The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

Category: Lent

March 9, 2015

Lent Devotional: Isaiah 25:6-9

Isaiah 25:6-9 (click here)
It will be said on that day, “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)

Reflection
So much of life seems to be spent waiting.

As a kid, you’re constantly waiting to be a certain age to be able to participate in certain things. You wait in lines, you wait on people, you wait for a special day to arrive. You wait and wait and wait and wait and wait…

Will the waiting ever end? And more importantly…will it have been worth it?

Much of relationship with the Lord is described as a call to wait. We are to wait for the Lord, which is another way of saying we trust him. Waiting does not mean we are idle in our relationship with God, but that we are actively trusting him.

The need to wait on the Lord arises from the fact that our experience does not currently align with his promises. We are a redeemed people waiting for the completion of redemption. This has been promised to us, and God will bring it about…but right now we wait…we trust…we hope.

That day will come…the day when we no longer have to talk about waiting, but will be able to speak in past tense and declare that we have waited. The day of final salvation will come when all our waiting will seem like it has been no more than a few moments.

Salvation will be complete and all the waiting will be over.

Yet, until then…we wait. Not idly, but expectantly. We wait in such a way that declares to the world our great confidence and trust in the Lord who is not idle, but actively working towards the day for which we are waiting.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 8, 2015

Lent Devotional: Jonah 3:1-4

Jonah 3:1-4
Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

Reflection
A second chance…

Jonah gets a second chance, but only because God is sovereign! If God was not sovereignly in control, then he could not guarantee such a second chance for Jonah… nor could he guarantee a second chance for any of us.

The sovereignty of God is always good news…even when it hurts our head.

Because God is sovereign, we can rest in the fact that he can even use our sins, our mistakes, and our failures for our ultimate good and his ultimate glory. Such was the case with Jonah. Even as Jonah ran from God, the Lord used that running to bring pagan sailors to know him, and to reveal to Jonah the brokenness of his own heart.

Sin never wins! God always wins! He sovereign, even over sin and will use it for his ultimate purposes!

Yet, this doesn’t give us an excuse to sin. It didn’t give Jonah an excuse for his sinful actions. No. Jonah was still held responsible for what he did, and so are we. God’s sovereignty and our responsibility are not a contradiction, but a necessary combination taught all throughout the pages of Scripture.

His sovereignty stirs up faith in us that he will accomplish all he intends to through us (and even in spite of us). Yet, the fact of our responsibility stirs up faithfulness, that we are to be faithful to his call!

Sovereignty doesn’t make us fatalists and responsibility doesn’t cause us to live in fear. No. Sovereignty makes us a people of faith and responsibility causes us to live in faithfulness.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 7, 2015

Lent Devotional: Psalm 139

Psalm 139 (click here)
O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. (Psalm 139:1-6)

Reflection
Often, as I read through Scripture, I find myself asking if I really believe what I’m reading. If I did…it should change me more than it seems to. I mean…do I really believe the Lord sees all I do? That he searches me and knows me better than I know myself?

Do I really believe he knows my thoughts and words before they are formed. How does such knowledge not reduce me to a shaking leaf, exposed before the holy one in all my un-holiness?

I think the Psalmist answers my question in verse 6, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”

It’s not that I don’t believe these things are true, they are just such lofty truths my brain cannot possibly hold on to every aspect at once. I can’t wrap my mind around something so fathomless…something so far outside my own experience.

I cannot fully grasp the vastness of God. No one can, but God himself.

So what should be the effect of such unattainable truth in my life? Why does the Psalmist spend so much time pondering things he can never fully grasp? One word…worship.

The Psalmist stands before the vastness of God much in the way you stand before the ocean, the grand canyon, or the night sky…simply in awe of the vastness you cannot even grasp no matter how long you gaze.

The Psalmist wants a glimpse of God…and even a glimpse is beyond anything he can handle. Is God this big to us? Is he this beyond us? Is he this worthy of our worship? If he’s not…then are we even attempting to look at him?…or have we satisfied our spiritual curiosity with a vision of something much smaller than the real thing…an idol?

True worship of the true God should always leave our hearts beating with the same awe-filled words… “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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