Cause this middle part is getting rough. I knew there would probably be a rough few days, where nothing was amazing or thought-provoking or life-changing, but I secretly hoped I would amaze even myself and come up with something awesome for one whole Lent.
You might have noticed the part where this is all about me?
Yes, it is a true thing that even though I like to pretend that this to an opportunity to hear God speak, mostly in my heart, it's an opportunity to say what I think. And I like it best when I think cool, amazing things. This is a conundrum, for a few reasons. One, probably this is sin and something I should stop. But two, surely God is bigger than my vanity and still keep talking even when I stop listening. Three, well, I'm bored.
Nice huh?
But for three weeks now, David and his Psalmist buddies have been whining about how nearly dead they are and how much life sucks. God has been mad at the Israelites, from Abraham to Jeremiah. Lord knows what Paul has been saying, and John just keeps on making Jesus out to be difficult and hard to understand.
And yet, three weeks in, with all this mucky repetition, I'm still at home with these people. Still willing to place my hope alongside theirs and say I'm with Jesus.
I guess that's the heart of it today for me: I'm still with Jesus. And this Lent, I'm showing up every day to make a tiny space to say, every day, I'm with Jesus. Even when the journey gets a bit sloggy and boring and un-awesome, I'm with Jesus.
Here, try Jeremiah again for fun.
Jeremiah 11:1-8
New International Version (NIV)
The Covenant Is Broken
11 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. 3 Tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the one who does not obey the terms of this covenant— 4 the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.’ I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God. 5 Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’—the land you possess today.”
I answered, “Amen, Lord.”6 The Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them. 7 From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, “Obey me.” 8 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.’”
Jeremiah 11:14-20
New International Version (NIV)
15 “What is my beloved doing in my temple
as she, with many others, works out her evil schemes?
Can consecrated meat avert your punishment?
When you engage in your wickedness,
then you rejoice.[a]”
as she, with many others, works out her evil schemes?
Can consecrated meat avert your punishment?
When you engage in your wickedness,
then you rejoice.[a]”
16 The Lord called you a thriving olive tree
with fruit beautiful in form.
But with the roar of a mighty storm
he will set it on fire,
and its branches will be broken.
with fruit beautiful in form.
But with the roar of a mighty storm
he will set it on fire,
and its branches will be broken.
17 The Lord Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the people of both Israel and Judah have done evil and aroused my anger by burning incense to Baal.
Plot Against Jeremiah
18 Because the Lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing. 19 I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree and its fruit;
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name be remembered no more.”
20 But you, Lord Almighty, who judge righteously
and test the heart and mind,
let me see your vengeance on them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name be remembered no more.”
20 But you, Lord Almighty, who judge righteously
and test the heart and mind,
let me see your vengeance on them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
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