly Sorrow—what Peter felt:
Death	Repentance that leads to salvation No regret Earnestness Eagerness to clear yourself Indignation Alarm Longing Concern Readiness to see justice done

It’s a big difference, isn’t it? I hope this midpoint of Lent is taking you to Godly sorrow that leads to celebration and joy!

Copyright © 2019 Deborah R Newman teatimeforyoursoul.com