Lenten and Easter Thoughts

References:
• Psalm 102:8-28
• Isaiah 55:1-13
• John 15:1-17

I can’t remember if I have mentioned this or not, but the Bible Study that I have been leading has been going through the Heidelberg Catechism for the last several months. It has been a very interesting journey together, studying this catechism in order to better understand our own faith. Not only do these questions and answers, with their Scripture references, challenge us with our own relationship with Christ, they also give us tools to better articulate what we believe and why.

While we were going through the several pages of Scripture references for Question and Answer #31, I was struck with how appropriate three of them were for this Season of Lent. One is a Psalm, one is a passage from Isaiah, and the third is from the Gospel of John. Let’s take a short look at each of them.

Psalm 102 is a psalm of distress where everything feels helpless. It is almost like that author has hit rock bottom in his/her life, that he/she has to “look up to see the bottom of the well.” Not only does the author feel like his/her enemies have surrounded them and closing in, but the author also feels like God Himself has “lifted me up and cast me away.” Deeply troubling, wouldn’t you say?
In all honesty, how often do we feel like evil people are closing in on us and that we have no hope? How often does it feel like no amount of praying is solving the problem? How often does the darkness that we are currently walking through feel like it is all consuming? Once in a while? Often? Daily?

We all go through seasons like this, where there seems like there is absolutely no home left. We often wonder why God is so ‘quiet’ in our lives, all the while we go through darkness and pain. There are, unfortunately, no easy answer. Although we all endure times like this in our lives, we often don’t understand why. For me, it is so very frustrating to be experiencing these things, know that God loves me and will take care of me, but yet the “valley of the shadow of death” is all too consuming.

All we can prayerfully do is keep our focus on Christ and remind ourselves that He has a purpose for us. In the Psalm 102:12-28, the author reminds him/herself of this. That since God has founded the heavens and the earth, that though they all will perish, He will still endure. And, since God is a loving and faithful to those who call on Him.

Along this line of thought, let’s turn to the Isaiah passage. Here Isaiah dictates as God speaks, come to Him for free grace. God contrasts our need for physical food and drink, that is only temporary, to the free spiritual nourishment that He gives those who will receive it.
When Isaiah writes, “everlasting covenant,” he is referring to the kind of one-sided covenant that God made with Abram in Genesis. During ancient times, people would make a blood covenant with each other by walking through the blood of animals much like what Abram (later Abraham). The idea was, whom ever would break the covenant (like a peace treaty) with the other, then the person who broke the covenant should be killed like the beasts that they walked between. Both people making the covenant would walk through after agreeing what each had to do in order to uphold their part of the bargain. However, in verses 12-21, God makes the covenant with Abram, as a ‘flaming torch (v. 17) and God alone walks through the blood covenant. It is understood that the ‘flaming torch’ then consumes everything as He goes through it so that Abram cannot go through. The meaning? It is all dependent on God, not us. All we are required is to ‘trust and obey’ within our ability. God will take care of everything else.

One other thing that really stood out to me are verses 8-11. For me, these are very comforting in that, though I do not understand all that God calls me to do or why I experience all that I do, God has a plan. God calls me to obedience and to trust Him with the results. Since I do not have the “eternal perspective” that He has, I do not understand all that He is doing through me. But, God’s promise to me is that what I do in faith, He will honor and bless. If He calls me to do something, there is a reason and that God will accomplish something through it.
Fast forward several hundred years from Isaiah to when John wrote his Gospel…. Starting in John 13, we see that Jesus is celebrating the Last Supper with His Disciples. In John 13:31-38, Jesus predicts Peter’s denial. Then in John 14:1-15, Jesus states that He is the only way to come onto God (receive salvation). After this, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to all believers in verses 16-31. Then in John 15:1-17, Jesus teaches them about Him being the Vine and everyone else being the branches. When we are connected/grafted into Him, we receive our spiritual nourishment and grow, even thrive. Cut off from Him, we wither and die.

But, what I want to focus on most is John 15:15-16. During this last, intimate meal between Jesus and His Disciples, Jesus now calls the Disciples (and us as well) His friends. Though Jesus is Lord of all creation, He calls each and everyone of us who believe in Him and His grace, His friend. Not only are we chosen by God to be His friend, but we are also chosen by Him to “bear fruit.”
This Season of Lent and Easter, let us choose to remember that God has called each of us out of our deepest pain and despair to receive His free grace. Not just that, but even more! Through the finished work of Jesus Christ, God calls us to be His friend and to ‘bear much fruit!’ Though we may understand little of what we go through, God has a purpose for each and everyone of us. Though Jesus is our Lord and Savior, our Holy and Righteous Creator, He also wants to be our close and trusted friend. How awesome is that?!