Fourth Day of Lent

Fourth Day of Lent

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death. Psalm 68:20

Every day, as I look into the mirror to comb the night’s gnarls and tangles from my crazy, curly hair, I realize that another day and night have taken a toll on who I am. Inside me there is a girl who imagines herself doing all kinds of wonderful things for others in the world around me. But as I see the face under that tousled head, I realize that I am moving rapidly toward that end-of-life time we call death. I have already lived way beyond the years that my mother and father had; so how much longer do I have?

Wait a minute! This verse says from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death! Don’t we all die? Don’t we all have to die? Not according to this! The Sovereign Lord says that he has provided an escape! Now that is good news. Yet I know so many who have died. So what does this mean?

Jesus says that he is going to die in order that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:15) My dictionary gives one definition of eternal as “having a beginning but without interruption or end; endless.” The Sovereign Lord has stopped the interruption in life and allows us who believe to go on eternally – with him! Just as birth is the passing from one state of being – en utero – to another, death is the passing from one state of being – this world – to another! And God himself planned the escape! Glory to God!

Prayer: Soon, and very soon, we are going to see you, Lord! Thank you, Father, that there is no need to fear this dark word, death. Thank you for making escape possible for us. Thank you for Resurrection Sunday. Amen.

And He Set His Face toward Jerusalem. . . .

A Lenten Devotional Guide
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, Spring 2007,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator