May the mumbling commence!
The Lord is about redemption. The Lord is about purification. These two ways are among the ways that God
shows love to His children… His wife.
Read Hosea chapter three:
Then the Lord
said to me, "Go
and get your wife again. Bring her back
to you and love her, even though she loves adultery. For the Lord still loves Israel even though the
people have turned to other gods, offering them choice gifts. "
So I bought
her back for fifteen pieces of silver and about five bushels of barley and
a measure of wine. Then I said to her, "You must live in my house for many
days and stop your prostitution. During this time, you will not
have sexual intercourse with anyone, not even with me. "
This
illustrates that Israel will be a long
time without a king or prince, and without sacrifices, temple, priests, or even
idols! But afterward the people will return to the Lord their God and to David's
descendant, their king. They will
come trembling in awe to the Lord,
and they will receive his good gifts in the last days.
Just as Hosea bought back his wife,
the Lord has bought us with a price. The
price the Lord paid was much steeper. It
cost Jesus his life.
During the season of Lent, we
recognize the sacrifice by denying ourselves from some pleasure. We fast to travel to the cross with Jesus and
to cleanse ourselves. We fast to focus
on the Lord and to prepare ourselves for Resurrection Sunday. We fast to make ourselves anew into the image
of God.
We do well to remind ourselves of
this practice outside the context of Lent.
We can benefit from periods of fasting and praying at times throughout
the year. Through this practice, we can
glorify the Lord and be a light for Him.
We will share in God’s glory when
we do things like these. We receive
glory so that we might give it back to the Lord. Read from the beginning of Jesus’ high
priestly prayer in John chapter seventeen:
When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he
looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.”
(Verse 1)
Indeed, when we surrender our glory
to God, we glorify and please the Lord.
We are obedient to the call of the Lord.
May it be so!
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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