But God is My King From Long Ago- Lent 37, 2021

Psalm 74:1 A maskil of Asaph. O God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture? 2 Remember the nation you purchased long ago, the people of your inheritance, whom you redeemed– Mount Zion, where you dwelt. 3 Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins, all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary. 4 Your foes roared in the place where you met with us; they set up their standards as signs. 5 They behaved like men wielding axes to cut through a thicket of trees. 6 They smashed all the carved paneling with their axes and hatchets. 7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of your Name. 8 They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!” They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.

9 We are given no signs from God; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be. 10 How long will the enemy mock you, God? Will the foe revile your name forever? 11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!

12 But God is my King from long ago; He brings salvation on the earth.

13 It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters. 14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert. 15 It was you who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever-flowing rivers. 16 The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon. 17 It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.

18 Remember how the enemy has mocked you, LORD, how foolish people have reviled your name. 19 Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever. 20 Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. 21 Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your name.

22 Rise up, O God, and defend your cause; remember how fools mock you all day long. 23 Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries, the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.

During Holy Week, Jesus pressed into His mission. He told His disciples over and over again that He would be handed over to be crucified. Maybe they didn’t want to believe Him in this one. Maybe they thought He was nuts. Maybe they didn’t want to hear it, preferring to believe the dream of Messiah. But Jesus said it enough times that it should have been no surprise that the crescendo of evil would culminate in the death of Christ. It would all seem very hopeless for a time. But God was still in control.

Lord Jesus, help us to remember how bleak the world must have looked to the disciples during Holy Week as You told them again and again that You were going to be handed over to the chief priests and handed over to the Gentiles and that You were going to be crucified. How depressing! But then You give the hope that You will be raised to life! Sometimes the things that give us hope seem so impossible and yet Lord, we know that with You all things are possible. Thank You for the gift of faith. Thank You for seeing us through the difficult times, the deep waters, and the nights of many tears. Help us to remain faithful so that when You return, we will be found to be hard at work… bringing glory to You. For we know Your Word is just as true now as it was before You were crucified. It teaches us that You will return and You will bring us to be where You are. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for paving the way for us, for paying the price to redeem us as Your people… from every tribe and nation and language and people to be Your own. We praise You, Lord, and we give You all glory and honor and power and praise! Amen.

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Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.