What a sigh of relief!
Here we are, a little more than half way through Lent and I’ve fallen behind on my daily discipline (writing a devotion based on my studies).
Me being me, I start beating myself up over these sorts of failures. And then it just becomes so much more difficult to catch up to where I should be.
Lent, as a time for self-examination, is a time when we often begin to uncover parts of ourselves we don’t want to admit are there. Or maybe we knew they were there, and we’ve simply been looking the other way.
Either which way, it can become exhausting.
The thing about being halfway down the road is that you can’t see what you left anymore, but you also can’t see the end. It’s like being caught in a no-man’s land.
No wonder the Israelites complained to Moses so much on their journey through the wilderness. It can become a little too easy to romanticize what you left and to stop dreaming about the future on those long treks.
But just as God provided manna in the midst of hunger, water in the midst of thirst, God has offered us a moment to stop and remember what we are journeying toward.
It’s not the cross we are walking toward.
True, the cross is on the way.
We will spend some time in it’s shadow.
But the cross isn’t our goal.
We must stop and remember that God, who has changed circumstances for God’s people throughout history has changed ours as well.
Death is no longer the last stop on this road.
If we look a bit further, if we remember to keep our eyes open, we will see it:
The empty tomb and the gates of the Kin-dom of Heaven thrown wide open.
God changes circumstances.
What burdens are you still carrying on this Lenten journey? What is making you weary? What is slowing you down? How is God changing your circumstances?
appalachianpreacher.com 
Leave a Reply